Finally, Tris returned his attention to Walker. “Why are you calling instead of using the app, anyway? You never call in, not even when you’re driving. You didn’t get got, did you? You didn’t, right? You know the rules. If you did, we can’t help you. Did the kid turn you in? Oh, shit. Did you kill him? Is that what this is about? It is, isn’t?—”
“Mouse, why don’t you let him speak and then you’ll know why he’s calling,” Cade said, now from a distance.
“Oh, right,” Tris said, as if the thought had never occurred to him. “So…what’s up?” he asked, tone overly casual.
“You messaged me,” Walker said through gritted teeth, pressing the palm of his hand to his eye, trying to stop the pounding.
Tris giggled. “Oh, yeah. A site opened up on your route, so you can butcher…that deer you’re hauling.”
Subtle.
“This is why you messaged me? I would have seen it in the app,” Walker snarled.
He hated wasting time. Especially when he still had a body in his truck and a half-dressed Kota waiting for him in the shower.
“Can’t I just check in with a friend?” Tris asked.
“We’re not friends.”
“Wow. Rude,” Tris said immediately. “Did you hear that, Cade? He said we’re not friends.”
“You cried at our wedding,” Cade called.
Walker breathed out a heavy noise through his nose. “I wasn’t evenatyour wedding.”
“He wasn’t?” Cade asked, sounding baffled by this information.
“I don’t remember,” Tris admitted. “We were tanked.”
Walker briefly considered slamming his head into the wall. Or throwing his phone into oncoming traffic.
“Focus,” Walker begged. “You have the attention span of a goldfish.”
“That’s hurtful,” Tris said with a sniff.
“Tris,” Walker growled.
There was a beat of silence.
“Goldfish can actually recognize human faces,” Tris informed him.
Walker closed his eyes. Of course, he would know that.
“Fine,” Tris said, exasperated, like Walker was the problem. “There’s been a glitch on the app. We’re trying to fix it, but it currently looks like there are no openings in the safe houses. I’m having to manually monitor the sites.”
“Ah,” Walker said. “Makes sense.”
It didn’t. At all. Walker didn’t know shit about computers.
Rain spattered on his arm, and he squinted into the hazy sky, then reached for the door handle. He climbed into the cab just as rain began to drum steadily against the roof. Cake lifted her head from her perch above the sleeper, blinked at him, then immediately went back to sleep.
Smart animal.
“You’re still meeting us at The Morgue tomorrow night, right?” Tris said excitedly.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Shut up,” Tris said. “You know you love us. We’re your only friends.”
