“Yeah. It’s a tracking app masquerading as a normal map app. I don’t see anything else, and security is my job. I’d know.”
“Motherfucker. Karim put that app on my phone during our trip to the UK to visit his family last year. He’s been tracking me all this time?”
“I’m surprised so many people don’t know about it.” Mateo handed the phone back to her.
“I’m guessing this Karim guy is your ex?” Eva asked, her eyes landing on the ring still on Meera’s finger. “He called and messaged like a million times.”
“Yeah. I didn’t get the proof I wanted, but I got the proof I needed. I guess I shouldn’t wear this now.” She twisted the ring off her hand and tucked it into her pocket.
“Well, you know what they say,” Eva said. “Cheaters project and suspect they’re being cheated on and do things like track their partners’ phones. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were right about the cheating too.”
I leaned over and read the screen as Meera scrolled through the texts.
“I wonder if he knows for a fact that you have what he is looking for,” I said idly. “He never saw you take it. And none of those messages mentions the… uh… Omelet.”
“Omelet?” Mateo and Eva asked simultaneously with raised brows.
I shrugged.
“I left my gym bag in his office. And the bag the egg originally came in is in my apartment.”
“Does he have your keys?”
“No. And my building also needs a card key, and they updated it just last month.”
“Have you ever left your bags in his office before?”
“Yeah, actually. I left the same gym bag a few weeks ago. I’m forgetful sometimes. It’s something he hates about me.”
“Would he believe if you say you left that gym bag another time? And that you have no idea what he’s talking about?
She frowned. “Won’t work. He’s got a camera pointing at the door.”
“I doubt he’d have that running if he planned on his little meeting,” I said.
“You’re right. So he could be just guessing that it’s me because of the bag.”
“If you can convince him that you leaving has nothing to do with the meeting, it might make him or whoever he’s working with split their resources and go after someone else,” I said. “There is more than one party after you. If we send them after each other, it will make our trip to Darlington easier, especially with all these stupid rules I have to follow.”
“Rules?”
“Usually I like working for Desmon because he doesn’t care how you get the work done. But this time, he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s evenawareof the egg. That’s why we have to stay in glamour. And we can’t draw attention to ourselves. That means no casualties or using strong magic. We have to stay under the radar. And we can’t travel via portal with Omelet. It’ll scramble him.”
“Portals! I’ve seen them in videos, but I’ve never been through one before.”
“I’m sure you’ll get the chance soon,” I said. “It’s not safe for you to go home until this is over, so you’ll probably be staying at Redrock’s.”
A little voice inside told me I should bring her straight up to the penthouse the first chance I got and see how she looked in one ofmytowels. But I shook off the ridiculous idea. Redrock had a secure room downstairs near our offices for guests who needed somewhere safe to stay.
I’d told her she wasn’t my type back in the motel room, but that had been a lie. She was totally my type. In fact, she was the first woman my gargoyle wanted since Seraphina.
And therein lay the problem. I felt guilty just wondering about what her lips would taste like, and how her body would feel like under mine. Sara was long gone, but it still felt like I was cheating on her memory.
On the outside, Seraphina had been meek and soft-spoken, a pawn under her wizard father’s thumb, but she hid a scheming female who only prized money and power. We would’ve neverhad a future anyway. I hadn’t been free at the time. My brothers and I had been bound to a wizard family for generations, and I’d only been in her father’s service as a loan.
Things were different now. I had autonomy and was free. And in the short time I’d known Meera, I could already tell that she didn’t have the practiced artifice Sara had.
We quieted as the waitress brought Eva’s milkshake.
