Somewhat in disbelief, I waited for Cherry to jam the helmet onto her head, her pale pink hair sticking out almost comically, then she hopped onto the bike behind the gruff man, who was likely a contract killer. And just in time too, because the door behind us banged open.
“Thanks,” was all she said. She’d barely grabbed hold of the guy’s waist before they took off, the engine revving loudly.
It seemed particularly uncanny that several of the people she’d helped had turned right around to help her with no good reason, and once more I couldn’t help but wonder if she really was psychic.
But why would she lie and say she wasn’t?
That question would plague me until we got a chance to talk, so I might as well focus on surviving.
I was fast, but not as fast as the top speed of a motorcycle. Thankfully, the biker slowed down once we were a few blocks away, and I could keep pace with it.
It wasn’t until we were out of back alleys and the shady side of town that he fully slowed down, finally coming to a stop next to a subway entrance. I ducked behind a dumpster and shifted back into my human form.
It wasn’t unheard of for shifters to occasionally run through the city, but it certainly wasn’t par for the course, and I didn’t need to stick out more than I already did.
“Yeah, they’re great there. If you have any questions or worries, they’ll help you. They’re the ones who got me the right meds when I first found little Hudson.”
“Thanks. Maybe they can have a playdate,” the giant man said. I was surprised he’d found a helmet that could properly contain his cranium. Must have bought it from a Samoan shop. “Our little ones, that is.”
“Hudson is a bit of a princess, but sure. As long as there are enough treats, she’s down for anything. Drop me an email.HausDonmoue at businessmail dot com.”
I was surprised it wasn’t something likepsychickgirlie5everorfunanimalfacts69.
“Will do.” He looked over his shoulder at me, and for a moment I thought he was going to say something poignant. He didn’t. He gave me a slight nod, then roared off.
Cherry and I looked at each other, surrounded by people hustling to the subway exit to catch the four a.m. lines. There was so much to say, and yet we were utterly silent as we walked down the stairs together.
Tickets bought. Train arrived. Seats found. All of it was done without a single word exchanged.
Because what the hell was I going to say?
Cherry was a con artist—she’d confessed that much. She’d risked our lives in the bazaar, and we never found out anything. We had no idea who put the bounty out there, and no idea who had taken it, and absolutely no idea who was currently trying to hunt down Jackson.
Although, we did now know several very particular characters whohadn’ttaken the contract, so that was… something?
Was it?
I didn’t know. My thoughts were fighting each other. At my core, I didn’t want to believe she’d deceived me. I did not want to believe that those incredible things I’d seen her do were somehow fake.
I really thought she saw me…
And that was the angry and hurt thought I kept coming back to. It weighed on me, and each time my mind walked around the spiral my brain insisted on spinning in, I grew a little more bitter, a little more closed off.
So, when we exited the subway and walked the short distance back to Cherry’s, my wolf wanted to come right back out. He was confused that I was upset with someone he considered part of his pack—and that was a whole other issue—which was leaking into my own swamp of feelings.
“That wasn’t exactly the most successful outing ever,” Cherry said as we approached her front door. “But I think the two contacts I made will be a little more open to dishing on anything they know after I work on them a couple days. You don’t think the Whisper is gonna keep trying to find us, do you? It’s not exactly difficult to find me.”
I didn’t reply. I couldn’t. I stood there, wondering if she was really going to pretend that everything was all right.
“Paul? You okay?” she asked as she fished around in the bush next to her door and then pulled out a set of green keys. I stared at her for a long moment, and finally, I saw the weight of the moment on her features.
“So, not a psychic, huh?”
Chapter 11
Paul
Fill in the Gaps