Love Lust by Unknown Read Free Book Online

rubbed her face into her arms. Probably hiding a tear or two. “I was all stoked for a road trip, too.”
“Wait a minute. She gave you an actual name and address?”
“Mmm-hmm. Alejandro De Santos. Santa Fe, New Mexico.”
    “That’s far.” As stupid as the idea of some wrinkled old man dancing around a fire for our sakes sounded in my head, in my heart, I hoped. I hoped for some proof of magic, some way out of this hell.
    “Not that far.”
    “We haven’t left Vegas, though.” Meaning, we’d never left the proximity of Jimi’s territory, The Morrocan hotel and casino.
    “No. But Jimisaid we’d never be okay without him, that we’d be forced to come back, too.”
    I thought about Jimi always wanting us all close. He’d told us all that we’d get sick, worse, that we could die, if we strayed too far from him. Maybe there was nothing to my fear that he held some level of power over how far we could physically get from him. Then I thought of Justin’s license. What were the odds? “Santa Fe, huh?”
    Maybe indulging in Paula’s far-fetched lead would prove worth something. I could allow Paula her hope long enough to mark witch doctor off our list of cure possibilities. And I could try to get more of Justin. Paula peered up and I could tell she knew—almost—what I was thinking. “Can we make a stop on the way?”
    A mischievous grin spread over her angelic face. “Olivia Denise Starr, you succu-bitch, spill it now. Every last detail!”
    I let my head fall back against the sofa and covered my eyes. “Oh, Paula. He’s amazing. Totally amazing. And totally leaving town this morning.” He’d mumbled as much before drifting off, his arms and legs binding our bodies. Probably getting up to do exactly that, as we speak.”
“Amazing, huh? Well, I’m completely jealous, in more ways than one.”
I wasn’t sure how serious she was between the possessive light in her eyes and the playful grin. “Come on, don’t be jealous.”
“I’ll try. You have to admit, if you did feel like that about me, it could be the answer to everything.”
    We’d danced around this point enough times for me to know to tread carefully. “You know I think you’re amazing, Paula. And, yeah, it might make it easy. Or it might make it worse. Feeding off each other….”
    “I know, I know. You’re right. And besides, I’m over you.” She winked, swept her gaze over me. “Mostly.”
    “There’s someone out there who will complete you, Paula.” I wanted to be sure of it. I feared Paula had found a best friend crush sort of love that would never go away for her.
    She rolled her eyes and did a duck hand my way. “Yeah, yeah.”
    I let it go, recognizing the glassy sheen in her eyes.

    The umpteen hour drive wasn’t bad. I stopped mentally freaking about the whole thing, leaving succubus territorya few miles after the state line. Winter was definitely the time of year to go. Arizona was breathtaking and I wished we had a convertible instead of a sedan, luxurious as Paula’s Mercedes 7 series might be. Thankfully, her monthly trust fund check deposited in time for us to cash in. I called in sick for the week, but doubted I’d have a Hobby Lobby job when I got back. Too bad. I’d kind of started to like the place. I’d never been the crafty type, but being surrounded by mostly women, mostly older, in a completely nonsexual environment had been a nice break from the norm. Vera, Opal, and the rest would have to soldier on without me.
    “How exactly are you going to bump into Justin?” Paula said the first afternoon as we pulled out of a pit stop in Sedona, Arizona.
    My fantasy picture of the old man chanting around a moonlit fire evaporated. I stared at the hills that looked like giant red rocks sprinkled in powdered, sugary snow. “I have no idea whatsoever. How big is Santa Fe?”
“Too big to randomly bump, that’s fo sho.”
I ran a hand through my wind-blown hair. The dry air smelled like dust and sage and pine.