Her eyes flash. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me,” he says.
For a second, I think she’s going to launch herself across the table. I put a hand on her hip, steadying her.
Then she takes a tight breath.
“Okay,” she says, voice thin. “Those are the rules. So what do we doright now?”
Like the universe was simply waiting for its cue, the laptop pings. It’s the same handle. That same little chill.
SmartLittleBird.
you did so good last time. all those eyes on our mountain.
Cotton mutters, “I’m going to be sick,” and clamps her hand over her mouth.
Tallulah goes rigid beneath my hand.
“Our mountain,” she repeats under her breath. “I hate him.”
“Good,” I say, low. “Hold onto that.”
Brady’s pen scratches over paper. “No answer,” he says. “We sit.”
Tallulah’s fingers twitch. “He’s not going to disappear because we ghost him, Jack. If he feels snubbed, he’ll push harder.”
“And that pressure is onme,not you,” Brady says.
“Wrong,” she snaps. “He’s in my inbox. That makes it my pressure too.”
She turns her head, looks straight at me.
“You said we figure out how to keep me alive as part of this,” she says. “Well?”
She’s right there, eyes hot and asking for something I shouldn’t give her: permission.
I’ve never been good at telling stubborn, smart people to sit down and be quiet while I march off to the front line alone. That’s how you get dead partners and unsolved cases.
“Keep it brief,” I say before I can stop myself. “Keep it impersonal. Don’t let him get under your skin.”
Brady makes a noise like he’s swallowed a live fish but doesn’t bother to say no.
Twiggy’s mouth curves in something like grim satisfaction.
“Brief and impersonal,” she repeats. “I got this.”
She leans forward—which means she leansbackagainst me—and my whole body snaps to attention even though this is literally the worst time for that.
“Don’t,” I murmur.
She glances up, misunderstanding entirely. “I’m not going to flirt with him, Kelly.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I mutter.
Thankfully, she’s already typing.
some people confuse attention with affection. that’s their mistake.
