I picked up two garbage bags from the box in my garage and chose my ‘sensible’ car. If I ended up having to pay for cleaning, better this upholstery than what was in my other vehicles.
Despite the multitude of costumed college students still out and about around campus, I was able to make good time and pulled up to the house in question seventeen and a half minutes after I’d gotten off the phone with Keli. Two women sat on the porch steps.
I parked at the curb, not wanting to risk someone parking behind me in the short time it would take me to get these two young women into my car. The last thing I needed was to get into an altercation with some inebriated frat boy with something to prove.
When I was only a dozen steps away, one of the young women raised her head. Ebony curls framed a pretty face, and teal-colored eyes regarded me warily. She tightened her arm around the brunette leaning heavily against her.
“Keli Miller?” I held out my hands so she could see that they were empty. “I’m Alec McCrae. You called me.”
Relief swept over her features. “Thank you for coming.” She gently shook Ester. “Hey, wake up. Alec’s here. He’s going to take us back to the dorm.”
“He’s hot,” Ester mumbled. “But Leo says he’s off-limits.”
Keli blushed, seemingly embarrassed for her friend. “Come on, Ester. You need to stand up.”
“Don’t wanna.” Ester’s head rolled back, and she looked up at me from bleary eyes. “Hey you.”
Keli rolled her eyes and got to her feet. She was taller than I’d realized. I was six-and-a-half feet tall and used to towering over most women, but this one was less than a foot shorter than me and had legs that went on for days. When she leaned over to pull Ester to her feet, I couldn’t help admiring her ass.
I didn’t allow her body to turn me from my purpose for being here, though. Keli had her arm around Ester’s waist, and when I moved to the other side, I took Ester’s arm. Together, we walked Ester to the car and eased her into the back seat.
“Let me buckle her in, and then I’ll sit up front.” Keli leaned across her friend, taking care to make sure she would be safe.
“There are garbage bags on the floor, in case she’s sick.”
“I’m pretty sure she’s already emptied everything in her stomach,” Keli said dryly.
Not wanting to appear like some sort of creep hovering over a couple coeds, I got into the driver’s seat. A minute or so later, Keli settled next to me, buckling up before she looked at me.
“Thank you for coming for us.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, starting the car. “You’re a good friend.”
Keli shrugged, but I could see a pleased expression on her face, her cheeks pink. “I know I probably could have gotten a cab or car service, but I didn’t think I could manage to get her in and out of the car without putting us both at risk.”
“You did the right thing,” I assured her. “A lot of good people exist in this world, but a single bad one is all you’d need when your attention is on something else.”
“How long have you lived in Seattle?” she asked, shifting so that she was angled toward me. “I mean, that accent’s not exactly Pacific Northwest.”
“I was born in Scotland but moved to California as a child. I came to Seattle in July.” I waited for Dorothy and a scarecrow to finish crossing the street before I made my turn.
Keli’s face lit up. “Where at in California? I grew up in Monterey Bay.”
The small talk continued until I reached their dorm. I walked them to their door, exchanging nods with the security guard sitting just inside the lobby both when I came in and when I left.
Keli could more than handle getting Ester to bed, and I’d done as I’d been asked. Leo could sleep easier knowing that his cousin had a good roommate who would help keep her safe.
Two
Seattle wasa large enough city that when the local colleges let out for break, there didn’t seem to be much of a population drop unless one was near the schools themselves. Until I went to the University of Washington to meet with a mathematics professor regarding a paper he had recently written, I hadn’t realized classes had ended for the semester.
My meeting with Professor Mirax went well. He’d written a phenomenal new algorithm, and MIRI was interested in using it. Da had asked me to personally meet with the professor to show him how serious MIRI was about its work. Unsurprisingly, Da had been right. Mirax had been impressed and promised to come in after the holidays so we could discuss more concrete plans.
When I stepped out of the mathematics building, the snow that had dusted everything earlier in the day was gone, washed away by the sort of freezing rain that turned everything to miserable slush. I ducked my head and hurried to my car, grateful that I’d taken the advice of my assistant, Tuesday Boswell, and put snow tires on my car.
I was just getting ready to turn out of the parking lot when I noticed a familiar figure walking down the sidewalk, her dark curls whipped about in the wind. If it hadn’t been forMonterey Baywritten on the bag she had over her shoulder, I wouldn’t have recognized her. Even though I didn’t actually know her, I couldn’t let her walk in this weather.
I rolled down my window and shouted, “Keli!”
