It was nearly dinnertime when Cassie heard rustling sounds coming from the bedroom. He shuffled into the bathroom where she heard splashing and gargling noises before the door opened.
He emerged from the hallway running a hand through his light brown waves. He'd changed his clothes to faded black jeans and a fitted gray tshirt that had Cassie looking hard at the commercial for pudding on the television.
"I thought I heard you out here." He too watched the commercial, finding it easier to talk to the screen than the woman in his chair. "Sorry, I don't usually go too far with booze." He grimaced at the memory of her and the cab driver pouring him into bed. "Too many guys fall into bad habits working where we do." He said nothing about his history.
She was getting up, her eyes wide and nervous. That she couldn't look at him bothered him. "Are you hungry? It's almost dinner, have you eaten at all today?" She finally directed her gaze at him, concern lined her brow and her eyes were warm.
Drew was attracted to her, a new feeling for him since it wasn't purely sexual. Not that he hadn't thought of that too. She was nicely built, not too frail like a lot of girls he saw at the club. And after the way he'd seen her handle herself with the drunk on the dance floor he could imagine where she'd gotten that body. Hard work, not some crazy diet.
His stomach growled and she smiled, dissipating the tension in the room with that one casual gesture.
"Let me see what you've got around here."
"Don't bother. I'm never home, I don't have any groceries."
She moved toward the kitchen anyway, intent upon making her own inspection. A few sliding jars he knew to be pickles and olives and the door shut. She stood back up and put her hands on her hips. "All you have are garnishes and beer."
Nervous, his hand found its way to his hair, a habit he hated. Self-conscious, he put his hand in his pocket. "I told you, I'm never home."
"Well what do you propose we do about dinner?"
"I have menus." He pointed and walked into the kitchen to open the drawer next to the coffee mugs. Drew took them down and set them on the counter.
Cassie began flipping through them. "What are you in the mood for?" She made a move he'd seen her do a few times now that didn't make sense. She brushed her hand across her bangs like she was sweeping them aside although they barely reached her brows.
"Did you get a haircut recently?" He pointed at her hand falling to her side.
Her cheeks flushed and his interest peaked. "Until last week I hadn't had bangs since I was a kid. I suppose it looks silly now."
"What happened last week?"
"Oh, I almost set myself on fire doing a spell." She said flippantly, pointing at her hair though he heard more behind the offhand delivery. "This started before Julia was able to stop it, hence the new haircut."
Drew stared at the side of her face as she went back to perusing the food choices. How could someone be so easygoing about all of this magick stuff? Sure, the last few years he'd known something was different about his brother and he'd even suspected it about himself since that time with Aunt Tina, but magick? Real freaking magick? And here she was talking about it like it was normal, like he would talk about a football game.
"How about Indian?" She pointed to one. "I love curry."
"Me too." He liked the way she looked up at him and smiled. She had a nice natural look, not like she did last night with all the makeup or the way the girls who came to the club painted themselves. No, this one was different all right. He cringed to think how different. Leaning back against the counter he pulled the phone from his pocket. "Do you know what you want?"
She nodded and he dialed from memory.
While they waited for their food Drew wandered into the living room, settling for a spot on the stiff couch he'd paid too much for but the saleswoman had told him was the epitome of Italian style. He'd seen Cassie on his chair and let her keep it. When she followed him out she pointed at it.
"Don't you want your chair?"
He shrugged. "I sit wherever, it doesn't matter."
"You sit here all the time, don't lie to me." She crossed her arms in mock severity.
"How do you know?"
"It's the only thing in the room that says you." He watched her cheeks pink again.
Drew watched her shift uncomfortably on her feet for a minute before he reached over for the remote and used it to point at the chair. "Have a seat." He couldn't stop his mind from considering what would happen if he invited her to sit with him. She plopped down a safe distance away in his chair.
They watched the better part of a show on penguins in Antarctica though the details escaped him. Thoughts swirled through his head about his brother and whatever chaos magick was, their dead parents and again whether Brandon had caused it even if by accident. Then there were thoughts of this woman and her coworkers, one of whom practiced vodou while the other scared him in a way he couldn't put his finger on.
Despite his better judgment, Drew felt like he could trust Cassie, if not her odd partners. It wasn't just the fact that he was interested in her, he felt an inexplicable kinship with her. It could have been the hint of sadness he caught sometimes when she didn't think anyone was looking. It was a feeling he knew from personal experience came from deep wounds in the soul. Drew felt a renewal in his draw to her when he'd seen her at the police station. The real her, not some show she was putting on. She'd walked in and he knew he was going to walk out with her regardless of what he'd said at the club. Her partners were something else, but she stood apart from the others he'd known through the years. He wanted to know her, bizarre stories and all.
She jumped when the door buzzer echoed through the room. "Dinner." He pushed himself up off the couch.
Cassie was quicker and pulled a few bills from her back pocket. "You stay put, I got it."
He thought about arguing except honestly his head was killing him since the aspirin he'd taken in the bathroom hadn't had a chance to kick in. Drew figured if he heard any more about magick his head was literally going to blow up.
The thought brought back images he would rather forget. "Okay."
She eyed him for a minute then turned and walked out. When Cassie returned, bag in hand, Drew had pulled two plates out as well as silverware and set their places on the counter.
"What can I get you to drink?" He had two glasses in his hands. "All I've got is water and beer." He looked sheepish. "Sorry," he raised the glasses in a shrug, "I haven't entertained in a while."
"Is it tap water?" She swallowed her pleasure at hearing he hadn't had company here recently, scolding herself for her foolishness.
"Yeah."
She shook her head. "Sorry, too many minerals and chemicals in this area. I'd have to boil it first." She watched him thinking about that and wished they could somehow stop talking about how different things were when one lived a magick friendly lifestyle.
It did permeate all they did, true. It took some minor precautions and adjustments and then it was perfectly normal and easy to live that way. Like keeping kosher. She'd been raised in it so it was the only way she'd ever known. "I'll take a beer." She set the bag on the counter. "The heating process cleans it."
Removing the containers, Cassie lined them up and paused to inhale the fantastic smells emanating from the steaming contents. Even the rice was making her mouth water.
"What did you get again?" She popped the lids off of the plastic bottoms, far less leaky than the old cardboard containers and less fun.
"It's called Paneer Bagh-E-Bahar." He laughed at her perplexed look. "Take some, there's more than enough to share."
Drew was pleasantly surprised to see her take a healthy scoop of each dish and put them on not just hers but on his plate as well, adding a scoop of rice down the middle. Something about sharing food was intimate for him, surely due to the times when food had been scarce and he and Brandon barely had enough to get by. The thought of sharing with her was easy. She was helping Brandon, maybe even him. It was her job yet it felt like she really cared.
That automatically got her a lot of credit in his book. It had been a long time since anyone else had believed in Brandon as a person.
They sat at the barstools on the other side of the island eating in comfortable silence with the television blathering on in the background.
"What do you think they're doing right now, your partners?" Drew asked, taking a swig of his beer. He leaned back against the metal back of his stool having eaten enough to take the edge off his hunger.
Cassie finished chewing her chicken curry, also grabbing her beer bottle to take a drink and wash down the cacophony of flavors coating her mouth. "They'll be following the scent the witch left at the scene."
Drew frowned at her, clearly confused.
"It's something he does." She explained. "He's one of the best at differentiating us by the 'scent' of the energies we use. If he gets a scent, he can follow it anywhere."
"So does everybody have different kinds of magick? I thought there were only like four or five different types."
Cassie's brow flicked up in surprise. Drew was a believer. Self-conscious, he shrugged. "What, I hung out with a girl
into the new age thing a while back. Some of it rubbed off."
She halted her lip from curling at the reminder of his "way with women." She considered briefly teaching him a little about blocking. It wasn't her place but he and the women around him could use it. "There are lots of basic types and then you've got the personal spin everyone puts on theirs depending on their culture and family influences." Cassie pushed her plate away, her stomach sufficiently packed. If Drew was ready to discuss this, she would. After all, the better he understood what they were dealing with the better he could understand when the time came for difficult decisions to be made. She could only hope that he wouldn't hold her personally responsible when things ended badly for Brandon.
"What if he gets the 'scent' of the combined magick Brandon and Pritchard used and can't find them if they're not together anymore?"
Surprised at his comprehension, Cassie spun her chair to face him and he did the same, their knees nearly touching. "Good question. Think of it like cooking. You can identify the different ingredients within a recipe by smell if you're familiar with them, and Quan is familiar with lots of different types of magick. He'll be able to track them together or apart." She was sure of her answer having seen Quan track a self-proclaimed Wiccan high priest across two states eventually finding him holed up with one of his followers, a young girl barely over seventeen who had about as much magickal ability as a rodent but was willing to kill for him.
Drew's hand held a faint tremor as he raised his bottle to his mouth for a long pull. For someone who proclaimed not to hit it hard he was certainly pouring it down today. He must be pretty stressed, who wouldn't be.
Having the same thought, Drew set down his beer and pushed it away from himself on the counter. "I'm gonna have to get some soda or bottled water or something. That's just going to get me in trouble." He swung down from his seat bringing him a hand span from Cassie's face. Her pulse jumped.
She ducked her head trying to hide the effect he had on her, she was like a teenager around him. Even Todd, her old boyfriend, hadn't made her dizzy like this. She couldn't deny that some of her interest in him at the club hadn't been feigned. He was easy on the eyes and what she'd seen of what she wanted to believe was the real him was intriguing. Cassie reminded herself that none of that mattered. Drew was a client now and the rules on that were clear. No touching. That, and the fact that he was going to hate her very soon made the right choice obvious.
Drew's eyes had darkened to the color of slate as he looked down at her, frozen on the edge of her chair. She couldn't keep her gaze from returning to his in spite of herself. When he reduced the space between them to virtually nothing Cassie was compelled to look up or have her nose pushed into his shirt. What she saw in his expression warmed her body, her breath came faster. She was painfully aware of every beat of his heart, the heat his body was pushing out at her, fanning her own temperature until she was uncomfortable in so much clothing. His entire being seemed to call out to her.
"How far were you willing to go last night? In the line of duty?" His voice had gone husky.
She stared at the thrumming pulse in his neck. "I'm an Investigator, not a prostitute. There is only so far I'll go for a job." It had been a long time since she'd been with anyone and her body had made up its mind.
"Are there any rules about this?" His fingertips reached out to her chin, sliding backward along the curve of her jaw, holding her perfectly still with only his touch.
She could tell Julia she did it to inspire his loyalty, never mind that made her exactly what she denied being. It wouldn't be the first time an Investigator had crossed the line for good cause. She punched another hole in her resilience. Swallowing, Cassie took a moment to find her voice. "You aren't a part of our investigation so there are no rules on what I'm allowed to do if I want." The lie rolled out easily.
"Do you?" He leaned in, lips mere inches from hers.
She was losing the battle between mind and body. "Do I what?"
"Do you want?" As he spoke, the air moved against her lips.
"Yes." She closed her eyes and whispered the word, barely getting it out before his lips closed on hard on hers. Her brain gave up the fight and fell back to let her body take over. Cassie felt her skin alternate between burning and freezing where his flesh touched hers and then fell away.
They moved to the couch, the bedroom too far for the need overtaking them both. When his legs bumped against the edge Drew stumbled and Cassie took advantage, pushing him down with both hands on his shoulders drawing no objection from him. She'd only ever been with one other man but her hands held no traces of timidity as she pulled off her top and then reached out to do the same to him. Pleased she saw excitement ignite in his eyes at having her take control, she let herself go taking the initiative to find out what gave him pleasure. The woman she became under his touch unlike the one so crippled by a lifetime of self-doubt.