“Got any kids?”
“Can’t.” He made a scissor-snipping motion with his fingers.
He answered questions like he was being interrogated for a crime – with simple, clipped responses that felt rehearsed.
“Friends?”
“Not really.”
“Well, damn.” I laughed. “You’re just a bundle of sunshine. Do you ever smile?”
“No.”
“Were you in the military?”
I noticed he pulled his hands towards himself just a little, skimming them against the tabletop.
“Yes.”
“Ever been shot?”
His brows rose, and I immediately regretted the question. I smiled apologetically.
“Sorry… that was a joke.”
“Not this week.”
I put my own hands on the tabletop with another smile, this one more authentic. “Listen, I’d love to finish playing twenty questions but… time’s up.”
I pointed at the clock on the wall, and his eyes followed. He pulled a twenty out of his pocket and laid it on the table, leaving his untouched coffee. I don’t think he’d taken a single sip. He was up and out the door before I could rise from my seat. I walked to the front door to flip the lights off and lock up, watching him cross the street and disappear into the dark.
“What a beautiful fucking weirdo,” I muttered, my breath fogging the glass. During the day, I couldn’t wait for him to come by so I could stare at him, but at night, I was always afraid he might come back. He was intriguing… but also a little bit scary.
I noticed the black car across the street again. It shut its headlights off, and my heart sank. I was a fish in a barrel, here; I had to get home. I snatched my keys off the counter, palming them for self-defense, and I headed down the street. As I walked at a clipped pace, listening for the sound of anyone behind me on foot or in a car, I told myself that I really needed some pepper spray and a taser.
The sound of a car starting up the street, from where I’d come, had my heart pounding in my throat. Well, this was it. The irony of the guy from the cafe telling me the city was dangerous – on the same day I got trafficked – wasnotlost on me.
I stole a glance behind me, and the moment I wasn’t looking forward anymore, someone grabbed me and dragged me into the alley.
Great.
Chapter ten
Halo
“Mission Drift”
Sheaskedtoomanyquestions tonight, and I answered too many. I watched the way her eyes narrowed when she was suspicious and how she smiled crookedly when she was amused. There was a little bit of deviousness in there; I could see it. She poked at me with her inquiries gently, carefully, trying to get a reaction like a kid testing whether the dog bites.
I was trying not to.
She asked if I ever smiled. God, if she knew what it took to survive this long, she wouldn’t ask that.
By the time I left, the back of my neck was prickling, and I knew something wasn’t right. I felt it before I saw it: a movement across the street. A car too clean for this neighborhood, parked with the engine still warm. Lights off, windows tinted. Matteo’s men again, I’d bet everything on it.
They were still watching her.
I ducked behind a dumpster and confirmed my suspicion. No doubt they’d taken it upon themselves to try and snag her to get in Matteo’s good graces. I would bet my left nut that he had noidea they were out here, because he would put a stop to that shitquickly. They were fucking up my chance to kill her quietly.
