He froze.
Even that wasn’t normal.I mean, most guys would freeze in terror because they’d basically just been spit on, or they’d recoil in disgust.
With Ringo, it was the stillness of a predator who’d just spotted his next meal.
I was sick of being a target.“I told you not to talk.”
He tossed his food to the plate.A whole minute went by as he debated breaking my rules and pissing me off more, or whether he really wanted to escalate the war to DEFCON four.
“You’re a piece of work.”
Straight to nukes.
“Says the guy who stalked me from a tiny ass villa in the hills of Barbagia all the way to suburban Chicago.”
“I’m not stalking you.”
“You are a liar.”
“Like that’s a crime?”
I growled.He was infuriating.“Since you brought it up, let’s talk about crime for a minute.”
His face blanked.“Let’s not and say we did.”He glanced at the windows next to us.
From age nine I’d known exactly why he said that and looked where he did.And I also knew a million and one ways to say something completely harmless just in case you were being eavesdropped on but really needed to say something un-harmless.
“Did you know that Chicago averages over 600 homicides in a year?”
His eyes went cold.
“And that the local FBI building houses over 600 employees.They can do 700 if they experience a high volume in case load.”
“Did you know your hands are shaking?”
I set my taco down and tucked my fingers between my knees where he couldn’t see them.“Did you know you that an erect blue whale’s penis is over twelve inches in diameter and that still isn’t the biggest dick on the planet?”
Ringo snorted.“No, I didn’t know that.But I suppose the biggest dick is exactly one hundred and eighty-one centimeters tall, weighs 81 kilograms, and knows exactly what your face looks like when you orgasm.”
My breath stalled in my throat.With it, my eyes got that funnily warm tingle of excess moisture pooling at the edges, and my hearing got fuzzy in the corners.
I tried to form words and failed.
“Breathe, Ellie.”
As if I needed his permission?“You’re a bastard.”
“Everyone knows that.”He tried to laugh at his own joke and failed.Oddly, he broke eye contact with me, and I could suck in air without the weight of his scrutiny clamping my throat shut.
“I found out who he is…was.”He stared at the plate in front of him.
“Wh-who?”
He sighed.“Someone awful.They… uh… were in hospice care for complications from a gunshot wound, and last night their breathing stopped.Attempts at revival were unsuccessful.”
“Did you know he was in a bad way?”
Ringo snorted bitterly.His gaze drifted to the window.“Let’s say it’s one of those occupational hazards of mine.”
