Hoping the boy would get over it without needing a therapist, he headed toward the house.
Abigail went over to Andy. "I really am sorry about your car. I mean it."
He looked up with a sincere stare that gave Jess hope Andy wasn't completely shot in the head. "It's all right. It's just ... a ... car. I'll get over it eventually." He pushed his bottom lip out to pout like a two-year-old.
In a weird way, it was almost adorable.
Abigail wanted to reach out and soothe poor Andy, even though his reaction was way over the top. Maybe it was ridiculous, but she felt terrible about it.
Because of her past, she tended to bond to objects more than to people, too. Objects could be stolen, but they didn't leave voluntarily. They were always there when you needed them, and they didn't say or do anything to hurt your feelings.
It killed her that she'd damaged something that obviously meant so much to him.
I'm becoming a massive walking disaster area. She was the opposite of Midas. Instead of turning to gold, everything she touched turned to dust.
Even her best friend ...
Her heart caught on that. She still couldn't believe everything that had happened tonight. Her friends were her enemies, and she was depending on her enemy to help save her life. Nothing in the world made sense right now.
Honestly, she just needed a few minutes of peace before the next catastrophe. A moment to ground herself before another storm blew through and swept her over the edge of insanity. But that was a luxury none of them had.
Unwilling to think about what was coming for her next, she followed after Jess, who'd already vanished into the house.
By the time Abigail caught up to him in the kitchen, he was standing with Sasha and a blond man she'd never seen before. Not quite as well muscled as Jess, the newcomer was by no means small. He had short tousled blond hair and tiny braids that fell from one temple. Dressed in jeans and a gray T-shirt, he had arms covered with black Celtic tribal tattoos. There was something about him that screamed ultimate badass.
And he pierced her with a suspicious look the moment he sensed her presence. That look pinned her feet to the floor and kept her from taking another step.
At least until Jess turned around and offered her a kind smile. By the friendly expression on his face, she knew it was safe to approach the other man.
She hoped.
Jess motioned her forward. "Abigail meet Talon. Talon, Abigail."
Relaxing a bit from his tough man stance, Talon inclined his head to her. "Hi."
Well, at least he was friendlier toward her than Zarek had been. Not that that was saying much. They'd probably be a lot friendlier if you hadn't killed their brethren.
In all honesty, she was lucky he wasn't attacking her, and she wouldn't blame him if he did. There was no telling how long he'd known the ones she'd killed. How close they'd been.
I'm so sorry.
Life seriously needed an undo button. The coward in her wanted to turn around and run. But she'd never been craven a day in her life, and she wasn't about to start now when they needed her to stand strong.
Clearing her throat, she forced herself to join them at the stainless steel island. "Are you the one responsible for the rain?"
"Yeah." Talon glanced at Jess and cracked a devilish grin that said there was an inside joke between them.
Jess made a face of supreme pain. "You're not still busting on Storm, are you?"
"Ah, hell yeah, you know it." Talon let out an evil laugh. "There are truly few things that give me more pleasure."
"You are all kinds of wrong." Jess shook his head before he explained it to her and Sasha. "Talon's brother-in-law is a professional rainmaker. So every time poor Storm tries to make it rain, Talon stops it. At this point, he's beginning to get a complex over it."
Pride gleamed bright in Talon's eyes. "I know it's cruel, but I can't help myself. Little bastard deserves it after all the grief he gives me over his sister. Not to mention I really like the little girl sound he makes when he fails."
Sasha snorted. "And you people think I'm twisted. Damn, that's so cold."
"Speaking of, Weatherman," Jess said. "You can probably kill the rain now. I think the wasps are pretty much shocked and driven back."
A loud clap of thunder shook the house. "Yeah, but it's fun."
"Might be, but you're flooding out parts of the city."
Talon grimaced. "Make me feel bad, why don't you? Fine, it's canned."
Abigail was intrigued by his powers. It was one she hadn't known a Dark-Hunter could have. "So can you summon tornadoes or earthquakes?"
"Earthquakes aren't weather related." Talon winked at her, then sobered as if he caught himself being too friendly. "And no offense, I don't feel comfortable discussing my powers with someone who might try and use them against me one day. So I'll be keeping all details close."
Pain stabbed her hard in the chest. "You're right. I deserve that. I shouldn't have asked."
The expression on his face said that he felt as bad about his words as she did.
Jess put his arm around her shoulders. "Go easy on her, Celt. She was protecting her family. We've all done things we regret while trying to help the people we love. It doesn't make her an enemy."
"True. It just makes her human." Talon held his hand out to her. "Truce?"
Offering him a shy smile, she took his hand in hers and shook it. "Truce." The moment she touched his skin, she felt something strange on his palm. Scowling, she turned his hand over to see a nasty burn scar there. "That looks really painful."
Talon actually smiled as if the memory warmed him. He pulled his hand away. "A very small price to pay for all I gained. Trust me. Had it been necessary, I'd have given the whole arm." He passed a look from her to Jess that sent a shiver down her spine.
It was like he knew what they'd done.
A light smile played at the edges of his lips. "Speaking of, I need to be getting back home. Last thing I want to do is stress out Sunny. My luck, she'd show up here and in her condition I'd have to kill someone if they upset her. Since I don't want to kill myself..." He scanned the three of them. "Good luck. For the gods's sakes, don't fail."
"Don't intend to," Jess assured him.