Apprentice (The Gentlemens' Society for Alchemy, #1)

Chapter 19 - Where is My Mind?

"You like him, don't you?"

Cam stands behind me as I brush my teeth in his guest bathroom the next morning. We slept in the same bed again last night and I woke up with his arms tucked around me, but somehow it doesn't feel weird at all. Except when he gets involved in my love life.

I spit the toothpaste into the sink. "No, Cam. Can we drop this?" I pour some water in my hands to rinse my mouth out.

"Has he kissed you?"

I sigh, looking down, my cheeks reddening before I can stop them. I spit the water out and when I look up, I can see that my face has revealed everything he needs to know.

"I thought so," he says, walking out of the bathroom.

"So he kissed me, so what?" I say, throwing myself on his couch. Cam's already dressed in his uniform, which makes it harder to lie to him. Somehow when he's in his cop persona, it feels like he's God. "It didn't mean anything. It was just... lust."

"Lust?" Cam says, his mouth dropping open. "Wow. I did not expect to hear that from you."

"Why not?" I say, propping myself up on my elbows. "I'm a woman. I have needs."

Cam laughs, strolling over to the couch, where I'm lying on my back.

"You should have said something sooner, Liv." He leans down toward my mouth, eyes closed like he's going to kiss me, and I feel panic start to claw its way up my throat. I punch him straight in the chest before he gets close enough to make me nervous. He falls back, collapsing in laughter.

"Oh my God," he says, through cackles. "She has needs, she says."

My face turns crimson hot, and I throw his couch pillow at him.

"You are an ASS, Cameron Cardelloni." I get up, grab my purse with my taser still tucked inside, and start the walk to my office.

The whole way to the office, I'm almost certain I'm being followed. I keep my hand in my purse, on my taser, in case someone jumps out at me, and I avoid taking any backstreets. My heart flutters in my throat as my power sizzles in my blood, desperate to attack whoever the danger is. All along I'd never noticed it was there, and now I can't ignore it even if I'd wanted to. It's just there. Ready. Waiting.  To do what? I'd have to become an Apprentice to find out and I was NOT doing that.  Not after what Ezra did to me last night. God, the pain in my chest hasn't faded in the slightest. At hearing just the word "her," from Ezra's lips, my heart had turned into a heavy stone that felt like it weighed a hundred thousand pounds. 

I couldn't think about Ezra anymore. That was done. He'd been lying to me all along, using my  family and friends to manipulate me into agreeing to be a part of some scheme that he hadn't even told me about! The fucking nerve of him. 

I'm still being followed though, so I keep my eyes open and stick to crowded intersections, trying desperately to lose the eyes that I know are behind me, and when I get to my office building I almost throw myself inside.

How could they know so quickly? I only just refused Roman's offer last night, so how are the wolves ready to descend on me already?

Is it Escobarez who's after me? Or is it worse than I'd imagined? Maybe the Identity Thief is even sicker and scarier than Roman's oldest enemy. Maybe someone else is leaving bodies all around the park as a way to taunt the Prince of New York City. The evidence that he has linking Escobarez to the murders is pretty slim, after all. Just a territorial suspicion, based on the fact that Ezra's ego can't handle another Master Alchemist in the area.