Moontide
Read along chapter - 7
*… moving right along after last week’s chapter 6…
“I can’t believe we were just in a bar fight!” Cindy panted, once she and Marley were inside the elevator at their hotel.
Marley punched the button for the third floor as the door closed then turned.
“Good thing I got us out of there while the getting was good,” Cindy said.
Her friend rolled her shoulders back.
“I know self defense, Cin, you’re safe with me” she said. “Seriously, I have skills.”
Cindy rolled her eyes. Her friend worked out all the time, it was a known fact. She was also obsessed with martial arts and whatever else the latest fitness craze was. But that didn’t mean she could take on a bunch of dudes. She was barely any bigger than Cindy and at five four that wasn’t saying much.
“I don’t think we’d have fared too well with that group of gladiators that showed up.” Cindy said.
Marley made a face that Cindy couldn’t quite read.
“Where’d those guys come from, anyway? I didn’t notice them when we first walked in.”
“I don’t know,” Cindy said. “It’s not like they were hard to miss. I bumped into one of them—it was like hitting a brick wall!
Marley stopped short at that. For a moment, Cindy thought she saw a sick look come over her friend. Poor Marley, she was probably thinking about Kay, who might have been abducted from that very club.
“Really?” Marley’s eyes rounded as she leaned in to study Cindy’s face. Then the gravity left her demeanor and the twinkle came back to her eyes. “Did you cop a feel?”
“Marley,” Cindy huffed.
“Well…?” Marley persisted, lifting her eyebrows up and down, “I know how you like muscles.”
“No.” Cindy denied, “Now I wish I had though. He was ripped. Tall, dark, the whole bit. And he had amazing eyes,” she sighed. “I have to find him again.”
“Whoa, down girl,” Marley said. “I’m all for you finding a man, don’t get me wrong. But I’m not losing any more friends to this place.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Cindy said, flustered because she really wouldn’t mind finding the mysterious stranger again and running her hands over every gorgeous inch of him. “He dropped this,” she pulled a necklace out of her purse. “It must have fallen when we crashed and I stuffed it in my purse on accident.”
Marley examined the charm.
“Kind of a weird thing for a guy to be carrying around,” she said. “It’s pretty though, looks like an antique.”
“I know. What if it’s a family heirloom or something?” Cindy said. “I tried to get his attention, back at the bar, but when things got crazy, I just grabbed you and got the heck out of there.”
She held the strange little copper locket in her hand to study it.
Just then, the elevator dinged before the doors slid open. Automatically, she took a step forward to exit and found herself staring into two startlingly blue eyes.
***
Chest heaving from the run, Ronan came up short at the sight of his quarry. When the women had disappeared behind two sliding doors he’d listened to his instincts and followed the stairs all the way up. Her full lips opened on a gasp of shock at seeing him. The sight sent a tight rush to his groin. He gritted his teeth.
“You have something that belongs to me, cara,” he said.
His eyes took in the surprise on her face then traced a path down her body to the dangerous relic she held. A fierce anger at the gods whose careless games were putting her in danger seized him. He lunged into the doorway to grab the vile from her when, out of nowhere, a sharp knee caught him in the mid-section with enough force to knock the air from his lungs.
“Back off psycho!” the dark haired woman from the bar yelled at him right before she shoved him back and the sliding doors shut in his face.
***
“What just happened?” Cindy screeched.
“I don’t know, I just acted on reflex. That guy was menacing,” Marley panted “I thought he was going to snatch you out of the elevator. Did you see his face? Captain Insane-o!”
Cindy had thought the same thing… well pretty much. Never mind the unexplainable urge she’d had to lean into his hard body for a split second back there. The way he’d looked at her and that voice—it made her feel weak.
He was all hard commanding male, the likes of which she’d never encountered before. She definitely needed a man. It was worse than she’d thought if she was ready to fall into the arms of some crazed stranger. Forget the fact that he was tall, dark and gorgeous. Nice girls don’t go out with lunatics!
“Thanks for drop kicking him for me, Mar.” She let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “I’m not completely helpless you know,” she added, a little miffed at herself for her lack of action in the heat of the moment.
She gave Marley a look as they stepped out of the elevator on the second floor.
“What got into you up there anyway? You were like a prize fighter,” she said in wonderment.
Were all her friends leading double lives? First biker babe Leslie and now Marley was some kind of ninja operative. She’d really become a bore over the years. No wonder she couldn’t carry on a halfway exciting relationship.
“What can I say?” Marley said, acting a little weird, “I’m like a caged panther in a fight.”
“Uh… huh,” was all Cindy could muster up in response.
She gave her head a shake then followed Marley down the hall.
“What should we do,” she said, stopping, “I’m pretty sure he just wants this back.”
She held up the necklace again.
“I’ll just go back and return it to him, I feel like an idiot for running away like that.”
“Hold it right there, missy.” Marley walked back to her, “You are not going anywhere near that freak show! He swooped down on you like a hawk on a chicken. I don’t care what he wants or who he is. I’m calling the police!”
With that pronouncement, her friend whipped out her cell phone and started pushing numbers. Cindy managed to grab the phone and hang up.
“Hang on… wait… just hang on! I need to think a minute,” Cindy said. “Surely we’re overreacting. I mean he can’t honestly mean to harm us.”
She met Marley’s pointed stare.
Just then, sounds of someone pounding down the stairs left little doubt as to who was coming. They ran then jumped back in the elevator again.
***
Ronan swung through the doorway of the staircase in time to catch a glimpse of the retreating women.
“Wait!” he called, “I only want to…”
The doors pulled shut before he could get the words out. This was insanity! He hadn’t been led on such a merry chase in… well never, and certainly not by such a slip of an aggravating female. He’d found the wench intriguing back at the tavern on the beach, was enchanted by her mystery, but now he was so irritated that he didn’t know if he’d be able to keep himself from wringing her neck once he got his hands on her. He’d never manhandle a woman though, and didn’t suffer men who did. He was just anxious to get this whole debacle behind him. Then he’d have a mind to tell the great god of the sea just what he could do with his elixirs and amulets!
He heard voices coming down the hall and dashed back into the stairwell. He had no wish to meet any more modern day humans this night. Climbing back up the stairs, he decided to hide and wait for an opportunity to take the elixir back.
*This scene always makes me chuckle. I love the keystone cops feel to it, with them chasing each other around the hotel. Cindy’s undeniable attraction, Ronan’s mix of attraction to her with his frustration and desperation, Marley’s fierce protection of her friend (a little fore shadowing of her character, I might add)—it all adds up to a tease of a chapter with a flair for the ridiculous. What do you think?
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