TWENTY-NINE
JINX
My head feelslike a goddamn miner has taken his pickaxe to it, which means one thing: I overslept. The light assaults my senses when I crack my eyes open, the sunny day outside a contrast to my mood.Fuck this shit.Fuck the Devil's Breed and their…
I slam my arm to the bed beside me and confirm what I thought: it's empty. Panic courses through me, fed by the shame that I fucking forgot she was here last night. How messed up am I?Or how badly do I block the pain?Our conversation slams into my mind, and I visibly wince at the outcome.
She had a right to know, and all I could do was offer a lame,"It isn't you."And no matter how I spin the story, saying I keep the secret to protect her from the pain, or that it's about who her father is and the colors I wear, it's all about my shame, isn't it? Always was. Always will be.
"Fuck." I throw the covers off and set my feet to the floor. My head throbs with the movement.First - water.
A tiny glimpse of hope flickers to life in my chest as I leave my room. Perhaps she's in the bathroom? Maybe there's a valid explanation for this. Except it's Fang's voice that hollers at me to piss off when I knock on the closed door.God damnit.I headdownstairs instead and use the guest bath, leaning down and twisting my head to get my mouth beneath the faucet to quench my thirst.
Where would she have gone?She has no way to get home, unless she's wrangled a ride from one of the other guys. Fuck me—the woman's hard-headed enough to go face-to-face with her old man without waiting for me, that's for sure. But it's what? I check the time on the grandfather clock in the hall that was here when we moved into the house. Ten in the morning.Fuck.That's right; I slept in.
"You good?" Highway chuckles at my disheveled, half-dressed appearance.
"Seen Kyra?"
He frowns. "The Sheriff's daughter?"
I nod.
"What the fuck would she be doing here?"
Right. Guess he hasn't heard the full details yet. "How about Flinch?" Bets are that interfering motherfucker has something to do with it.
"In the main room."
I stumble my way down to the front sitting room, fuck my lack of clothes, and search out the prick. He sits in the armchair by the window while he scribbles something in a notebook.
"Where did you send her?" I growl as I approach the older man.
He sets his book aside with a sigh and looks up at me. "Good morning to you, too."
"Cut the crap. Kyra's missing, and I know you probably have something to do with it."
"I haven't seen her since last night," he says, standing so we're eye-to-eye. "Where have you looked so far?"
"The bathroom next to my room. The guest bathroom. Here."
"So you haven't checked if she's in the kitchen getting breakfast? If she's on the porch eating it? Or anywhere else on the property."
Fuck him."No."
"Why don't you tell me why you think she would have left, then?"
"Not today," I grumble, finger pointed at his face. "I ain't got time for your mind-bending shit."
"Suit yourself." He leans back in the seat, glancing toward me before resuming his scribbles in the notebook.
I head through to the kitchen—fucker—and check. Bandit and Goblin cook up a feast on the stove, but there's no curvy little rule-breaker, wild waves caressing her shoulders as she talks.
She's not on the porch either. Only Loki, who tells me to head inside and get some fucking clothes on before the bunnies think their Christmases have all come at once.
I pass Chaos on the stairs on my way up.
"Didn't think you would have stayed here last night."
