Chapter 21 #2
I laughed. “I didn’t see that coming. You’re full of surprises.”
“Oh, you have no idea.” His voice was sand over silk, sending tingles through me. “I’ll be right back. Try not to be seen. If there’s an issue, I’m the first number,” he said, nodding at the phone while opening the door.
“Gotcha.” I locked the door but scanned the parking lot. It seemed safe enough. The ring wasn’t with us, so who knew if the agents could even find us. I stared at the phone. It was a burner, but who would I even call?
Calling my boss, Meredith, was dicey. If the cops were looking for me, she’d be the one they’d go after, but when I got out of this, I still needed that fucking job.
Meredith didn’t bother to answer her phone, so I left a message using my very best I’m dying voice.
“Hey, Meredith, it’s Harlan.” I sniffled and hacked a cough.
“I’m so deathly sick. I’m not coming today and maybe not this week.
I’ll let you know.” I added two more coughs that sounded like a lung was coming up.
“I’m really sorry. Thanks for understanding,” I said and hung up.
I chuckled. She might not believe that, but it was an Academy Award-level sick performance.
I glanced around the parking lot, and there was still no Wald. The phone was burning in my hand. One more call to who? Goddamn the obvious choice. I’d have to keep it under a minute.
“Harlan, where the hell are you?” Tyre asked, his voice lowering. “Wait, don’t tell me. You okay?”
“Yeah.” I thought about that. I was sort of okay as long as the hunters didn’t find us or the police. It was nice of Tyre to ask. Maybe he did care a little.
Papers shuffled, and a door closed. “Why the hell are you calling? You know what I know, right?”
“Yeah, I do. Just checking to see the heat level there.”
“Scorching. I don’t want to know anything more, but the Feds have your phone.”
Ouch. “Was hoping for tepid. You know I didn’t do it. Any of it.”
“Yeah, others would like that info firsthand.”
“Aware. Any other news?”
“Nada. ”
“I think things will work themselves out. Say hi to Jules.”
“Will do. Lose this number, ‘k?”
“Gotcha,” I said bitterly, hanging up. Fuck Tyre to make me feel like an earthworm about to be crushed. Wald was right about the body count getting tied to me. Fucking hell.
Wald was sauntering back to the car with bags and cups, every step toward me sucking another ounce of air from my lungs. No one had ever had the effect on me that this man had.
A linger of clove smoke wafted into the car as Wald settled a cup in the holder and dropped a bag in my lap. I inhaled the delicious gooey greasiness of a grilled cheese sandwich, and my heart did backflips. Alongside it was a package of black pepper chips. My favorite.
“Sorry, the shake machine was broken.” He grinned, taking an orange out of his bag.
“You like oranges?” I shifted in the seat and unwrapped the grilled cheese.
“I like things with a good balance of acid and sweetness.” His smirk said he wasn’t talking entirely about oranges.
The burst of orange with traces of clove cigarette smoke was startlingly sexy.
I scarfed the grilled cheese, licking grease off my fingers while riveted to how he sectioned the orange, finger movements firm and delicate.
The orange segments disappeared between his lips, and I turned my attention to the cup holder.
A giant cup of water with perfect-pelleted ice.
“Um, we might need to ditch this burner?”
He raised an eyebrow above the sunglasses but held his hand out for the phone.
I gave it to him, noting he was a no-questions-needed kinda guy.
He popped out the sim card and crushed it between his gloved fingers.
The act of turning a SIM card to literal dust was beyond wild. I knew he was strong but, wow.
Still quiet, Wald punched an address into the car’s navigation, then put the car into gear and headed back to the highway.
Maneuvering to grab the cup, I realized my ribs no longer hurt.
I pulled the fabric of the catsuit back to check my chest, and the bruises were gone.
The curl of Wald’s lips was like he’d been looking down my shirt with me, but he kept his eyes on the road.
I threw a peppered chip at him. He plucked it out of the air and tossed it into his mouth.
“Waz rr plon?” I asked with a mouth full of ice pellets.
“We find Devlyn. I expect we’ll find Britannia there as well. The family album needs to be put into safekeeping, and we still need to attempt to repair the ring.”
“Attempt? What happens if we can’t repair it?” I asked, crunching ice and pepper laced with cheese. It worked well together.
He grinned like he’d bought the perfect color of flowers. “That would be unacceptable. We have to find a way, but I’m fairly certain Devlyn will manage it.”
“Why didn’t we go to him first then? If we had, Agatha might still be alive.”
“Because releasing Sert is a bad idea for everyone, and that is the only way Devlyn would do a favor for me.”
“Is there a third choice?” I stuffed a handful of chip crumbs into my mouth as he moved onto the highway.
“Bad choices are all shades of gray. For the moment, this is the easiest one to control.”
“Ah, control freak, I got that already from you, but it’s nice to hear you say it out loud. Where does Devlyn live?” The map showed our destination as one of the eastern seedier parts of LA near Highway 105.
“Watts.”
“Really? I would have thought your brother would be breathing some rarified air of Beverly Hills or Costa Mesa or have a beach pad at Newport or something.”
“I really don’t think of him as a brother. He’s a half brother to Britannia, and it was an accident.”
“Uh, that kind of thing is never an accident. People kind of know what to expect when flesh meets flesh. They can deny it, but you always know the possibilities,” I said smugly.
“Well, this one definitely wasn’t planned.” His lips pressed together as if he’d sucked a sour candy.
“Hang on, what are you saying?” I shook the ice cup to get a mouthful, and a block of ice smacked me in the lips, a dribble of liquid tracing down my chin and dripping into my cleavage. I bit off a chunk of ice pellets, my saliva breaking it apart.
“Maverick was seduced by a Grigores.”
I spewed ice pellets across the dashboard.