Darkness Becomes Her Read Free Page B

all a show, along with playing hard to get.
    He shifted his attention away as she began to look up. He imagined Magnus sitting behind the blue kit, as he had for the last few years at the Sanctuary, banging away in the basement. Curls bouncing wildly as he moved the sticks so fast they were a blur. Bliss on his face. Once, Lachlan had tried his hand at it, when no one else was around. Good thing, too, he thought now, as he had not a speck of rhythm.
    He caught his own reflection in the mirror. Holy hell, was that him? His hair was long and mussed, button-down shirt hanging loose over faded jeans with a square, ragged hole in one knee. He hadn’t looked at himself for a while, had avoided mirrors. Now he saw a stranger staring back at him.
    “I’m going home for lunch,” Jessie said, leaning behind the counter and pulling out an enormous dark purple bag. She glanced his way, their gazes locking in the reflection for a second. She paused for just as long before turning away and leaving.
    The trick was to leave right behind her without looking as though he was following. He reached for the tag on the brass cymbal, noticing the calluses on his hands.
    “I know your type,” a man right behind him said.
    Lachlan turned to face Glen, surprised to see a smile and not an accusation.
    “Lives for the music, stays up all night playing the songs in his head. That was me, before the wife and kids and shop.” He gestured to the place in general.
    “You’ve pegged me, dreaming on my lunch break.” Lachlan glanced at his watch. “Which, unfortunately, is over.”
    He knew she’d gone to the right, and spotted her as she turned the corner at the end of the block. Lucky break, that. He jogged down the sidewalk, slowing as he took the same corner. She got into a big SUV, and hearing the locks snick as he passed by, he again fought the urge to look at her. He got into his truck, which did looked damned good, though he still saw all the things that needed to be done yet.
    Lachlan didn’t take the time to revel in the purr of the engine, the only real pleasure he allowed himself. He was too busy watching the rear of Jessie’s black Yukon as he followed her into an apartment complex some ten minutes later. He parked several spaces away and observed her jump down from the vehicle and take the stairs two at a time. She disappeared into unit 14B on the second floor.
    Lachlan knew he would find the answers in her apartment. He tried to astral-project to her apartment but once again failed. Had the projection been a tease? His imagination? The thought tightened his chest. The picture of Jessie triggered the projection last time, but now that he was near her, he couldn’t get it to work. He’d have to break in the old-fashioned way. He had done it before, every time his dad locked himself out of his lab, sometimes leaving not only his key in there but the backups as well.
    Jessie remained inside long enough to eat lunch and then reemerged. He could understand why Magnus was smitten with her. Her hips moved eloquently as she walked to her vehicle. Interestingly, she scanned the parking lot, not paranoid exactly, but wary. When she drove off, Lachlan remained.
    He carried a toolbox and appeared to be looking for an address. After knocking on her door, he identified himself as the handyman she’d called and pretended to converse with her through the door.
    “The dispatcher said you can’t get the door to open . . . Okay, no worries, I’ll get you out of there.”
    He worked on the lock with the pick kit. When he opened the door, he continued the “conversation” as though she stood right there inviting him in to work on the knob.
    The apartment was small and sparse, with generic furniture. Coupons littered the two-seater kitchen table’s surface, each cut in a neat square and stacked in categories like food and household items. Several magazines lay on the counter, one open to a recipe for buttermilk biscuits. The one on top had the