Chapter 16 #3
Hunter gave her an incredulous look, and the other two shrank away, barely blinking in my direction.
I reluctantly let go of her hand to clap and laugh.
The laughter sounded louder on the outside, stretching to the blanket of tiny stars embedded in midnight blue.
I wheezed, wiping my eyes as they leaked.
"Fucking liar, what do you know about—" Hunter's handsome face twisted into white hot fury, and she plastered herself to the dingy, concrete wall in response.
That wouldn't do.
If she was going to be afraid of someone, it would be me.
"Don't speak to your ex-girlfriend like that, especially not when she's right.
" I stretched my arms over my head. "Farrell has been skimming for weeks.
He gets a new crew each time, doesn't tell them the details, and offers them free tickets for quick work.
Nobody notices the pattern because their boss is Reggie, who is normally too high or drunk to notice.
Isn't that right, Farrell? What do you think will happen when I tell the D'marcos that their little cousin is a thief? "
Farrell blubbered for a moment, his face scrunched like he didn't believe it was possible for him to have been caught. But then he sank slowly to his knees. As he did, some money slid from his sleeve. It was all so juvenile, so careless, it made laughter spring in my throat again.
"You can go." I waved a hand at Hunter and the two other guys.
They didn't need any encouragement, and their feet pounded down the alleyway. Hunter hesitated for a moment, but I draped an arm around her shoulders, and a nasty look came over his face.
"Good luck getting out of here, Lyra."
Lyra.
My Little Liar had a song for a name.
I beamed at her, ignoring the prostrate Farrell, who was groaning out unintelligible apologies.
"Lyra, Lyra, my Little Liar." I squeezed her shoulder.
She jerked away from me, trying to control her suddenly harried breathing.
"What did he think I was going to do with you? You're much too young for me, and besides, I've been looking for someone like you." I reached out and tapped her head.
It wasn't quite the truth. She was stunning, her dark hair a curtain over even darker eyes, narrowed in my direction. I licked my lips. Had she wanted me to want her?
"Stop." I clicked my tongue. "I can hear your thoughts stomping all around your head.
I work for a special organization, and I'm looking for more people to join us.
We need people who notice the little things, the unusual, the out of place.
Who can see what others don't, who can get to places other people can't. It took you less than ten minutes to break into the network of that building, and you spotted Farrell while you did.
Even with all the noise, the smells and dim light.
You saw this scrawny piece of shit taking what doesn't belong to him.
I could use someone with a brain like that. "
I wanted to keep her. The thought scratched under my skin.
"I'm not apologizing for shutting down that fight." She thrust out her chin.
"Didn't ask you to."
Farrell pressed his hands together like a prayer and babbled louder apologies.
"My dad is sick, and I have my sister to look after."
Lyra's expression softened, and her lips parted in compassion. I shook my head, unmoved. I would teach her to see through a thousand lies. She could harden her heart until it was more like mine.
"Your dad left your mom when you were two, and your sister is the one looking after you. Or she was until she saw you getting mixed up with the wrong crowd and left. Good for her, I say."
Farrell didn't argue, dropping his head into his hands with a cracked sigh.
A strange sensation bloomed in my chest—a fascination, like a train rolling down a steep hill.
I couldn't stop it, only feel it, experience it, and hope I didn't end up a mangled mess at the bottom. I smiled, knowing it was all teeth.
"What are you going to do to him?"
I hummed, staring intently at Lyra. She didn't flinch under my scrutiny.
"Nothing, as long as he agrees to work for The Unseen."
Farrell let out a whistle, sagging on all fours on the ground. When he looked up, his red-rimmed eyes glistened.
"I'll do whatever you want," he agreed readily in a hoarse voice.
I reached out and chucked my fingers under her chin, searching her gaze.
"Don't you want to be the one who watches those in the shadows?"
I couldn't be sure what I wanted. Perhaps it was just her velvet brown gaze I wanted to commit to memory.
I could feel her changing me, even as I tried to rummage around inside her, turning over everything, all the emotions she scrambled to hide.
I'd brought a man to his knees with nothing but a name.
Was that the kind of power she craved?
I hoped so.
"My Little Liar? What will you do?"
The sound of the tap dripping brought me back to the room. There was still blood on my hands, but for the first time, I felt it under my skin. I'd never regretted recruiting Lyra. From the moment I saw her, I knew she was mine.
I would stop at nothing to keep her safe.
Nothing.