The barista chewed on her lip, before leaning over the counter. “Are you looking for Winder? You don’t look like a partier, but what do I know?”
Confusion must have been scrawled across my face, because she nodded to the corner where he stood last time. “Winder. He mostly deals with the university crowd, you know, the kids who have too much money, but sometimes he scores other stuff, too.”
Blood rushed to my cheeks as I realized how obvious I must have looked. “He’s not here today?”
“No. But I know where you can find him, if you want.” She shrugged. “Or you can wait for him to come back, but I never know when he’s going to show.”
I was going to beverylate to work if I went chasing after a ghost, but I couldn’t afford to wait.
“Where?”
She gave me directions to a part of the city I usually tried to avoid. Ancient buildings in desperate need of work scared me. But I was so far into Hell already, a few more steps couldn’t hurt me.
The bell above the door rang out as I passed, and I followed the directions the barista gave me. It didn’t take long before the clean streets and bustling business people died out, and the buildings started to shrink. I passed a window with boards over it, and another covered by a sheet of plastic. Bright graffiti tagged the walls and benches, phrases I couldn’t quite make out. Apartments turned into row houses, with patched roofs and sagging porches. The roads were quiet here, with the exception of a few bikes racing past. It was as if I’d left the city I knew, and entered somewhere completely different.
I didn’t fit in here. My silk button-down was too shiny. My heels clacked too loud on the broken pavement. Everything in me screamed for me to turn back and figure out a different route. Maybe bailing would be the smart thing to do.
Except, maybe I did fit in here. Lately, it was feeling more and more like my appearance was a costume, a disguise I wore to fool others into thinking I was normal. I was successful. I wasperfect.
But I knew better. I knew some stains left a permanent mark that pretty clothes and perfect makeup couldn’t cover. Perfection was corruption. Truth was an illusion.
The barista told me a house number, 118. I just passed 112, and there was 114. 116…
A dilapidated blue house that had seen better days was next, except instead of 118, a number was missing, so it read 11. A group of men stared at me from the rotten porch, and I had a feeling this was the place I was looking for. Now I just needed to work up the courage to get closer.
“Hey, pretty girl,” a man called.
Nope. Gripping my purse, I wished I’d had my work bag that currently resided under my desk. There was a bit more weight to the bigger bag, making it a better weapon. I was ready to walk back the way I came right then and there. But I had come so far. I was so close.
I knew what they saw. A helpless woman out of her comfort zone. I could use what they saw as my weakness to my advantage.
I looked up at the men through my eyelashes. “Can you help me?”
“You need a place to stay, pretty girl? A place to sit maybe? My lap is free.” He patted his thighs, taking a drag of his cigarette while his friends laughed.
“As comfortable as your lap looks, I’m actually looking for someone.” I twisted my toe against the sidewalk.
“You? Looking for someone here? Now I’ve heard it all. You’re probably looking for 87th North. It’s back that way. You’ll know you’re there when you start seeing people with fancy clothes like yours again. Of course, if you’d like to have some fun before you go, I can?—”
“Winder,” I interrupted. “I’m looking for Winder. Do you know him?”
The group of men grew quiet. The one who had been talking to me put out his cigarette on the porch. “And what does a girl like you want with Winder?”
My tongue choked me, beating out my lungs in their attempt to fail. I wasn’t this woman. I didn’t talk to groups of strange men. But desperate people did desperate things. “I heard he has some things I might be interested in.”
He leaned forward. “Listen here, girly. I don’t know what you want with Winder, but you’re in over your head.”
Probably. Too late now. I was in the middle of the ocean, the shore miles off, and treading water was my only option.
“Someone looking for me?” I hadn’t heard him speak in the coffee shop, but hearing his voice now made complete sense. No one else’s voice could possibly have the same effect on me.
Looking past the men on the porch, I saw him in the doorway, the man from the café,Winder. I was almost certain he was dressed in the same clothes as yesterday, a dark plaid shirt and ripped black jeans. His bright blue eyes stared down the man who had been speaking to me.
The man raised his hands defensively. “Hey, man, don’t look at me. This little thing out here says she knows you. I told her she had the wrong address, but she won’t take no for an answer.”
Winder’s gaze flashed to me, and the brief spark of surprise faded into something else. He took the stairs two at a time,grabbing my wrist and pulling me away from the house. The men whooped and hollered.
I probably should’ve been afraid. Instead, a shock of excitement shimmied through me. I was doing things I never thought I could do. Something about his touch raced straight to my head, even as Winder whipped around, dropping my wrist and glaring at me.
