Free Stone Lover by A. C. Warneke Page B

and she was about to until she heard the soft, seductive voice. Even though the words were barely audible and almost seemed to be coming from another world, she knew at once who it was: Vaughn’s brother, the black-haired one. Armand. It was eerily similar to the dance they shared a few hours before.
        Much to her shock and alarm, Melanie saw Vanessa twist around in the bed, reach into the bedside dresser and pull out Simon. She watched in horror as her friend slid Simon between her slender thighs and began pleasuring herself. The mug of hot chocolate slipped from her fingers, clunking down on the countertop and spilling the hot liquid over her front.
        “Damn it!” Melanie swore, not sure if she was swearing about her hot chocolate-stained tank top or Vanessa stepping way over the lines of friendship. Grabbing a few paper towels, she mopped up the mess, her attention morbidly focused on the scene that was taking place on her bed and she strained her ears to hear what the man was saying.
        “New Year’s….” Armand’s disembodied voice murmured, the drugging quality wrapping itself around Melanie’s mind. But a few words made it through the fog that seemed to have coalesced around her: “Ordinary…. Normal…. Magic…
        “Gargoyles.” 
        That word forced Melanie’s attention back to the present. Vanessa was humping Simon as her long, slender fingers moved him in and out of her body. Swallowing the bile that was rising in her throat – it was time to replace Simon, if nothing else was true – Melanie forced herself to listen to what the black-haired man was whispering in Vanessa’s ear and ignore her friend’s actions.
        “You no longer wish to remain in this building and you never want to return. In a few moments you are not going to remember any of this, my brothers, this building; and when you wake in the morning all of it will be a dream that quickly fades.”
        Melanie sucked in her breath, the spilled hot chocolate forgotten. He had tried to make her forget her apartment and his brothers earlier. The auburn-haired man – Rhys – had tried to do the same thing only she thought they were playing around. She had no idea that they were serious, nor how far they were willing to go to make her forget.
        But why would they want to do such a thing? She loved this building and the three gargoyles that guarded it. She was hardly what anyone would consider a threat. Besides, if they were trying to cast some sort of… spell, well, that would mean that magic truly existed and she wasn’t completely crazy for believing in it. But then, that would mean magic truly existed and that was actually a scary thought. If they could use their power to make a little nobody like her forget that she just had the most amazing sexual experience of her life, than what else could they do with that sort of power?
        Perhaps make it so the roof of her apartment building was warm in the middle of a Minnesotan winter.
        Pacing the short distance between one wall of her apartment to the other, very consciously avoiding the area surrounding her bed, Melanie tried to untangle the thoughts whirling around in her head. Once they realized the spell didn’t work, or rather, that it was cast upon the wrong person, they were going to try again. She had to figure out a way to protect her memories from outside forces, at least until such a time that she could convince the three brothers that she wasn’t a threat.
        The thought of her being a threat to those three muscular demi-gods was almost laughable, except they obviously considered her one if they were willing to make her forget. Okay, so how did a girl go about convincing someone that she was not a threat? Especially when she wasn’t a threat at all. Oh, she didn’t have a clue!
        Absently, she noted that Vanessa was still once again, a satiated grin curving her lips. Her fingers were still wrapped around Simon,