Page 86 of Wounded Soul
“Yeah.” He paused. “But underneath all that, I’m still Ian, still your best friend who loves you more than any other woman on the planet.”
Cate sniffled again, but this time Jesse caught the beginnings of a smile. “For fuck’s sake, Ian. I thought nothing would ever top Blake’s news, but there you go having to get one over on him.” She seemed to realise what she said and gasped. “Fuck,Blake. What the hell is he going to say when he finds out? And please don’t say I have to keep this a secret from him, Ian, because I don’t think I can.”
He heard the smile in Ian’s voice when he spoke. “I’m not asking you to keep it from Blake. In fact, I need you to tell him.”
For the first time since Jesse had walked into the bar, he had real hope that this plan might actually work.
Jesse kept himself as far away as possible while Ian told Cate about their plan and what he needed her to do. She kept shooting him wary looks, but at least she’d relaxed a little around him. He had no doubt that would all change as soon as Ian wasn’t there as a buffer—even if it was on the other end of a phone—but as long as she made that phone call and the two of them convinced Blake to help. That was all that mattered.
JESSE LEFT CATE in the staff room and walked out into the bar. Her replacement gave him a knowing look as he passed, and Jesse shot her a wink in return. Let her think what she wanted. At least it might explain why Cate looked exhausted.
After Cate had concurred that they could probably trust Blake not to immediately turn them all in, she’d agreed to call him, to feel him out before telling him the truth. The whole call had set Jesse’s teeth on edge, but he’d stayed silent, trusting Ian’s faith in his friends. Satisfied Blake’s priorities lay with Ian over work, Cate had told him and conferenced Ian in to the call.
Blake couldn’t see Ian for himself, but he took Cate’s word for it. The rest of the call had gone exactly as expected—a repeat of telling Cate, tears included.
The most important part though, the only thing Jesse cared about, was that Blake had agreed to meet them and take Ian somewhere safe until this mess was sorted out. Then he could take Ian in and get him properly registered, hopefully without jeopardising his job.
I just need him away from the coven. Away from Peter.
He called Lys as soon as he was outside the bar. “Hey,” he said when she answered. “I think that went about as well as expected.” She hummed down the phone. “Did you hear it all?”
“Yeah, Ian put his phone on speaker, bless him.”
Jesse heard Ian’s protests in the background, and he smiled. “Leave him be, he’s still adjusting.”
“You should’ve been teaching him useful shit instead of whatever else you two were up to while I was gone.” Lys’s voice was laced with amusement. “Anyway,” she said, serious again. “We’re gonna sneak out in a sec. You’re sure it’s safe to meet there?”
“As safe as anywhere. No one’ll bat an eye at Blake and Cate turning up at their best mates house, and Ian lives there, so...”
“Fine. Assuming traffic is light, we’ll meet you there within the hour.”
“Okay. Be careful.”
She tsked. “Of course.”
“And don’t leave me alone with Blake too long.” He glanced at the passers-by, checking no one was paying him undue attention. “I don’t want him changing his mind and arresting me instead.”
“You didn’t tell Cate that you—”
“No.” He hadn’t wanted to go there yet. He and Ian had only mentioned Peter and allowed both Cate and Blake their assumptions. “I’ll tell them the truth when Ian’s safe.” They’d never have agreed to help him if they’d known he was the reason Ian was a vampire.
“Take care,” Lys whispered.
“You too.”
They hung up and Jesse glanced around him, wondering what to do for an hour while he waited for Lys and Ian to get to Ian’s flat. The bar was out of the question. Cate would be none too pleased to see him back in there now she knew what he was.
The flat that he technically owned, along with a couple of the others from the coven, was only a thirty-minute walk. Less if he jogged. Might as well make use of it.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Ian watched with growing nervousness as Lys searched through the pockets of her jacket for the second time.
“Where the fuck are they?” She threw it onto the bed and ran a hand through her hair. “I put the car keys in my bloody pocket before I left my room, I know I did.”
“Could they have fallen out in here?”
“I don’t see how.” She walked over to the door, then began to retrace her steps. “I came in, took my jacket off, and tossed it onto the arm of the chair.” The chair in question was over the other side of the room near the window, where Lys now stood. “If they’d fallen out, we’d have heard them and be able to see the fucking things now.”
