And the night wind rustles through the budding trees and it finds us, swirls around us there on that cold rock. “Exactly. The firstus.”
Us.
How utterly terrifying. How utterly thrilling.
Such a small word for such a big concept.Usmeans my identity and his are one. A team, tethered together. But the thing about a tether: When one topples, the other is pulled into the chaos as well. Both fall.
And he never answered my question, about whether this could bemore. A question. I never get answers to those. I should know better than to even ask.
I’m suddenly overwhelmingly cold, and shivers rock my body, and I lean over the side of the boulder, and I vomit.
Pax rubs my back, which is nice. Beyond nice; it’s electrifying.
“You had a lot to drink,” Pax says. Is he judging me? I can’t tell. I’m so dizzy and overwhelmed with a swirl of murky emotions.
His touch so intense, it’s almost painful, and I shrug away. “All part of the plan. Right, partner?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
We still need her,” Pax says the following day. My head pounds and my tongue feels like I’ve licked Snuff clean. Urp. But Kiyoko is practically doing cartwheels across the wide, wooden floors of Julia’s Bureau.
My already-queasy stomach twists further with the thought of Clarice DuBois joining our merry band of bandits. Yes, we need her. No, I don’t have to like it.
Pax isn’t looking at me. The details of last evening are fuzzy, but I think I must’ve said something that’s making him so standoffish today. “William, thank you again for her address book. It’s been immensely helpful. But these folks aren’t getting us inthe onedoor we need. We’ve tried every way we know to get to Max Blanck, and nothing is working. She has to include us in her act.”
We’ve propped the front door open wide to let in the beautiful May morning. We only have eleven days until Blanck’s party. The clocks in the shop next door chip away our remaining time, second by second, tick by tick.
“We need Clarice DuBois.”
“She needs a more persuasive argument than simplyjoin us.” I eyeball the raw egg in a glass that William swears is the cure to my hangover, and I gag a bit. Aprairie oyster, he called it. “Why would she include us in her act for Blanck’s party? What’s in it for her?”
Pax’s silvery green eyes evade mine. His sharp, starched shirt is unbuttoned at his throat, and one side is untucked from his tailored pants. He’s obviously been distracted by this. “We need to cut her in.” He pauses, then adds, “That means a smaller cut for each of us, of course.”
William, who was watching Nirav toss bits of cracker out the door to pigeons, spins to face us. “The Swedes sayDet är ingen ko på isen. It literally means ‘There’s no cow on the ice.’?”
I chuckle. “And what doesthatmean?”
“It means there’s no need to worry. Clarice is a sneaky woman, but she is not evil. Plus, it’s never really felt likemymoney, this haul. So, I’m okay with it.”
Nirav shrugs and takes William’s hand. He nods and points at William,Me too.
“I don’t think she needs money,” I say.
“Everyone needs money, Stella,” Pax says, his voice hoarse. Coupled with the purple shadows under his eyes, I realize he’s been lacking sleep. “Especially the rich. Once you’ve had money, you can’t imagine the pain of not having money.”
Kiyoko doesn’t look up from the wooden figurine dog she’s carving. She inks her contact information on toys like this and hands them to potential clients. “Smaller pieces of pie for us.”
Pax looks at me at last, pleadingly. What is it about those silvery green eyes?
I sigh. “I’ve never really been in it for the pie.”
Silence fills the room.Tick, tick, tickfrom the clocks next door.
Kiyoko flicks her knife, and the point of it drives into the countertop. She hops off her stool, scoops up the shavings, andbrings the scraps to dump them in the back alley. I follow, closing the door behind me.
“What are your real thoughts?” I pry.
“What are yours?” she counters.
