“We could meet somewhere. We could talk again. I promise not to…” He shrugged, but didn’t try to pull his hand away. He just stood there, passive.
I fought the urge to punch him until that strange smile of his turned to dust. I fought the urge to turn him around and give him the bum’s rush.
But Abbi was still crying, and I’d already wasted enough time on this joker.
“Leave me and mine alone,” I said. “That is your only warning. I see you again, and I will reduce you to hash. Understand?”
His eyes flicked up. There was anger there, but he quickly dropped his gaze again. “Yes.”
I squeezed his wrist just that much harder, felt bones shift. He hissed, but made no move to pull away.
I released his arm and strode past him out to the grass. Lorde wasn’t done snarling and threatening, but I snapped my fingers and she left him to come to my side.
“She hurt her ankle.” Lu’s hand wrapped gently around Abbi’s bare foot, the other hand supporting the weight of her leg.
Abbi was curled like a leaf, hugging Hado and making small, pitiful sounds.
“Does she need a doctor?” I asked.
It wasn’t panic that made my words a little too high. Couldn’t be panic that crumpled my lungs and soured my stomach. There wasn’t any need to panic.
Abbi wasn’t actually a child. Wasn’t nearly as fragile as she looked. And yet, I found it hard to breathe through the tightness in my chest.
“Should I go for a doctor?” I asked again. “I can find one. Someone in the coffee shop should know. I’ll be quick.” I got half a step away when Abbi stuttered out one last sob.
“Is he gone?” she asked.
Lu raised an eyebrow and glanced up at me.
I gave her a blank look.
“Mad Mat,” she said.
Why was Lu smiling now? Why was she looking at me like I was the most interesting thing she’d ever seen?
“Brogan?” she prompted.
“Right.” I scanned the park, the gazebo, the empty street, and shop windows. “There’s no one. No Mat.”
Abbi snuffled. “He’s g-gone?”
“He’s gone.”
Abbi rolled onto her back, her arms out at her side, gaze on the sky. Hado, still snuggled on her chest, head-butted her chin. “Good,” she said. “He was awful. Can we have more cinnamon rolls?”
Lu rocked back on her heels, her eyebrows raised. “I take it you’re not really hurt?” She stood up out of her crouch and planted hands on her hips. “Abbi, are you hurt?”
“No.” She blinked up at both of us and her dark, wide eyes and chubby face were utterly tear-free. “I just wanted him to leave.”
“Abbi,” Lu admonished.
“You wanted him to leave too, didn’t you?”
“That’s not…” Lu tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. “Yes, I wanted him to leave. But if you cry, I will believe you are injured. Brogan almost chased down a human doctor, and what do you think the doctor would have seen if he’d stuck you in an X-ray machine?”
“Rabbit bones?”
“Rabbit bones,” Lula agreed. “And then we would have had to figure out how to fix that mess. We might have had to hurt people or destroyed machines.”
