Shrugging, I shoveled a spoonful into my mouth. The eclectic flavor combination struck every taste bud magnificently. Fuck what anyone else thought.
Pineapple still didn’t belong on pizza, though.
“Corb, just relax. Your girl is coming to the opening ceremony tonight. Go rub one out in the bathroom if youhave to.” I jerked my chin to the side, where the single stall bathroom remained unoccupied.
The air of unease surrounding him didn’t let up as he aggressively bit into the dry square of bread. Yellow crumbs rained down over the table and stood out against the dark fabric of his hoodie.
“Did you sense anything about her when she pushed past us earlier?”
Mouth full of food, I swallowed it down slowly at his question. I sure as hell had sensed something. Couldn’t have told a soul what it was, but it had been a flash of heat and friction. It had reminded me of the sensation of a match connecting with the striking surface on the side of the box—quick, rough, and violent warmth.
Wary of what he might say next, I chose my words carefully. “Sensed something? Like what?” One brow quirked up.
Gods help me if he has come up with some bird-brained theory.
After finishing the cornbread he stole from me, his fingers brushed the evidence off his shirt.
“Ran into her at the General Store. Things were going well. Then…”
His one shoulder popped up, and he made a gesture with his hand that I had no idea what the fuck it meant.
“Then? Then, what? Corbin, man. What’sthissupposed to mean?” I mimicked the gesture he had just made with his hand, a lazy flick to the side with fingers sweeping throughthe air.
“She disappeared.”
“Shocked.” I spooned a heaping helping of chili into my mouth. “I’d run from your storm cloud aesthetic, too.”
“Literally, Bale. One second I was up against her, looked away for a split second, and the next thing I know, it was like she was never there at all,” he explained. Each word held deep contemplation behind it.
Initially, the wordimpossiblecame to mind. Then, doubt crept in.
I laid my spoon down with a quietclinkagainst the ceramic bowl, and slowly wiped my mouth, forever staining the overused napkin in my hand.
Allowing my brain to mull over the potential explanations, I sat back in the booth.
“Disappeared, huh?”
Corbin nodded. “Thin air. You don’t think she’s?—”
Anger flashed through my veins before I cut him off. “No. Don’t. Never fucking go there.” I didn’t want to consider any possibility that we had a clusterfuck of a situation on our hands.
He leaned over the table, dropping his voice to a whisper. “But if she is? This could beouryear, Bale.”
My nostrils flared as I shoved my half-eaten bowl of chili to the side before mirroring his lean across the table.
“If she is, then we’re fucked,” I said harshly. “We’ll burn and so will she.”
Jabbing my finger in his direction. “Keep your damn girlfriend to yourself if you must, but mark my words thatif she’s anything but some awkward chick with an attitude, I’m not holding back during the hunt.”
That earned me a murderous expression from Corbin. Good, I had struck a nerve that needed to be sliced open. We couldn’t afford frilly feelings if our lives were on the line.
We spent far too long deadlocked in a staring contest. Hell, we may have stayed that way for another week if it weren’t for a fresh group of patrons wandering in through the door. Their laughter and chatter disturbed the otherwise sleepy ambiance inside the diner.
Corbin’s head turned with an eerily slow movement, too slow. A purposeful shift in his demeanor, promising pain to anyone who so much as blinked in a way that annoyed him.
My eyes flicked to the quartet that made up the Town Council—Mayor Jacob Dennison, Sheriff Pauline Hawkins, Edward MacElroy, and Marjorie Kiln.
Trailing behind them like a lost puppy was a man I’d never seen before. Britches too tight, hat too big, and radiating nauseating golden retriever energy. Too eager to fit in, too eager to please.
