Free Tempt Me by R. G. Alexander Page B

found.”
    Angelique smiled gratefully. “I love you guys.”
    Kelly sniffed. “We know you do. Now, I refuse to have another drink unless you join us, lightweight. You don’t want to be a bad hostess in your own city, do you?”
    Angelique banged the tabletop. “Absolutely not. Margaritas all ’round.”
    Ive shook her head. “No. I’m afraid we’re well past our margarita moment. For what we have planned? We need something a little stronger. And you need something a lot stronger.”
    “What do you mean, what you have planned?”
    “Never you mind. Just do exactly what we say, and no one gets hurt.” The look in Ive’s eyes was familiar. Too familiar.
    Angelique chuckled. “I love it when you get all bossy, Dr. Ive. But whenever you make plans, we usually end up regretting it in the morning.”
    “That’s pre-Dr. Ive to you.” Kelly pointed at her with the miniature parasol that had been perched in her large, salt-rimmed glass. “And we never have regrets. It’s a rule.”
    Oh yeah. She could tell. She was going to regret this.
     
     
    HOW COULD A PERSON WHISPER AND YELL AT THE SAME time? Gabriel sat up in the guest bedroom he’d been borrowing from Bethany and BD for the past week, and listened as the voices filtered in through his open window.
    “Tell the driver to wait for us, Ive.”
    “Be quiet, Kelly. Do you want the neighbors to call the magical voodoo police?”
    A burst of rich laughter jerked him to his feet. He hadn’t recognized the voices, but he knew that laugh.
    Angelique was here?
    He kept the light off and walked to the window, glancing down at the driveway below. What in God’s name was she up to?
    A taxi idled at the curb while three women weaved giddily up the walk. Angelique was in the middle, shaking her head as the other two dragged her closer to the house.
    “They’re asleep. The lights are out. You won’t see anything anyway.”
    One of the other women tugged on her arm. “You enjoyed the lap dance, didn’t you? That was for you. This hunt is for us.”
    Gabriel’s lips quirked. They were drunk. He’d been in that state often enough to recognize the signs. It also sounded like they’d been having a wild night. And if he was reading the situation correctly, Angelique’s friends weren’t quite ready for it to be over.
    He grabbed a pair of well-worn jeans lying on the end of the bed, quickly sliding into them as he headed down the stairs before the women woke the rest of the house.
    He didn’t want to admit he was in a rush to see her.
    He’d been here a week now, lying low until his cuts and bruises faded, fantasizing about Angelique, and learning what he could from BD.
    The man was a welcoming host, and a great talker, but getting him to say anything about the things he’d seen as a Loa was a herculean task that Gabriel had yet to manage.
    All BD would say was that his memory wasn’t what it used to be. Or that the Loa were called the Mysteries for a reason. He did think more would come to him, especially if Gabriel could tell him, specifically, what he was looking for. Then he’d smile, letting Gabriel know without words that it would take information to get any in return.
    Gabriel wasn’t sure he could tell him anything if he wanted to. Not anything he would believe, anyway. He hardly remembered what had happened himself. His one witness, Emmanuel, had been noticeably absent the last few days, so there was no one around to fill in the blanks.
    Bethany had been harder to avoid. That woman was brilliant and abnormally tenacious. Despite his silence on the subject, and her obvious curiosity, she’d kept his family at bay and treated him as a welcome guest. It was easy to see why his sister was so fond of her.
    How she would react to this strange, late-night intrusion wasn’t clear. Gabriel, however, couldn’t be more fascinated.
    He opened up the side door and leaned against the frame, waiting to be noticed.
    Angelique had grabbed the collar of the taller