contact with her?”
* * * *
For the first time in months, I had to leave Wolf Haven.
When I walked outside and found my car sitting there, my heart lurched up into my throat until I thought I just might choke on it. Instead of letting myself do it, I walked around and jerked the door open.
“That’s a girl.”
I glanced at Goliath before I went to duck inside.
“TJ said you might freak out about the car.”
Others might not realize what he meant, but I knew. Anything and everything associated with Jude was going to give me bad moments, and as stupid as it seemed, and as unfair as it seemed, the damned car was associated with Jude now, too.
I’d been in the middle of leaving town when I was kidnapped. Bags packed, door open, ready to climb in and head out…and then Xavier had appeared.
The last clear thought was stumbling back against my car, and the last clear emotion was terror.
Shooting Goliath a narrow look, I shrugged. “I’m pretty damn close. But don’t tell her.”
“It’s okay. When you freak out, you kick the things that scare you in the balls.” He tossed my keys at me.
Snagging them out of the air, I climbed in. “I haven’t been doing much of that lately.”
“That’s because the person you’re fighting right now is yourself.” He grinned at me and said, “I wouldn’t intentionally kick myself in the balls, Kitty. Takes a bit more work to fight that battle. But you’ll get there.”
I wish I was half as sure of myself as he was.
Without letting myself think it through any longer, I started the car.
East Orlando was a good forty-five minutes away and the longer I thought about this, the more likely it was I’d lose what little nerve I had left.
Think about the girl.
Don’t think about anything else. Just her. And maybe Sam. Because you’d really like to kick her in the teeth.
It was an easy job. I just had to track down a phone number and it wasn’t like I couldn’t do that, right? I’d think about her, figure out the steps to solving the job.
Forty-five minutes to plot out, figure out, try to decide just what her problem might be. I could do this…right?
* * * *
The girl in the coffee shop had just a little bit of magic on her. I felt it as I walked inside and automatically, I tensed, bracing myself.
She looked at me with so much terror, some part of me felt sorry for her. As her gaze dropped to the Desert Eagle strapped to my thigh then bounced to the blade riding on my hip, I wondered if I should have left the weapons locked up.
Gut response— no .
Somebody approached me, eyes wide with terror and I flipped out my ID card. Fraud! The voice was a scream in the back of my head but I wasn’t about to have my weapons taken away. “I work for the Assembly,” I said, tapping my finger against the badge. “I’m meeting somebody here on the job.”
“You can’t carry weapons in here like that.”
“I can.” I tucked the badge back away and slid my hands into my pockets as I held his gaze. I didn’t want to pick a fight with him. I wanted to go back home. “Assembly and human law are both clear on this. I’m recognized as an investigator under Assembly law and I’m often chasing after things that aren’t human. In order to do that job, I need my weapons. If you’d like to argue the fact, I can call Banner and the Assembly, you can call the human cops and we can argue it all out, right here in front of your customers, which isn’t going to reassure them. Or you can let me do my job and I’ll leave a lot sooner.”
Something ugly flickered in his eyes. “I’m not required to serve you. I have the right to refuse service to anybody.”
“I don’t recall asking for service.” I edged around him and started toward the girl. She looked even more scared now.
I felt him moving at my back before I heard him. Ducking and spinning to the side, I turned to face him. “You don’t want to put your hands on me.”
Nobody would do that
* * * *
For the first time in months, I had to leave Wolf Haven.
When I walked outside and found my car sitting there, my heart lurched up into my throat until I thought I just might choke on it. Instead of letting myself do it, I walked around and jerked the door open.
“That’s a girl.”
I glanced at Goliath before I went to duck inside.
“TJ said you might freak out about the car.”
Others might not realize what he meant, but I knew. Anything and everything associated with Jude was going to give me bad moments, and as stupid as it seemed, and as unfair as it seemed, the damned car was associated with Jude now, too.
I’d been in the middle of leaving town when I was kidnapped. Bags packed, door open, ready to climb in and head out…and then Xavier had appeared.
The last clear thought was stumbling back against my car, and the last clear emotion was terror.
Shooting Goliath a narrow look, I shrugged. “I’m pretty damn close. But don’t tell her.”
“It’s okay. When you freak out, you kick the things that scare you in the balls.” He tossed my keys at me.
Snagging them out of the air, I climbed in. “I haven’t been doing much of that lately.”
“That’s because the person you’re fighting right now is yourself.” He grinned at me and said, “I wouldn’t intentionally kick myself in the balls, Kitty. Takes a bit more work to fight that battle. But you’ll get there.”
I wish I was half as sure of myself as he was.
Without letting myself think it through any longer, I started the car.
East Orlando was a good forty-five minutes away and the longer I thought about this, the more likely it was I’d lose what little nerve I had left.
Think about the girl.
Don’t think about anything else. Just her. And maybe Sam. Because you’d really like to kick her in the teeth.
It was an easy job. I just had to track down a phone number and it wasn’t like I couldn’t do that, right? I’d think about her, figure out the steps to solving the job.
Forty-five minutes to plot out, figure out, try to decide just what her problem might be. I could do this…right?
* * * *
The girl in the coffee shop had just a little bit of magic on her. I felt it as I walked inside and automatically, I tensed, bracing myself.
She looked at me with so much terror, some part of me felt sorry for her. As her gaze dropped to the Desert Eagle strapped to my thigh then bounced to the blade riding on my hip, I wondered if I should have left the weapons locked up.
Gut response— no .
Somebody approached me, eyes wide with terror and I flipped out my ID card. Fraud! The voice was a scream in the back of my head but I wasn’t about to have my weapons taken away. “I work for the Assembly,” I said, tapping my finger against the badge. “I’m meeting somebody here on the job.”
“You can’t carry weapons in here like that.”
“I can.” I tucked the badge back away and slid my hands into my pockets as I held his gaze. I didn’t want to pick a fight with him. I wanted to go back home. “Assembly and human law are both clear on this. I’m recognized as an investigator under Assembly law and I’m often chasing after things that aren’t human. In order to do that job, I need my weapons. If you’d like to argue the fact, I can call Banner and the Assembly, you can call the human cops and we can argue it all out, right here in front of your customers, which isn’t going to reassure them. Or you can let me do my job and I’ll leave a lot sooner.”
Something ugly flickered in his eyes. “I’m not required to serve you. I have the right to refuse service to anybody.”
“I don’t recall asking for service.” I edged around him and started toward the girl. She looked even more scared now.
I felt him moving at my back before I heard him. Ducking and spinning to the side, I turned to face him. “You don’t want to put your hands on me.”
Nobody would do that
Similar Books
