Read Online Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong - Free Book Online

worked.
    We hung out with them for a couple of drinks. The guys had this down to a science. They took turns offering to buy a round, gathered orders, then returned with virgin versions for us and real drinks for the ladies, probably double strength.

    The drunker the women got, the easier it was to pick up their negative thoughts. Once I had a few, I invited Jaz onto the dance floor. He took me to a corner partly obscured by a pillar, and where no one would notice we were doing more talking than dancing.
    “So,” he said, eyes glittering. “Could you pick up all their dirty little secrets?”
    I laughed. “It doesn’t quite work like that. I catch the chaotic thoughts—anything that might have negative connotations. Anger, sadness, jealousy…But it has to be an active thought. I can’t hunt through their brains looking for secrets.”
    “Okay, okay. So’d you get something?”
    He looked like a kid waiting for a present. I played it out, savoring his reaction.
    “Two of the three are married,” I said.
    “Can I guess? Definitely the brunette—”
    “Bzzz. Sorry. Divorced, and having a rough time of it.”
    “But she’s the only one with a wedding band line.”
    “I suspect that’s because the other two are more aware of theirs, and used tanner. The blond in blue is nervous. She didn’t want to come along and she thinks she saw the daughter of a friend on the dance floor. The one in the red dress, Michelle, is definitely out to paint the town and get some revenge. Hubby is away for the week at a conference, and she knows he’s taken his mistress with him.”
    When I finished, he was silent.
    “If you don’t believe me—”
    “No, shit, I believe you. I’m just…speechless.” He shook his head. “Holy shit. Now that’s a power. Guy is going to love this.”
    “But there’s nothing there we can use, unless it’s blackmailing the husband over the mistress, but if the wife already knows…”
    “Too complicated. Guy likes the short-term con and I think I know where he’ll want us to go with this.
    Head back to Max and Tony. Tell them I’m in the john. I’ll talk to Bianca.”

    WHILE JAZ WAS gone, Tony took a call. A simple “Yeah…yeah…okay…see you then.” I guessed it was Bianca or Guy, telling him what was going on. He swung over to the other side of the woman in the red dress and started joking with her, subtly steering her closer to me.
    When Jaz returned, he snuck up behind me and put his hands on my waist, tickling me. I jumped. He ducked out of the way, as if expecting a smack, then bounced back, goofing around, grabbing me around the waist, tweaking my hair, grinning all the while. I played along, twisting from his grasp, smacking his hands away and laughing. Finally, he caught me from behind and pulled me against him. His hands went to my thighs and slid under my skirt.
    “Did I mention how hot you look tonight?” he said.
    “Oh, please,” Tony said. “Get a room, guys.”
    Jaz wrapped his arms around me, his chin resting on my head. “Exactly what I was thinking. You guys don’t mind if we take off, then?”
    “Go on.”
    Jaz steered me through a group, his arm around my waist, hand planted on my ass. Once we were out of sight of the others, he removed it and whispered, “Sorry. And thanks for not smacking me for real back there. I needed to create a distraction.”
    He opened his hand. In his palm lay a driver’s license and keys on a unicorn-head fob.
    “From the lady in red? Ah-ha. That’s why Tony put her beside me…and why you put on that little show.
    Your hand slipped into her purse, didn’t it?”
    “We magicians may not get the fancy spellcasting, but when it comes to picking pockets, there’s no one better.”

    HE TOOK ME into a room where Sonny and Guy were waiting with a key duplicating machine. I jotted down the address, then Jaz looked it up on MapQuest. When Sonny was done with the keys, Jaz left with the originals. A few minutes later, he