I wished there was a way to block everyone from calling, but I couldn’t. There was one person Idefinitelyneeded to have a conversation with.
The Uber was still a few minutes away. Closing my eyes, I called up the phone number I’d memorized for Adrian. Nowtherewas a lost skill for you. But I didn’t have a phone,because every time I managed to get one, someone stole it from me almost immediately. Since it also wasn’t a great plan to have your client’s phone number scribbled on a napkin when you were planning on committing murder for him, that meant memorizing it.
I hummed the ditty from an old television commercial that I’d paired with the numbers to so they’d be easier to remember, tapping the sequence in rapidly and hitting the call button before I could second-guess myself.
My heart raced almost painfully inside my chest. The next few hours would determine if I deserved to keep breathing air, or if I’d be better off dead in a ditch somewhere.
“Hello?” came a wary voice on the other end. “Who is this?”
“Adrian? It’s Jez,” I forced out.
There was a pause. I held my breath, not sure what I expected to happen next. It wasn’t as though Adrian was going to suddenly spill his guts to me over the phone if he’d been lying about Knox and the others.
“Jez? You’re all right?”
My breath exploded from my lungs, leaving me lightheaded.
“Yeah, I’m—” I cut myself off and tried again. “I need to talk to you about what happened.”
“I saw the news report,”Adrian said. “When I didn’t hear anything from you afterward, I got worried. You’re okay, though? I didn’t see anything about an arrest...”
His voice was all earnest concern. He’d worn his heart on his sleeve every single time I’d interacted with him, as though he’d never learned how to hide it.
Had it all been bullshit? Had I fallen for an act?
“I’m okay,” I said, with something less than full truthfulness.
“Oh, thank goodness.” Relief dripped from the words. “Yes, we definitely need to talk. I don’t think we should do it over the phone, though.”
He was sure as hell right about that part. I needed to be able to look him in the eye, and smell what his pheromones were doing when I confronted him. I needed closure. And if it ended up being the permanent kind, because I’d been an idiot who’d tried to kill her own mate on the strength of a lie I’d wanted to believe?
Well... so be it.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “You’re right. Can we meet somewhere? I’m just about to get in an Uber.”
“Sure. Hang on a second—I need to see if I can get a ride.” There was a staticky sound like someone covering the phone’s mic, followed by muffled voices, the words indistinguishable.
Then he was back. “Hey, do you remember that park where we had our first meeting? Can you get there in about forty-five minutes.”
Right. A nice, deserted park. Where no one would be around to see whatever happened. The fictional cat in the box flickered, looking more and more like a dupe. My stomach twisted.
I wasn’t sure what traffic would be like this early in the morning, and even after seeing the map in the Uber app, I still only had the vaguest idea where I was.
“Um... make it an hour. I’ll meet you there,” I said, feeling heaviness settle over me.
“Fair enough.” Another slight hesitation. “Just one more thing, though. My sister... did you learn anything?”
The cat flickered back, gaining resemblance to a vigilante getting justice for the voiceless victims of the traffickers. The heaviness inside me didn’t lift, though.
“No, I’m sorry,” I managed. “I didn’t.”
The silence stretched, even as a red sedan pulled up to the curb by the mailbox.
“Oh,” Adrian said. “Okay. Well, I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye,” I told him, and disconnected the call with a shaking finger.
The driver dropped me off at the grimy little park where I’d first agreed to meet with Adrian, after someone in our mutual orbits had told him about me. Or, rather, had told him about my reputation as an omega assassin.
