Chapter 29
Ume was heavier than he looked, especially the way he leaned into Raven to get pets.
“You’re going to have hair all over you. I think this guy is always shedding.” Jason picked up the daily special menu off the table and looked it over. “Where do you wanna go?”
Ume booped Raven’s chin before sliding down his chest and lying on his back in Raven’s lap.
Jason snorted. “Oh my god, you’re shameless.”
“Huh?”
“Not you. The dog.”
Jason let out a breath through his teeth. “He basically ignored me. He probably figures you’re an easy target.”
An easy target. Easy target… Am I?
Ume licked his hand, watching him with his shiny black eyes.
A server came by. Jason asked for a sandwich and water, and Raven found that there was a ringing in his ears that meant he could barely hear what was being said.
All he could do was continue to pet the dog, except before long, Ume turned again.
This time, instead of just pressing his wet nose to Raven’s chin, he licked him right over the cheek.
“Hah.”
Raven wiped the spot with the back of his hand, but Ume kept on trying to get to him.
“No manners,” Jason said, his voice sounding as if it were coming from underwater.
Am I underwater? I should come up. One thing after another, that’s what Maxim said. Say something. Do something.
Raven put a hand on the dog’s fluffy head. “Ume. Good weird dog. Down. Come on. I’m all dusty.”
Eventually, Ume calmed, circled on Raven’s lap, then plopped down right there, his eyes closing.
Someone had brought Jason lemon water with a straw, and Raven hadn’t even noticed.
“Wish I could just nap like that. Hey, uh…” Jason stirred the ice in the glass with his straw, the clicking of it loud and clear. “Raven, I…I’m not going to ask if you’re okay, okay? But…we’re friends, right? You’d help me if I ever needed help, wouldn’t you?”
Raven froze. A dull fear made his mouth go dry. What if he found Jason? What if…what if they did something that’s going to hurt him because they can’t get to me anymore? What if they do to him what they did to Prof. LeRoux? What if Maxim can’t keep him safe?
“What do you need me to do? What happened?”
Jason raised his hand. “Whoa, did you just turn a shade paler? Relax, okay? Nothing happened. It’s a hypothetical.
But you’re making my point. You’re ready to drop whatever you’re doing, right?
Well, me too. That’s all I’m saying. That if you need me, here or on the phone, or if you need to text with someone in the middle of the night, I’m your man. The friendzone is ours.”
Raven relaxed. “That’s what we agreed on.”
Jason grinned, folding his arms on the table in front of him. “Over pizza, which you can’t have now. More for me. I’ll get fat.”
Jason turned to his left, and Raven followed his gaze. Heath was speed-walking toward their table. He and Maxim are almost the same height. They move sort of similarly, but Maxim is quieter, more restrained. He’s like a whisper, and Heath is a whistle.
Heath looked left and right as he approached them, then picked the chair next to Raven.
When he sat, he frowned. “Is that dog for real?”
Raven ran a hand through Ume’s fur. “He’s warm. Fluffy too.”
“Also shameless. Anyway—” He glanced at Jason. “—do I need to NDA you, or can you keep quiet?”
Jason straightened. “Hunter business?”
“No.” Heath fixed his gaze on Raven. “This is more…sensitive. Tell me about all the trash he keeps up there.”
“Huh?”
Heath tapped his fingers on the table. “I can’t sneak to that floor, because Bryan won’t let me.
He did let me see it from the elevator that one time when I pinky promised I wouldn’t go in, but…
Well. Look, I just want to know how bad it is and what I can help you do about it. ” Heath brightened. “I’m here to help.”
Jason clinked his ice cubes again. “When did this turn into some kind of conspiracy? I thought Raven and I were going to temp and nothing more.”
Heath coughed, then cleared his throat. “There’s no conspiracy.
It’s just that the old bat is very…old. He has issues.
It’s like…have you ever kept stuff because you thought you might be able to use it later, but really if you give it some rational thought, you know you won’t?
Like those complimentary chopsticks they have when you grab Chinese takeout?
You take them even if you have perfectly good chopsticks at home, and then they just sit there. ”
Jason shrugged. “We’ve all done that sometimes. Plus, those chopsticks are great.”
Heath’s tapping on the table grew faster in rhythm. “But if you never used your chopsticks, and you kept collecting them for a couple of decades, you’d have a lot of chopsticks that no one ever uses. Basically a lot of trash overflowing your kitchen drawer. No one wants that.”
Jason sighed. “You sound like someone who owns a dishwasher, you know. I don’t, and let me tell you, I like those chopsticks.”
Heath groaned. “I think you’re missing the point.”
“And I think your dishwasher privilege is showing.”
A server brought Jason his food, something with all the rainbow colors and whole wheat bread. Raven sniffed the air but found that all he could pick out was the scent of the blood he had in front of him. He took another sip, enjoying the flavor.
“Huh, that looks…very rich in fiber.” Heath straightened his tie. “Blood is so much easier to digest. Not if you’re human, of course. But it’s really one of my most favorite things about it. How easy it is to just…digest.”
“Well, I will say it tastes nothing like I thought it’d taste like,” Jason said, then bit into his food.
Heath watched him intently before taking a deep breath and turning back to Raven. “I’d set a fire, but that would upset Bryan. Do you think you can accidentally set a fire? At least to a few things?”
“Dude,” Jason said, his mouth full. “Ahh-son.”
Heath shrugged. “Barely. Raven?”
“It’s…probably not as much stuff as you think. I definitely didn’t see any chopsticks.” Although Maxim had shown him Heath’s baby spoon, the silver having gone all tarnished with age. It would need to be polished to a shine.
Heath looked at him with wide eyes. “Oh, no. No, no, no. Did he promise you anything? I’ll double it.”
Raven continued to pet Umeboshi, feeling the dog’s chest rise and fall with his slow breaths. I guess Heath’s close with his dad. I wonder what that’s like. If you take the arson out of it.
“He didn’t offer me anything.”
Heath sagged back in his chair. “Well, something fucking happened. Raven, no one needs the stuff he keeps, no one. Please. If he somehow convinced you not to aid and abet me in getting rid of it in the most efficient manner, at least tell him it… I don’t know.
Maybe tell him hoarding all this stuff makes him look old.
You know, you’d think he isn’t vain, but he totally is. ”
Jason swallowed a bite of his sandwich. “Hey, when I first met your dad, I thought he was really good-looking. I mean, I was pretty upset at the time, but you’d have to be blind not to see him in that black outfit and not realize he’s pretty damn attractive.”
Heath slow-blinked at Jason. “Thank you for that very informative evaluation. Hearing about how hot my dad is always makes me feel that special kind of weird I can’t get anywhere else.”
Jason shrugged. “Sorry, man. Hey, you’ve been staring at my plate. You want half of this?”
“Nope. Blood diet.”
“You don’t have to,” Raven said. “You’re doing that because of me, aren’t you?” He picked up what was left of his own blood. “I…don’t really mind this. It’s nice.”
Jason nodded. “Almost like what I imagine fugu would taste like, but less risky.”
Heath frowned at Jason. “Fugu, huh? You know what’s really good? Being risk-averse, as a general rule of thumb. You ever thought about trying that, Jason?”
Risk-averse…
Raven felt out of sync the more he tried to think about the word, the more he tried to figure out whether he had been risk-averse that day, the day he’d gone to the lecture. When he’d thought about going to the front of the lecture hall and asking a question.
I just came up to him after the lecture.
The lecture was good. That didn’t fit, those memories of that man talking, smiling, being polite.
Then the other memories, those that weren’t as sharp, but painful in their bluntness.
They didn’t fit, like two puzzle pieces that looked as though they belonged together but just wouldn’t slide into place.
Ume licked his hand.
“Ugh, come on, dog. Why?” Heath unfolded one of the napkins and held it out to Raven. “I think I should hire a dog trainer. Yeah, that’ll be good.”
Raven took the napkin. “Thanks, but he probably just wants to go for a walk.”
“Weird fucking way of showing that.” Heath looked from Raven to Jason. “You two’re headed out?”
“It’s basically why I came here,” Jason said. “Food’s a bonus. This is better than the cafeteria.”
“I should fucking hope so.” Heath stood.
“I’ll head back up. And, Raven, keep an open mind about downsizing Maxim’s mountain of trash, okay?
You have my full support. And I will absolutely craft an alibi for you if anything—anything!
—he keeps up there ever has an unfortunate accident.
If it happens to be fire, you don’t even really have to worry, because Bryan would never let the building burn, let alone let anyone get hurt.
Just…allow yourself to see the possibilities. ”
“Um, okay?”
“It’ll earn you a bonus too. Just because I’m generous that way.”
Heath headed back the way he’d come, and Jason looked after him, almost done with his sandwich. “It can’t just be me. Those two’re the biggest oddballs under the sun, right?”
Raven chuckled. “Discounting me already?”
“Hey, I just keep pointing out that the way you can quote stuff can be a little unsettling, that’s all. I never called you an oddball, oddball.”
They laughed together, though Raven could tell that Jason was different. Is he being careful? Or something else? What would I think if he’d gone to that lecture, not me? If he’d been taken, not me? If he’d come back the way I came back—changed and… Changed.
The thought was a wound in Raven’s mind, something he didn’t want to think about, couldn’t.
“Ready to head out?” he asked, hoping the bite of the sun could distract him from his wandering thoughts.