A startled pause greeted me.
“Hello?”
A woman started cackling.
“Is that how you answer your phone?” she gasped, breaking into guffaws every other second. “You sound like an escort service.”
The rest of her words cut off as she dissolved into laughter again.
I tilted the phone to check the caller’s name. The words “Demon Wolfy” shone up at me. Caroline. Of course. Who else but a best friend would give me this much shit?
“And that name! It’s so awful.”
“It’s called branding,” I said sourly, wondering if she could hear me over her laughter.
She was right about the name though. It was generic—and awful. I hadn’t been able to figure out anything better to call myself and until I did The Traver’s Agency it was.
“It’s something,” she said as her laughter eased.
“Why are you calling me?”
A snort left her. “Did you forget what day it is?”
The faint note of accusation made me fall silent.
“Oh shit. Girl’s night.”
How had I forgotten? I’d been looking forward to it for over a week.
Feeling panicked, I checked the time on my phone. 10:45 p.m. I was supposed to meet Caroline and the others an hour ago.
“I knew it. You did forget,” Caroline said, sounding smug. To someone else, “Pay up. I was right. She forgot.”
There were several boos.
“You disappoint me, Aileen,” someone on the other side yelled.
Their words were muffled enough that it was difficult to guess their identity.
Caroline ignored them. “You’re on the way now, right?”
“About that—”
How did I tell Caroline that girl’s night might need to be canceled?
With Dominick and hunters in town, it was probably best to avoid being out in public. I needed to be lying low. Not drinking it up with all my friends.
The only reason I’d risked doing this job was because I’d already accepted it and I didn’t want to lose my reputation. The fact it was in an isolated section of the city was a bonus.
“Don’t you dare bail on me,” Caroline warned. “You’re not getting out of this that easy.”
From the chorus of protests on the other side of the phone, it sounded like the rest agreed.
“Something came up.”
Caroline wasn’t going to like this. I had a history of blowing things off. Usually for good reasons, but that was little comfort to the people around me.
“That’s a shame,” Caroline drawled, much calmer than usual. “Your sister is going to miss you.”
