Moira Rogers - Crux

“Thanks.” Jackson glanced toward the door to the back. “Did you sense anything?”

He’d been working with Alec long enough to know his slight hesitation wasn’t a good sign. “Can’t tell you much more than Nicole did. What I’m getting doesn’t make a lot of sense, so you might be better off trying your spell.”

“Doesn’t make sense?” Jackson echoed. “What the hell does that—”

“Hey.” Nick appeared, out of breath and disheveled, at Jackson’s elbow. “Did her empathy explode?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s what I figured. I told Mackenzie it was low blood sugar. She’s in the kitchen, making her a milkshake.”

Kat bolted upright. “Are you going to let her stay here? You can’t let her leave. Something’s wrong . Really, really wrong.”

Nick soothed her with a soft noise. “She’s agreed to stay upstairs in Mahalia’s old place.” She laid a hand on Jackson’s arm. “You’re going to strengthen those old wards, right?”

“First thing in the morning,” he promised, “if you can get Mackenzie out of here.”

“I have a plan, of course. I’m taking her shopping. She just doesn’t know it yet.”

Jackson tapped his chin. “Alec, can you take Kat back to the office and get started on that stuff? I’m going to see if Mackenzie would like to get out of here and grab a late lunch. Maybe, if I keep trying, she’ll see that it isn’t dangerous to let us help her.” Maybe I can figure out just what the hell she is . It had nothing to do with wanting to spend more time with her, nothing at all. This was a job. This was protection. This was…

“A date?” Nick demanded, poking him. “You expect her to open up about whatever’s wrong on a date ?”

Jackson blinked at Alec. “Is that…wrong?”

Alec’s expression made it clear he’d rather walk into traffic than have to answer the question. Fortunately for him, Kat spoke, her voice firm. “No. It will work. Don’t take her somewhere too fancy, and not too far from here. She’s scared and she’s overwhelmed but she wants to trust you. She wants to—” Kat laughed. “Let’s just stick with she wants to trust you.”

Nick choked on a groan and poked Jackson again. He rubbed his arm and glared at her. “What?”

She shrugged. “Consider that an advance.”

Mackenzie watched the blender whirl, vanilla ice cream mixing with chunks of fresh strawberries she’d pulled from the industrial-sized refrigerator. She could hear the faint murmur of voices from the front, interspersed with the occasional laugh.

Nick had lied to her. Mackenzie had seen enough lies in her life to recognize when someone was talking too fast. Whatever the reason Jackson’s assistant had collapsed, Mackenzie doubted very much it had to do with her blood sugar.

She would have bet anything it had something to do with her. The startled, terrified way the girl had watched her as the blood drained from her face had been indication enough there was something odd going on.

It hurt more than Mackenzie wanted to admit, thinking Nick had lied to her. It hurt even more to imagine Jackson had as well. Following her could have been a way to find out where she was staying. Offering her Mahalia’s apartment was a perfect way to keep her in one place.

Stupid. Stupid, stupid… She’d let a handsome face and a friendly smile distract her from the danger. They could be out there planning right now, while she sat and made milkshakes.

She wanted to run. She should have run. The minute the door closed, she should have been gone. By the time they realized she was missing she could have had her things in a cab. She should have gotten a head start.

She should have. But she hadn’t.

Stupid.

Mackenzie opened the blender and stared blindly at its contents. It was too late to run now, even if she wanted to. And that was the real issue.

She didn’t want to.

Something about Nick and Jackson made it impossible for her to believe they would actually hurt her. It was foolish and naive, especially in the face of everything she’d been through in the last month, but every time she tried to consider the possibility of one of them being in league with Marcus…

It was absurd.

Sighing, she poured the milkshake into a glass and dropped in a straw. Either way, she was too tired to run again. Another city, another job, another cheap motel… She couldn’t bring herself to go through it.

The group fell silent when Mackenzie pushed through the door, the milkshake in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. Subtle , she thought wryly. No, no one was talking about me at all . She didn’t say anything about it, though, just smiled. “Here you go. One strawberry milkshake.”

Jackson came over to take it, his hand brushing hers. “Thanks, Kenzie.”

“No problem.” A shiver danced up her spine, though she wasn’t sure if it was from the touch of his hand on hers or the warm tone of his voice around the nickname he’d given her. Oh, God. I’m so stupid .

“She’s feeling better now, but we should get her started on this.” He saluted her with the milkshake and handed it to the dark-haired man who’d come in with Kat.

The young woman gave Mackenzie a shaky smile. “Thank you.”

“No problem. I hope you feel better.” Whatever’s really wrong with you.

Nick patted the bar. “I’m sorry, Mackenzie, but I forgot that I already asked Joe to come in this afternoon. Is there any way you could come back for the rush tonight and help out?” She shrugged one shoulder. “Tips’ll be better, at any rate.”

“Sure.” Mackenzie set the bottle of water on the counter. “Everything—everything’s okay, right?”

Nick’s answer seemed easy. “Everything’s fine. Really. There’s not a problem.”

“Okay.” She wiped her hands on a towel and tried to look calm. “I guess I’ll just go back on upstairs. If you need me early, let me know.”

Nick nodded, and Jackson flashed her a smile. “I’ll see you later, Kenzie.”

No, you won’t. The thought depressed her, but she kept the smile on her face as she walked through the front door and started around the side of the building. By the time her foot touched the first step, she knew her face was tight and exhausted, but she didn’t care.

Something was going on. Something suspicious, something having to do with her. She wanted to trust Nick—and she wanted desperately to trust Jackson—but the circumstances were too odd to be ignored.

She slipped into the apartment and leaned back against the door, eyeing the cheerful room with an almost tangible longing. To stretch out on the bed, to get a full night’s sleep somewhere safe—

You don’t know it’s safe.

She finally pushed herself off the door and trudged to her bag. Her anticipation of a few days of comfort had prompted her to unpack everything, and she dropped heavily to her knees and began to slowly gather her meager belongings.

She’d take the chance and sleep for a couple hours, but as soon as the streets started to fill for the evening, she was going to run. She’d run all night if she had to, and come dawn she’d be on her way to another city, another cheap motel, another crappy job…

Covering her face with her hands, Mackenzie gave in to exhaustion and sobbed.

She’s going to run, Nick. I can feel it.

His earlier words echoed in his head, haunting him as he leaned against a dumpster in the alley behind Nick’s bar.

They’d screwed things up.

No, correction. He’d screwed things up by failing to give Kat what few specifics he knew, or even suspected, of Mackenzie’s situation. She’d freaked out, and Mackenzie had realized something was wrong. But there wasn’t anything he could do about it now except fix it, and that meant catching her before she had a chance to skip town.