“Right,” she said.
“Is he still a twink?” Mason asked curiously.
“Still don’t know what that is,” I lied, knowing full well he was not a twink anymore. In fact, for whatever reason, I knew he was closer to what was now referred to as a ‘twunk.’ I wasn’t entirely sure what that word meant, but I knew enough to know it meant a former twink who had gotten bigger and lost some of the youthfulness that defined a twink, while still being attractive. Or at least...that was how I understood it. Again, I knew better than to let Mason know that, because one thing I’d learnedwas that you needed to be careful not to feed him too much information if you couldn’t be entirely sure where he was going with his thoughts. And the only thing you could reliably trust about Mason’s thoughts was that they would go in a direction that involved fucking with you; it was justhowhe was going to fuck with you that you had to be wary of, so it was better not to give him the chance.
“This just makes it more fun, I hope you realize that,” Mason said with a grin.
“And we all live to make your life fun,” Moira said.
“No, but you do it naturally; it wouldn’t be as much fun if you actually tried.”
I rolled my eyes and froze when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. It took more self-control than I was willing to admit, not to snatch it from my pocket, because I would never hear the end of that. Instead, I slid it out, my heart rate shooting through the roof when I saw it was Levi texting me. I opened it and stared at the address he’d sent. There was nothing else, just the address. The little shit had decided to stay true to his word...his exact word.
Fucker.
“As fun as this has been,” I said, standing up and shoving my phone into my pocket. “I’m going to head out before I decide murder is an acceptable solution to annoying family members.”
“Could you be more obvious?” Moira asked as I opened the office door.
Thankfully, I was spared having to say anything because Micah was standing on the other side, looking miserable and a little defiant as he held his bag of stuff out to me. Guilt shot through me.
“Give it to your mom,” I told him in a far softer voice than I’d used before, and put my hand on his shoulder. “And give some thought to what I said, you pissed me off, kid, good job onthat, I guess, but I still love you. And you know...it helped me a lot when I got into more physical stuff. It helped a lot with the anger bottled up inside me, and nowhere to put it. Give it some thought, and if you’re curious, just let me know, I’ll take you out and let you give it a whirl.”
Micah gave me a curious look before shrugging, which I took as a sign he was considering it. I wasn’t expecting the kid to jump up and take my offer after the conversation we’d just had, but hopefully he gave it some thought.
That concern would have to wait, because there was something else important that I needed to deal with first.
“Of fucking course,” I muttered as I drove around the next bend and the address came into view. “The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess.”
It wasn’t a big house, so I guess the past fifteen years hadn’t changed him into someone who decided everything was a sign of how much money he had. I bet it cost a fair bit of money, but that was more due to its location than its size or its appearance. It was pretty much known by those who lived in Cresson Point that the more nature there was, the more expensive the place was, especially if it afforded a good view.
The house he’d chosen was near the northern cliffs, only a few miles from his favorite spot to sit and think. It was tucked away in a comfortable nest of woods that looked untouched. With the window cracked, I could smell the ocean. He’d probably only have to walk ten minutes to stand and stare out at the sea. I briefly wondered what the point of having the house was when he still went to that same cliff, but then again, why hadhe gone to watch the hotel, or why had he gone back to the diner where his mother had worked and died?
I didn’t need to wonder that hard; I already knew the answer. The past was a ghost, and some people were more haunted than others.
Bringing my truck up behind the sleek, plain car in the driveway, I got out and took a deep breath. Yeah, the ocean was definitely close; I could smell the salt thick in the air. I looked at the house, and it was as unimpressive as the car. A one-story affair that stretched back into the woods, a covered porch out front. It wasn’t quite a log cabin, which would have felt flashier than the simple siding and the soft brown and green color scheme. It looked like the house of an average person who wanted to live close enough to the city to experience the nightlife without going far, but far enough away that they weren’t constantly surrounded by people, noise, and confusion.
I looked around, surprised by the normalcy of it and yet...not. Hell, he even had a few pinwheels tied to the porch that spun lazily in the afternoon wind coming from the sea. A few hanging plants looked well cared for. There were chairs on the porch; two small metal ones sat on either side of a metal table, and on the other side, a rocking chair with a plump cushion.
“I swear to God, if there’s a banjo,” I muttered when I stepped onto the porch, and the wooden steps creaked pleasantly. It didn’t help that the door was open, probably to let the breeze through the screen door, which was tightly closed. I couldn’t help the scowl when I grabbed the screen and opened it, listening as it squeaked ever so slightly. The entire thing was so...quaint, and it didn’t suit the image of a man who was even more reserved than he had been as a teen, and had become some crime lord.
The first room was a weird combination of entryway, based on the shoe rack, and pantry, considering the shelves of cannedand boxed goods. Scoffing, I stepped through the doorway to the right into a narrow kitchen that stretched toward an open space leading to a dining area, then to a living room to the left. Stepping closer, I could hear Levi’s voice coming from one of the two doorways on the far side of the small living room.
“I’m well aware of the implications and the consequences,” he was saying as he walked in, and I felt something flutter in my chest at the sight. It wasn’t like he had gone out of his way to dress provocatively or suggestively. The guy was dressed in a loose shirt and an equally loose pair of shorts. His hair wasn’t carefully combed, and he looked...at home, comfortable and at ease, though I could see from the dark look on his face as he walked in, holding his phone, that he wasn’t in a good mood. “I knew all that from the moment you put me in this position.”
“That sounds dangerously like self-pity,” came the hated, familiar voice of Augustine from the phone. “You were given this opportunity to prove you were capable of what you’ve proved to be in the past, being efficient, and someone worth following.”
Levi glanced at me, and from the way he shot me a warning look when he spotted my expression, he had known I was there from the start. “First of all, let’s not pretend this is an opportunity I was given. It was forced upon me. And before you explain that away, you yourself once told me you knew you were the sort of person people couldn’t say no to. I am not magically immune to that. And secondly, it’s not self-pity to acknowledge something. And in this case, it’s acknowledging the position I was put in...by you.”
“Hmph,” Augustine grunted, and I felt my anger boil because the rotten bastard actually sounded amused. “You’ve been in charge for over a month, and you’re already starting to sound like Eliza. She doesn’t like it when I point out her position either.”
“Positions you’ve put us both in,” Levi said wryly, coming closer and setting the phone on the dining room table, gesturing for me to be quiet. “Now, has this conversation served whatever purpose you intended, or is there a further point?”
“No,” Augustine said immediately, still sounding amused. “I think we’ve covered everything I needed addressed. I hope you have a plan to deal with Los Muertos; otherwise, failure isn’t going to be simply embarrassing, it could be?—”
“Fatal and agonizing, I’m well aware,” Levi interrupted. For a moment, I forgot I was furious at the sound of Augustine’s voice and frustrated with Levi for how he had been acting for the past day. I had never known him to speak to Augustine in a way that was both familiar and...disrespectful? Well, I didn’t think it was disrespectful. If there were ever a person who needed to be nailed to the wall more often, it was that dirty bastard. Levi, though, at least in the past, had always spokenofAugustine with respect and contained fear, let alone speakingtohim with this level of frank irritation and refusal to back down. Apparently, some things had changed in the past fifteen years; either that or Augustine was right, and something had changed in the last month. “If that’s all?—”
“It is. Contact me if anything else happens,” Augustine said, and the phone beeped, signifying the call was over.
