He’s not in here. I’m looking. Not that I’d need to cup around my eyes to see his T-shirt clinging to his arms and chest like saran wrap. I’m just being observant in case he’s waiting somewhere.
I need to get the pictures. Preferably without Razor seeing them.
Fucking fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!
The boom in my sternum tightens my skin. I shift to Ora staring at me, her arms straight at her sides and her scrutiny breaking me up into little pieces for her third eye to sort through.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
“Um, I…” Blowing a sigh through my lips, my eyes roam with the roll of my head, trying to figure out if I should tell her the truth since Gwen and Duse already know, or if I should say I have cramps and make a run for it. “There’s been… I had… Oh, my God, brain come on.” I palm my forehead, overfilling my lungs and heading toward the door.
“Bun, just tell me.” She follows me outside, gently placing her hand on my shoulder to get me to stop.
Okay, here it goes. My worst fear of being a nuisance.
“A cop was waiting for me in my tent last night. Not just any cop. A homicide detective.” I give her a moment, sharing a silent, heavy look of this desiccating, unknown doom. “Yeah, it was pretty jarring and confusing, and I don’t know what he wants or what he’s already gotten. But that’s the only one that comes to mind when I think of abig guyhaving collateral on me.”
“Ohh, shit… Razor knows this?” she questions with wide eyes and paralyzed lips.
“Yeah,” I nod. “He fricking caught me coming out of my tent with the guy’s number.”
Her jaw drops, a dramatic gasp scraping like metal on metal down her throat. “Why would you get his number? How is he still alive? These are vital details you’ve been depriving me of!”
Her loud volume has me looking around, taking a step closer to avoid anyone overhearing this stuff. “I didn’t ask for his number. But I wasn’tnecessarily in a good position to put up a fight against Hulk. And truthfully, I don’t know how he’s still alive. Razor was pretty upset when I was honest about what all he said to me.”
“Okay, um…” Bringing her vice to her mouth, she takes a sputtering hit and flicks her attention around before raising her hidden brows at me. “We need to go tell the guys he’s back and snooping.”
“For what? What are they going to do?”
“Honestly? Do you want me to be honest?”
“Yes, Ora. I’d love some honesty right now.”
She hangs her head to the left, waiting for the last of her candied smoke to dissipate between us. “They’ll probably kill him for being nosy and stressing you out.”
Swallowing down the incline of my heart rate, I rub the sudden itch on my nose, tensely reaching back to scratch my swamp neck. “Why… Why would you say that?”
“Oh, be so for real, Bunny.” She rolls her eyes and snatches my hand, tugging me into the steps she’s adamant on. “Those guys love all your fucked up bits and pieces. Because they have them too.”
“Wait!” I tug back, trying to procrastinate for just a moment longer so I can breathe and wrap my head around everything. “I don’t want Razor seeing that picture.”
“And I don’t want to see you shot up with a fucking sedative and dragged away! Or worse!”
“Why would he sedate me? What are you talking about?!”
She growls ferociously, huffing and looking away from me. “I’m giving you five minutes to look for this guy, then I’m sending the fucking dogs after him.”
I don’t need five minutes to find him. I know where he is. Or, at least, where he’s going.
Confusion scratches through the adrenaline, slipping ice through my veins and amplifying the discreet shakes I’m kicking off the pavement with.
Sedate? Sedate?! Why would I be sedated and dragged away?
Turmoil comes out as a whine, running through strobing lights and laughter. My arms and legs are razors, slicing through the air, drawing out the warmth of my blood bubbling past the surface, my heart drilling an alarm that everyone here has me as the pawn in some sick game they snicker about in secret.
I’m not a joke. I am NOT a joke.
“Ugh, God! I’m not a fucking joke!” Swinging my stiff hands up, I barrel sideways through a group of guys standing in my way.
