No, I wasn’t in California, like I’d told them. But as it turned out, people were willing to surf here in Delaware too no matter the weather—especially wealthy middle-aged lawyers looking for a second lease on life, which seemed to be, like, half the state. So not only did I finally learn how to winter surf like the best of them, I could charge top dollar for my classes. Unlike in Hawaii, you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a former pro turned surf instructor here. So, I’d concentrated all my anger and energy on the goal of paying Han back, which would be sometime before the end of the year if my calculations were correct.
But that didn’t mean I was going to forgive Han. Like, ever. To think I’d been so worried about him after his near-death experience, so grateful he’d made it out alive. And then he—
The memory of the last time I saw Phantom slammed into me like that F-150 truck.
“You’ll do as I say,” Han had told me that day after Phantom introduced the man in the suit. “That’s an order.”
He’d known. Known I’d be too honorable to refuse the order and therefore break the terms of our deal that I had to do whatever he said until I paid him back.
I’d thought I’d been figuring him out during our months of cohabitation, but the joke was on me. He’d been doing the same thing. Turned out that between all that hot sex, he’d broken down my personal code of ethics. And he’d used that knowledge against me the last time Phantom was here.
So now, my number one goal for the rest of our hopefully short time together was to never be in his vicinity for long enough that I had to do anything he said.
With that in mind, I deposited my hooded Patagonia surf suit, gloves, and booties in the wet room right next to the front door and hoped to God that Han and Phantom were meeting in the second-floor bedroom he’d transformed into an office.
But no such luck.
“There she is!” Phantom’s voice boomed out from the front room just as I passed by in a mad dash toward the stairs. “I was wondering if I’d see you before I left.”
I paused at the living room doorway and found the two of them drinking tea like old friends. Why was Phantom here anyway? Was he just checking up on Han? Had there been another huge gasp reveal in the ongoing saga that was Victor and Dawn? If so, I actually did want to hear about that. I still couldn’t believe the story Wang told me before he returned to Rhode Island.
But hell if I was willing to interact with them to get the latest update. Instead, I decided to keep right on going toward the stairs, like I heard him, but you know—had decided not to give Han’s dirty, down-low enabler the basic courtesy of a hello.
“Jasmine, stop,” Han said before I could make it two more steps towards the stairs. “That’s an order.”
Crap. Over the last few hostile months, Han had learned to tack the order part on all of his commands after finding out that I’d keep on walking without it.
I sighed and turned around for another conversation where Han would do all the talking while I just stared at him until he stopped and let me go without ordering me to come back.
“So she’s still not talking to you, huh?” Phantom asked, in English—probably because he wanted me to understand.
“She’s very stubborn,” Han answered, standing up. I didn’t want to notice, but I couldn’t help but note that he could do that without wincing now. Also, unlike that terrible day when he called me into his room, his face was all healed up, and he was back to his former Fae King level of beauty.
Not that it matters, I reminded myself while fixing my face with a scowl. I’m so, so over Fae Kings now.
“Wang told me she is thriving before he left,” Han answered Phantom, despite my hostile silence. “Still teaching several surf classes, even as the temperatures go down. It is very impressive. And her birthday is in two days.”
I almost showed my surprise at him knowing that my birthday was going down in a couple more days. But why was I surprised? Hadn’t Phantom waved my stolen passport in the air when I questioned the legality of what Han was making me do that day.
“No shit?” Phantom asked, looking directly at me. “Happy Birthday, Jazz.”
“Thank you,” I muttered, only because I wanted to make sure Han knew that I was willing to talk to anyone and everyone save him for the rest of my life. Hell, if K Diamond walked in, I’d probably say hello and offer him coffee. I was that pissed off at Han.
