Sheldon spoke softly in the living room. “Cam? It’s Sheldon. I found him.”
John looked toward the living room. “It isn’t safe.”
“That isn’t for you to decide,” Jenna reminded him.
Again Sheldon spoke. “I need you to keep this from Reordon if you can. Richart didn’t want him to know. He’s been seeing someone. I think the drug got his wires all crossed and he accidentally teleported to her place. . . . No. She cleaned him up and has been watching over him. . . . No . . . I’m sure. She hasn’t told anyone. Nor will she. She cares about him as much as he cares for her.”
“John,” Jenna said firmly, “go. I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into, but I’m not going to let it threaten your future.” He opened his mouth to protest. “Go!” she insisted.
Sighing, he pointed to the drawer in which he’d placed the dagger. “If you need it . . .”
She nodded.
He padded down the hallway to his bedroom, went inside, and closed the door.
“I’ll stay with him,” Sheldon said. “No, he’s safe. No one else can track him here. Besides, you can’t do anything for him there that we haven’t already done for him here. . . . No way . . . I don’t give a damn. Richart doesn’t want Reordon anywhere near her. Why the hell do you think I’m using a prepaid, untraceable cell phone? Richart would kick my ass from here to Antibes if I let any harm come to her.”
Was Reordon Richart’s enemy? Sheldon seemed to think she needed protection from him, whoever he was.
“Have Étienne and Lisette regained consciousness?” He swore. “What about Roland and Marcus?”
Jenna combed her fingers through Richart’s hair. Étienne and Lisette were his brother and sister. He had spoken of them with great affection. She hated to hear that they, too, had been harmed.
“Listen, there’s something else,” Sheldon said, voice somber. “I think Ami may be dead. Apparently Richart tried to teleport her with him, but the drug was f**king with him too much and she didn’t make it here. . . . What? . . . He did? . . . Uh-huh. . . . No, I didn’t bring my cell with me. I didn’t want Reordon to be able to locate me. I’ll just call every hour to check in.”
John returned to Jenna’s bedroom, clothed in jeans and a heavy sweater with a book bag looped over his shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay with this? I don’t feel right about leaving. I’d rather risk losing my scholarship than risk losing you. You’re more important.”
Jenna crossed to him and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “I’m fine. Sheldon will be here with me.”
“Mom, we don’t know Sheldon from Adam. For all we know, he’s—”
“I trust him,” she said. “If you’re worried, just call me in a while to see how things are going.”
He groaned. “Fine. But if you don’t answer, I’m hauling ass back here with reinforcements.”
“That’s fine, honey. Study hard.”
Rolling his eyes, he left the room. “If anything happens to her,” she heard him tell Sheldon as he passed him in the hallway, “I’ll hunt you motherfuckers down and laugh while I feed you your own entrails.”
Jenna leaned into the hallway and stared at her son’s back with wide eyes. She had never heard him sound so menacing.
“Dude,” Sheldon responded, “vampires threaten to feed me my own entrails all the time. You’re going to have to come up with something better than that.”
“Fine. I’ll cut off your balls, shove them down your throat, and watch you choke on them.”
“That’ll do.” Sheldon shuddered. “Okay, I see we’re going to have to have a little talk, John. Here’s the thing. Since Richart is planning to explore the Kama Sutra with your mom, if she forgives him . . .”
“Really?” John said. “You’re going to put that image in my head?”
“. . . you and I are going to be running into each other a lot, so you need to understand something,” he said earnestly. “You can’t threaten a man’s balls, dude. A man’s balls are off limits. Even vampires don’t f**k with a man’s balls. That’s just . . . mean.”
John glanced at Jenna.
She raised an eyebrow. “Still think I’m in danger?”
“Hell, no.”
“Good. Go study.”
Shaking his head, John left.
Sheldon met Jenna in the doorway. “I know you’re probably just as concerned as he is, but I won’t let any harm come to you, Jenna. And I promise I’m not here to harm you myself. If I let you get so much as a paper cut, Richart would hang my ass out to dry.”
“You seem very loyal to him.”
“I’d give my life to protect him. And, since he cares for you, that means I’d give my life to protect you, too.” His voice rang with sincerity.
Jenna nodded. “So what do we do now?”
He sighed. “Now . . . we wait.”
Richart bit back a groan. Some ass**le was mowing his lawn or trimming his hedges or juggling f**king chainsaws in rhythmic intervals. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. The noise assaulted his ears in perfect accompaniment to the pounding that made his head feel like someone was hitting him repeatedly in the forehead with a snow shovel.
What the hell?
He tried to open his eyes and found his lids too heavy to lift.
“Wake up, Richart,” Jenna whispered in his ear. Her delicate fingers delivered soothing strokes to one of his hands.
Had he fallen asleep at Jenna’s?
“Wake up, Richart,” she repeated in those same warm tones.
The buzz sawing grew louder. The pain in his head intensified.
“Wake up, Richart,” she said once more, amusement creeping in. “Because, if you don’t, I might have to smother Sheldon to get him to stop snoring.”
Had he the strength, he would have laughed.
Then her words sank in. Sheldon was here? What was Sheldon doing here?
Where was here? His mind was all foggy.
Had he and Jenna spent her night off at his place? All of the things he had planned to do to that lovely body of hers and he had fallen asleep? Sheldon must have laughed his ass off when he had gotten home.
“Wake up, Richart. I need to know you’re okay.”
That didn’t sound like he’d fallen asleep.
He tried again to force his eyelids open.