That was something he’d never agree with. “Now who needs a lecture in worthiness? Better to be alone than stuck with someone who treats you bad.”
“And that’s why I like you, Nick. You’re not like other kids at school. You see the truth through the lies. You don’t follow along like some sheep blinded by the butts of the herd in front of him.”
That was definitely true, and it was something many of them didn’t hesitate to rub his nose in. Being different was not easy, and it made him a constant, moving target for teenage hatred and ridicule.
Trying not to think about it, he guided her through the Quarter to where their condo was. She parked out front and turned off the car.
“You really do live close to school,” Casey said as she got out and then opened her trunk for him to retrieve his backpack.
“Yeah, I really like it here.” It was a vast improvement over his last home where the guy across the street had been shot and killed in a drug deal gone bad. “Can’t imagine living anywhere else.”
She screwed her face up. “Don’t you ever think about traveling?”
He shrugged nonchalantly. “Why should I? Everything I could possibly want is right here at home.”
His comment shocked her. “You are extremely complacent, aren’t you? Don’t you ever want more?”
Nick looked up at the three-story building in front of him where his condo was one of nine. It was spacious and he had his own room and bath. Not to mention, all the neighbors were really nice and friendly. So her question baffled him. “I have more than I need, and that’s plenty for me. There’s nothing else to want.”
Gaping, she crossed her arms over her chest. “You don’t want to visit Paris? London? Tokyo? Is there really no place on earth you’d like to see?”
He glanced at the green shutters and steps, and thought about his mom. “I guess Rome.”
That seemed to stun her even more. “Really? You like gladiators or something?”
“Nah. Not for me. My mother would love to visit the Vatican and maybe catch a glimpse of the Pope. It’d be the single biggest thrill of her life.”
“Even bigger than when she had you?”
Nick stifled a shiver at the horror his mother must have felt over his birth. He hadn’t even been born in a hospital—because they had no money. She’d delivered him on his aunt Menyara’s couch. There was no way that could be a happy memory for anyone, except the cleaning company. “Having me was no picnic for her, I assure you. While she might not regret it, I know it’s been hard for her. So no, I don’t put having me in the same thrill bank as her meeting the Pope.”
She tsked at him. “What am I going to do with you? Your mother is lucky to have a teenage son who talks to her, never mind one who respects her and doesn’t backtalk her all the time. Trust me, that makes you the best son imaginable.” She closed the trunk. “There’s a whole world out there, Nick. One that’s filled with adventure and sights the likes of which you can’t imagine. I love New Orleans, too. But there’s so much more to visit and learn about. Why confine yourself to one town for the whole of your life?”
Now that she mentioned it, that was what he’d done. He really had never once considered leaving New Orleans, except during their evacuations during hurricane season. And even then, he couldn’t get back home fast enough.
Maybe he should think about more.…
Casey sidled up to him. “So, can I meet your mom?”
He hesitated. “Why?”
“So that the next time I invite you out, you won’t have an easy excuse to blow me off.” She pressed herself against him, making him real uncomfortable again.
“You are very forward, you know that?”
She smiled a smile that turned his blood into lava. “There’s nothing wrong with going after the things you want, and I want you, Nicholas Gautier.”
Yeah, the devil is sitting on icicles today.…
And eating ice cream from his own hand.
Still, he couldn’t believe what she was saying to him. “A little over a year ago, you didn’t even know I existed and I sat behind you in four classes.”
She made a sound of supreme annoyance. “How many times do I have to apologize for that? And don’t forget, I was the one who saved you from getting caught when you were snooping around the coach’s office. And … it was I who helped you gather the items you needed to keep you out of jail or the morgue.”
Nick couldn’t meet her gaze as the truth slapped him hard. She had done all of those things for him. And just like him, she could have gone to jail or been killed had anyone caught her. Like it or not, he did owe her for taking those chances.
Casey walked her fingers up his chest to his chin, then she buried her hand in his hair and whispered in his ear. “Introduce me, Nick. I promise I won’t bite or embarrass you.”
It was hard to think clearly with chills all over his body and with her standing so close to him, breathing in his ear. Honestly, there was only one thing on his mind, and it wasn’t introducing her to his mother.
“You could never embarrass me. My God, woman, have you seen my wardrobe? Dignity waved bye-bye to me a long time ago.”
She laughed as she fingered his ear. “Ah … Nick. You are so funny and intelligent. The world is lucky to have you in it.”
For the first time, he felt a degree of pride. It was so nice to be with someone who saw only the good in him. His mother, with her well-meaning intentions of trying to make him a better man, dogged the crap out of him all the time. Kody had been kind to him, but she’d never hesitated to be brutally honest, either, and he didn’t even want to think about Caleb’s and Ambrose’s dire warnings about him becoming a monster who would one day devour the world. While they would compliment him from time to time, it was nothing like what Casey did.
She alone hadn’t assumed his breakup with Kody had been caused by his actions. In her eyes, he was good and decent, and nothing else.
How refreshing.
“Okay.” Taking her hand, he led her to the door and punched the keycode in. He opened the heavy iron door and let her enter first. “We’re the first condo on the second floor.”
He followed her up the stairs, digging his keys out of his pocket so that he could unlock the door when they reached it.
Casey stood back while he opened the door. He went in and dropped his backpack by the couch.
“Hey, Ma?”
“In my room, Boo,” she called from down the hallway. “I’ll be out in a second.”
He shut the door while Casey looked around their place, and he tried to imagine it through her eyes. Her dad was a surgeon and they lived in a really humongous house that made his whole building look small. Her bedroom was probably bigger than their living room and kitchen combined. “I know it’s not much, but—”
“Nick,” she chided. “It’s beautiful. I love the bright colors. Your mom has good taste, and whatever she’s cooking smells incredible.”
He dropped his keys on the table by the door. “It’s catfish gumbo. She always makes it on Thursday nights so that we can eat on it all day Friday.”
She scowled. “Why’s that?”
He pointed first to the crucifix next to the door, then to the shrine of Mary and Jesus in the corner of their living room that came complete with saint candles and a small St. Michael font of Holy Water. “Catholic. We can’t have meat on Fridays, only fish.”
“I thought the Church stopped doing that?”
“Church might have, but not my mom. She’s really old-fashioned that way. Heck, she still won’t even enter the church without something covering her head. And if you’re not Catholic, please don’t tell her. It’ll break her heart.”
Casey laughed. “Okay then. Thanks for the warning.”
His mom came down the hall and slowed as she caught sight of Casey. Tiny and blond, his mother looked a lot younger than her thirty years. Most people assumed her to be his older sister until he called her Mom, then they were stunned.
She barely reached the middle of his chest these days and even Casey was several inches taller. Still, his mother was absolutely fearless, especially when it came to protecting him.
“Mom, this is Casey Woods. She goes to school with me.”
“Hi, Mrs. Gautier.”
His mom didn’t seem to hear either of them. Rather, she gasped at Nick and cupped his cheek in her hand. “What in the world happened to you, boy?” Scowling, she tried to peek beneath the bandage on his cheek.
“Nothing, Ma. Ms. Rosa fixed me up. I just cut my hand and scraped my cheek.”
That didn’t seem to placate her in the least. “Doing what?”
Dodging death, but that would only make her worse than she already was. So he defaulted to another half-truth. “Some glass broke and I was cleaning it up.”
His mom sighed. “Nicholas Ambrosius Aloysius Gautier…”
Ooo, she broke out the full Catholic confirmation name. That was never a good sign.
“You are trying to shorten my life, aren’t you?”
“Never, Mom.” In fact, he was doing everything he could to make sure she lived well into old age.
His future self had even come back in time for it.
Growling at him, she slid her gaze over toward Casey. “Hi, Casey. I’m sorry. I wasn’t ignoring you. I was just worried about my boy … which seems to be my full-time occupation these days.” She smiled, but the gesture didn’t quite reach her blue eyes. “You should have warned me we were having company, Boo.”
“I didn’t know. Sorry. She picked me up from work and drove home, then I thought you’d like to meet her since you’re weird that way.”
His mom narrowed her eyes at him, then spun around to Casey. “You have your license, I take it?”
“Yes, ma’am. I passed with flying colors.”
Her glare intensified. “How long have you been driving?”
“A couple of months.”
“And you feel competent to drive with other teenagers in the car?”
Gaping, Casey looked at him.
Nick held his hands up in surrender. “I warned you she’d play Ask a Thousand Questions.”
Finally, a real smile broke across his mother’s face. “I’m just messing with you, Casey. Sorry … So what do your parents do?”
Casey relaxed a degree. “My father’s a surgeon and my mom’s a philanthropist.”
“A what?” his mom asked.
Nick leaned toward her and whispered loudly, “It’s rich-people code, Ma. It means they have so much money that they look for ways to give some of it away.”
Her jaw went slack, then she turned toward Casey. “Is that true?”
Casey screwed her face up in discomfort. “Kind of. But she helps a lot of good organizations with her work … including Catholic Charities.”
That succeeded in changing his mother’s entire demeanor. One thing about Cherise Gautier, she was a virulent defender of the Faith and Church. “That’s wonderful. How very kind and decent of her.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, I need to go check on the gumbo to make sure I don’t burn it. Would you like to stay for dinner?”
Nick cringed at the question. While he liked Casey, she did make him really uncomfortable at times.
But for once, Casey gave him a reprieve. “Thank you for the offer, Mrs. Gautier. Unfortunately, I have a lot of homework I need to get started on. It was a pleasure meeting you, though.”
“You, too.” His mom headed for the kitchen.
Alone with Casey, Nick fell into his usual awkward silence.
She wrinkled her nose at him. “Don’t worry, hon. It’s all good. I really like your mom. She’s great.” Rising up on her tiptoes, she kissed his lips. She pulled back and bit her lip as she scanned his body with a hungry look. “Tomorrow, you will belong to me, Nick, and after work and practice, we’re going to have some real fun.”
Before he could recover his senses, she left.
Nick stood there for a full minute in complete stupefaction. What was going on? Had he gotten sucked into an alternate universe or what?
Forget whatever was after him … this had to be a sign of the Apocalypse.
He was going to meet his death, all right. Only it would be death by pleasure. And it would come from the hands of their head cheerleader.
CHAPTER 6
Ignoring the men who turned to stare after her, Zarelda sauntered through the crowded tables at the Café Du Monde until she found Grim waiting in the far corner, eating beignets. She sat down in the empty seat that was opposite of him.
