While we’d been at the mall the day before, Dez had announced that we’d be leaving the following afternoon and traveling by car. Excitement hummed in my veins at the prospect of all I would get to see.
Danika sat on my suitcase while I zipped it shut and then she bounced off. “I expect mementos. Something cheesy. Like an authentic I Love New York City T-shirt.”
“Okay.” I grinned as I pulled my suitcase off the bed. It thumped on the floor when I set it down. “What about from DC?”
“A naked picture of Zayne?” she asked.
I laughed, shaking my head. “And how do you expect me to pull that off?”
She shrugged. “He’s got to take a shower at some point, right?”
“I’m sure he does, but I have a tiny problem with Jasmine taking a picture of a guy naked.”
We both turned at the sound of Dez’s voice. He stood in the doorway, hair damp and an easy grin on his face. I flushed, but Danika looked unrepentant.
“But she’s doing it for me,” she reasoned. “It’s not like she’s going to be looking at his goods.”
All I could think about was Dez’s goods.
Dez’s brows rose. “No guy’s junk needs to be on display for her to take pictures of.”
“What about your junk?” she challenged.
“Wait. What?” I belatedly got in on the conversation. “Can we not talk about guys’ junk?”
He grinned as his gaze collided with mine, and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. I turned before my cheeks burned off my face, and was tackled by my sister.
She hugged me tight enough that I squeaked. “I’m going to miss you,” she cried, head buried in my shoulder. “But have fun. Okay? And be safe. Promise?”
“Promise.” I blinked back sudden tears. Since Danika had been born, we hadn’t been separated longer than a handful of hours.
Danika stepped back, her smile wobbly. She ducked her chin as Dez strode into the room and picked up my suitcase. Together, we followed him to the ground level.
Herding two small children into the kitchen, Claudia glanced up with a tired smile as she passed us by. One of the toddlers was in his true skin; the other had only phased one wing. I stopped, watching them as the little one hopped, got some air with its one wing and then landed a second later, laughing in high-pitch squeals.
“Kids are frightening,” Danika murmured.
“I don’t know.” I smiled. “They’re kind of cute.”
Our father waited inside the foyer. As Dez disappeared outside with my suitcase, I walked up to him. He smiled, and I noticed how deep the skin crinkled around his eyes. He looked weary but happy.
He placed his hands on my shoulders, heaving a long breath. “Tell me I’m making the right decision by letting you travel with only him.”
“You are.” A knot moved into my throat. I was itching to get out of this house, but there was a part of me that hadn’t been prepared for the emotion behind leaving my family, if only for a little while. “I’ll be okay.”
“I know you will.” He sighed again. “I trust Dez. He’s a good Warden and I know he won’t let anything happen to you. He cares for you deeply, always has.”
I glanced out the open steel doors, watching Dez shut the back hatch on the SUV.
“Answer a question for me, sweetheart.”
My gaze returned to my dad. “Yes?”
“Do you still have feelings for him?” he asked.
I started to reply but stopped. Everything about Dez was complicated, and how I felt about him even more so. There was such an ugly, messy ball of hurt that had lingered after he’d left, but just thinking about him made my heart jump and my stomach tumble. “I do, but...”
“But he left?”
I didn’t respond, but he knew. Dad had been there during the worst; the days and weeks immediately following Dez’s unexpected departure. How many times had I asked Dad why? There had never been an answer.
My father pulled me in for a quick hug that felt good, grounding. I would miss him, my sister and my clan, but as he pulled back, I knew I was getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
He smiled as he patted my cheek. “Go easy on him.”
At first I thought that was a strange thing to say, but then suspicion rose. “Do you know why he left?”
Dad nodded. “I do, Jasmine, but it’s not my story to tell. It never has been.”
Chapter Eight
The couple-hour drive down Interstate 87 was blissfully uneventful and also very beautiful. The rolling hills were a lush green, the trees thick and stately, but the almost pristine wilderness gradually gave way to buildings larger than the tallest trees as we neared the city. My face was practically planted against the side window the whole time as I soaked in everything I saw.
“You haven’t been this far south?” Dez asked, and I looked over at him. One hand on the steering wheel, the other on his thigh.
I shook my head.
He grinned as he sent me a sideways glance. “You used to sneak out to fly when I was around. I’m sure you didn’t stop.”
“I sneaked out a time... or two afterward.” At his wry look, I smiled. “But I never flew south. I always went north. I didn’t want....”
“To get caught?” He laughed at my innocent expression. “That’s smart. You probably would’ve been seen if you came south.”
Driving to the city took a little more than three hours, but it took less than thirty minutes for one of us to fly. If I had dared to venture south out of curiosity, I would’ve been caught due to all the Wardens that covered the city, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if my dad locked me up.
It wasn’t too long before the last of the high hills cleared and New York City came into view in the distance. I leaned forward, grasping the dashboard. “Wow.”
“It’s something, isn’t it?”
I nodded as my eyes widened. The city created its own skyline, an elegant stretch of buildings against the backdrop of blue skies, some tall enough that they seemed to have their very own stairway into Heaven. I could almost imagine what it looked like at night, all lit up, dazzling and awe-inspiring. My heart thumped in my chest as the giddy realization that I would get to see that with my own eyes sunk in.
Traffic slowed as we crossed over one of the long, wide bridges, and only then did I feel Dez’s stare on me.
I looked at him. “What?”
He didn’t say anything as he picked up my hand and brought it to his mouth. Against the center of my palm, he placed a kiss, and my heart did another jump, this time a backflip. I started to ask why he’d done that, but realized that question would sort of ruin the moment and it was a very nice moment.
Instead, I smiled.
It took an absurd amount of time to make it into the city, to the point where the buildings were so tall and so crowded that they blocked most of the sun and the streets were in their shadows.
Dez parked the SUV in a large garage and I followed him to the back, my eyes darting over the never-ending line of cars snuggled tight in their parking spaces.
Too much was roaming through my head as I trailed after him, into the ground floor of one of the tall buildings we’d passed. There wasn’t much I knew about Dez’s plans for this trip. No matter how annoying I got demanding details, he wouldn’t tell me anything, but since he was carrying our luggage inside, that meant we had to be staying here. I could barely contain the squeal as I’d been worried we’d do a drive-by through the city. I had wanted to enjoy it.