Pretty in the Dark (Dark and Wild #2)

Chapter 8

8

JUNIPER

I looked down at the message notification as my phone vibrated on the cushion next to me.

Cade: “I haven’t gotten that code yet.”

Me: …

Me: I don’t think so, bossy pants.

Cade: If I have to break in, I will, but I’d rather not. So be a good girl and send it.

Me: I told you, I have plans.

Cade: No, you don’t. I know you, Juniper, just like I know that right now you’re in your pajamas, eating ice cream, with no plans to go anywhere until at least work this weekend.

I huffed and stared at my phone in annoyance, before picking up the carton of ice-cream I’d carried into the room with me, taking another bite. Damn him. After heading home, showering and wolfing down the delicious stew Bess had waiting for us, I’d changed into my pj’s for what was becoming my nightly routine. Combing through Edmund's office for any other clues to his disappearance that I could find. This time, I had a fire roaring though, and most of the dust and old files were cleaned up. The longer I spent here, the less of his presence I felt. As though with each file I went through, and each cobweb I cleared out, a little bit of the shadows that I felt clinging to the walls, receded. I cast a look around the dark walls and decided that it was time to take back this space completely.

Dead or alive, Edmunds presence had to be purged from our lives. And if he was really alive and hadn’t contacted us by now, then I could only guess that he had no intention of coming back here anyway, and wouldn’t mind the makeover. My phone buzzed again.

Cade: Pretty girl…

Me: I am not sending my alarm code to a crazy stalker.

Cade: Are you saying that I’m a crazy person?

Me : If the shoe fits…

Cade: I look forward to what’s coming later.

Me: What’s that supposed to mean?

Cade: You’ll see.

I rolled my eyes and didn’t respond. He was nuts if he thought I was going to send my code to him. I didn’t want to tell him why, though. That every night since I’d found the skull painted on my car, there had been footprints that I didn’t recognize in my garden and outside my window. That I’d found notes telling me I needed to leave, or watch my back, left in places around my house. Places only I would walk out to and see. That several nights, when I couldn’t sleep, I’d go for a walk in the garden only to think I saw a figure on the roof, lurking outside of Dean’s room. I’d taken to sleeping with a gun in my nightstand and changing my alarm code often.

I stood up and stretched. It was getting late and once again, my searches had proven unfruitful. All I’d managed to uncover, were some old receipts and the business card to some club in Denver stuck in the back of an old appointment book.

I thought about David Black’s arrest record and then glanced down at the photo once more. All of them were there together. At some point in the past, Edmund and David had liked each other enough to be photographed together. So what happened between the two men that made Edmund use me against him? What did David do that made Edmund hate him so much?

Unfortunately, neither man was available to question it. But maybe there was another possibility. My eyes narrowed as I observed the dark-haired mystery man once more. Something about him drew my eyes to him every time, and it wasn’t that he was an unknown figure. There was something oddly familiar about him. As if I’d seen those eyes and that face somewhere before, but I couldn’t place where.

I huffed. I didn’t even have a name. Just a photograph.

I blinked. A photograph—A photograph with four people standing in front of a fireplace.

There was another photograph with four people standing in front of a fireplace. Four people in masks. With invitations on the front of them, like the invitation tucked away in my bedside table drawer.

And there were names on the back of that photograph.

Excitement coursed through me. I had to find that picture.

But where would mom have put it?

Leaving the office, I walked down the hall to my bedroom. The bedroom that had once been my mother’s area of the house. It hadn’t been that long since I’d moved in, and much of the room was just as she’d left it. I stood in the center of the room and looked around at the bed draped with a soft down comforter and the pale blue walls. I tried to recall what she had done with the photo when I’d shown it to her, and turned in a slow circle until my eyes landed on something glinting from the adjoining bathroom. A golden-framed photograph of her smiling in the sunshine.

I hurried into the bathroom and snatched up the picture frame, turning it over and sliding the cardboard backing off, my fingers trembling with excitement and nervousness. Please, please, please. I whispered over and over in my head as a silent prayer, and felt my stomach flip when I pulled out the faded photograph, its edges tucked in to make it fit inside the tiny frame. Carefully, so carefully so that it didn’t rip, I opened the creased edges and was once again staring at the sinister, white-masked figures. Turning the pages over, I nearly screamed with excitement. The names were still there.

E. Wild.

B. DeClare.

D. Black.

N. Diovolo.

I blinked. And blinked again. Diovolo. As in Kage Diavolo.

And B. DeClare. Blaire DeClare. I hadn’t recognized the name at the time because I’d been too young to realize that her name hadn’t always been Wild. That she’d been something other before marrying Edmund. That was why she’d looked so frightened when she saw the photo. She hadn’t wanted me to recognize her.

But now I knew who the person in the photo was, and I couldn’t believe it. Whoever N. Diovolo was, he had a relation to Kage Diovolo. There was no way he hadn’t.

And now, I knew who might have the answers to who the mystery man was. Only he was probably the one person I didn’t want to ask for help with this, because there was no telling what he’d want in return. Or if this was even information he wanted out in the open. He might kill me before helping me. I swallowed. But there was nothing I could do. I had to know.

I had to uncover the truth, even if it cost me.

And I knew who to ask to get me the answers I needed.

I picked up my phone and hit the dial. It had been weeks since I’d heard my friend's voice, but I knew she’d answer.

Stacy picked up on the first ring. “This had better be good, bitch, because I’m so pissed that you abandoned me to this hellhole.” Music was thumping in the background and I knew she was at the Pit working.

I snorted. “Are you saying you’d like me to come back and take over as bar manager?”

“Fuck no. I like the money. But I wouldn’t mind if you kicked some of these assholes in the head a time or two. My god they’re such babies…one sec.” I heard her shout some instructions to some bartenders, and then the music faded as she disappeared into the stockroom to talk to me.

“Okay. What’s up, babe? Ready to come back to the real world or are you still going to yippee kai-yay it out there in the wild west?”

I shook my head, grinning, and gently traced the outline of the photo on my bathroom counter. “I’m afraid I’m here for good, doll. But I wouldn’t mind making a trip to come see you. Or , you could pack up your scrawny ass and come here? Maybe you’d actually like it.”

It was her turn to snort and I could almost see her shaking her head, her piercings dancing. “No way. Small city life is not for me. But I’d love to see you. Things have been mostly quiet since you made Jax sing soprano. I could use some fun and shenanigans.”

Grabbing the photograph, I left my bedroom and made my way back to the office. It was probably the warmest room in the house when the fire was going. “Jax hasn’t been around since I left?” I frowned, thinking about the last night I’d seen him and the rough-looking men he’d been with. Shit. I’d almost forgotten about that in the daze of dealing with Edmund’s death and opening up the Emporium.

“No, why, you missing him? Not getting any good dick back there in the wild, wild west? ‘Cause let me tell you, there’s pleeeenty to go around here.``

I laughed. “Ha! Hardly. I’m just glad he hasn’t been around to harass you. And trust me, the dick here is definitely wild. I’m good on that part.”

“Ohhh…don’t tell me you actually got back with that douche bag that left you high and dry all those years ago.” Stacy’s voice was teasing, but there was a tinge of concern in her words.

“Well…it’s complicated.” Complicated was the only way I could describe it. Complicated. Beautiful. Delicate in the way the wildflowers bloomed in the valley in the spring. I pushed down the feeling of giddy excitement. This wasn’t the time to unload my rollercoaster of thoughts and emotions when it came to Cade Black.

“Oh suck a butternut, June. You’re getting down and dirty with the ex. Please tell me the dick is worth it, at least.”

I rolled my eyes and moved to stand in front of the roaring fireplace. The flames leapt, and I couldn’t help but think of the flames and smoke that danced in and out of Cade's tattoos on his arms.

“Stacy, I didn’t call to talk about my sex life.”

She snorted again. “Rude. What else are we going to talk about? You want to hear about how Big Jim got some gross cyst on his ass and has been walking around dropping his pants for anyone that is brave enough to take a look?”

“What? Ew! Stacy, no!” My eyes burned with the visualization. “Listen, I need a favor.” I rushed to finish before she could start giving me any details on Big Jim’s new party trick, or sending me pictures.

“Oh? What’s up?” I could hear her voice perk up with curiosity.

“I need you to get me a meeting with Kage Diovolo.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line.

“What the fuck, June. What kind of trouble are you in? Are you crazy?”

“Stacy, please. It’s important. He has information I need.” I leaned down to grab an iron fireplace poker and jabbed at the crackling logs. Sparks shot up, and the embers burned brighter. Their orange and red glow drew my gaze, and I found myself sitting down in Edmund’s leather chair to watch them.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you there in Wild, but Kage is the one person you should stay far, far away from. He almost never comes to The Pit, you know that. He lets us exist autonomously, so long as there’s no trouble and the books balance. But he’s been here three or four times in the past couple of months. And he’s scary as fuck. Hot. But scary. You need to stay far away from him.”

I sighed. “Stacy, please…I need this, and I have no other way of getting in contact with him. Please don’t make me call Big Jim.”

I could hear her pacing up and down the rows of metal shelving.

“Fine. Fine. I don’t want to, but I’ll do it. But you should know something, June.” She paused, and the fear was palpable on the other end of the phone. “He wasn’t just here checking on business. He was asking a lot of questions, a lot of personal questions…” she took a deep breath, “... and he wanted to know about you.”

I sat up and gripped the poker tighter. “Me?”

“Yeah, you miss sunshine-out-of-her-ass. You still want me to contact him? Because I think you being in Wild and as far away from anything Kage Diovolo is involved in, is the best thing for you.”

She was probably right. Kage asking questions about me wasn’t a good sign, and I didn’t know what it meant. But there was only one way to find out. And I had questions of my own to ask.

“Just get me a meeting, Stacy. I can take care of myself.” I sat back with a frown, my eyes trained on the flickering flames as I thought about what Stacy had just told me. Did Kage know about my mother? Did he know about Edmund?

She sighed. “Okay, June, just please be careful. Okay?”

“Always. Love you, bitch.”

“Love you too, bitch.” The line went dead.

Kage Diovolo asking questions about me was something I’d never expected or wanted to hear. But it might just work in my favor.

A log popped in the fireplace and I sat back, curling my legs beneath me as the flames leapt higher and my gaze fixed on them.

I didn’t even realize when I fell asleep.