Sweet Peril (The Sweet Trilogy #2)(15)

“Okay,” I said, unable to keep the hint of bad attitude from my voice. “Just so long as they know about it. Soon.” I crossed my arms to match Patti.

Dad closed his eyes. “Anna.”

“Yes?”

“How long’s it been since you saw the son of Pharzuph?”

Oh, crap. “Um . . . a day?”

Two giant brown eyes popped open.

“Just for a few minutes at a record store,” I clarified. “Pharzuph was out of town.”

He grumbled a muffled curse into his hand, then asked, “He called you?”

“No. He won’t talk to me. I found out about it from my friend Jay.”

Dad nodded. Where was he going with this?

“You still got a crush on him?” He linked his fingers on the table in front of him.

“It’s not a crush, Dad.”

He sighed. “And that’s exactly why it’s not a good idea for you to see him, Anna. He seems to understand that. Why don’t you?”

I bit down hard, not trusting myself to answer.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be harsh, but you still don’t have that killer instinct most Neph come to learn during childhood. You’re not cautious enough in your relationships. You can be mad at me all you want, but it’s my job to keep you out of danger. Over time your feelings for him will fade.”

“You of all people know it doesn’t work like that,” Patti said to him. “You spent hundreds of years looking for Anna’s mother.”

He sat back in his chair, regarding her with wary respect and I wanted to punch the air. He knew she was right. He’d scoured the earth looking for Mariantha—my mother, a guardian angel whom he’d never stopped loving. Dad gave me a slow nod.

“The fact is, you’ll be less distracted with him out of the picture. So, for now, no trips to California, and I don’t want to hear anything else about him. Got it?”

Patti winked at me.

“Got it,” I whispered.

He’d said “for now.” It was a flimsy phrase to cling to, but still I clung.

CHAPTER FIVE

FIRST ASSIGNMENT

Five weeks passed that summer without hearing from Dad. The good thing was, whisperers were checking on me only once every couple of weeks. The bad thing was, I hated being kept in the dark, and I was impatient. Summer was flying by and I’d been hoping to get some things accomplished before the start of senior year.

I sat on our balcony after my jog, wishing for a breeze in the stifling late morning air.

Patti came out and handed me a steaming mug of coffee.

“You work today?” Patti asked.

I shook my head. “Tomorrow.” I still had my job at the soft-serve stand.

She took a long drink of her coffee and grinned. “Wanna hear something weird? I feel like spending some of that demon loot.”

I almost choked on the sip I’d just taken. Patti never wanted to spend money, especially the haul Dad had given us. She laughed at my expression.

“Come on,” she said. “It’ll be fun. Let’s go crazy.”

“You don’t have to ask me twice,” I said.

We were worn out by the time we headed home. A good song came on the country station, and Patti cranked up the volume. We belted out the twangy chorus so loudly it’s a wonder I heard my cell phone ring. I turned down the radio and my heart hammered at the sight of Dad’s number.

“Where are you?” he grumbled.

“I’m on my way home with Patti.”

“From where?”

Biting my thumbnail, I mumbled, “Atlanta.”

“What the hell are you doing out there?”

I bristled at his tone. “We were just shopping.”

“Shopping?”

“Patti spent a ton of money. It was awesome.” I giggled and Patti popped my leg.

Dad growled something incoherent, then said, “Well, hurry up. I’m at your place.”

Yes! News! I smiled, part smug that he’d have to wait on me for once.

“Tell him to hold his horses,” Patti said. “We’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

When we got to the apartment, I stopped in the doorway, surprised to see someone standing at Dad’s side.

“Kope!” I hadn’t meant to sprint across the small room to hug him around the neck, but I did. Had he always been this tall? I felt his frame rumble with light laughter. He pulled away from the embrace first, giving me a shy grin that showed off the single dimple in his cheek. The black badge of Wrath rested at his sternum.

Kope had never seemed very young to begin with. Too much wisdom lived in those hazel eyes. But he looked even more mature these days with a bit of facial hair on his chin. His black hair was trimmed really short, and his coffee skin was as smooth as ever. He met my gaze full-on and I couldn’t stop smiling. Seeing one of my Neph friends after all this time was empowering.

“You are looking well, Anna,” he said. He didn’t often use contractions, but the end sounds of some words were clipped off and smoothed together in a languid, slippery sort of way, like verbal cursive.

“Thanks, Kope,” I told him. “So are you.”

I turned my attention to Dad.

“So? What are we doing? Where are we going?”