Page 18 of Breathe Like Hell

I parked next to her trailer and hopped out, then started slowly walking around the perimeter, trying to find clues or catch some sort of scent, but there was nothing. Next to her bedroom window, I could see the slight depression on the grass, which I had to assume was from Aamon standing there, looking in at her, terrified under her bed.

Heading around the back, I kept my eyes trained on the ground in case he’d dropped anything. There was nothing other than some pebbles and a few pieces of trash that’d blown on the wind, tangled in the long grass now.

I grabbed my lock pick from the glovebox in my car, then unlocked her front door and stepped inside. It was dark and quiet, everything suspended in stillness.

I didn’t expect to see anything relating to Aamon in here, but there was no way I could visit Dakota’s place without going inside and looking at her stuff. Slowly, I made my way back to her bedroom, which was a disaster. There were half-empty water bottles everywhere, clothes strewn across the floor, food wrappers overflowing from her trash can.

Her bed was rumpled, comforter half pulled-back like she’d expected to come back to it. I went around her bedroom and gathered up all the trash, then dumped out the water bottles in her kitchen sink before bagging everything and setting it outside her front door. There was also a half-empty bottle of vodka which I stowed in a high cabinet above her fridge. Next, I straightened her comforter and sheets a little bit—I never made my own bed, so it wasn’t super natural for me—then picked up her clothes and put them in her hamper.

Not great, but better.

Even though I didn’t know when she would be here next, I liked knowing that it would be slightly cleaner for her now. Maybe it would help her. Sometimes I got the sense that nothing I did was ever actually good for her, and I knew I had to fix that.

I hesitated at the door to her bedroom, contemplating stealing something.

She’d probably be mad or embarrassed if I took a pair of her underwear from the hamper, but there was no point in me taking one from the drawer. She hadn’t worn those yet. And I wanted the underwear because it’d been pressed to Dakota’s pussy all day, not because I liked tiny cotton garments.

There was a light blue striped pair right on top, so I took it and shoved it in my pocket. It was too easy to pass up.

Then I paused, still staring into the hamper.

My sweatshirt was in there. The one I let her keep on the first day we hooked up, when all her clothes had been soaked with ocean water, and she needed something warm and dry to put on. She still had it, still wore it.

I liked that.

I left the trailer and took her trash with me, still not finding anything that would lead me to Aamon as I took a final glance around the area. It would probably be easier to find him once night began to fall.

I decided to just take the trash to a dumpster, then go to the empty housing complex I’d seen him the first time. Maybe it was his home base or something. I could at least see if he’d been back there recently.

But when I actually made it all the way out to the block of new houses, it was obvious he’d not been here either.

I would need to come up with a new plan, a better plan. Because going around aimlessly looking for him was idiotic and surely not going to work. Maybe I’d just have to hope that my regular demon-hunting strategies would bring me to him eventually. He’d have to slip up at some point and try killing an angel, and that could be my chance.

CHAPTER SEVEN

DAKOTA

I saw Mila pull into the parking lot right as my shift ended, but she didn’t hop out of her car as I’d expected. She remained safely inside of her beat up silver SUV. And there was not a push up bra in sight.

I waved bye to Eric, then pushed out the door into the darkening evening, the cool air kissing my cheeks, precipitation looming. After I yanked on the passenger door handle a few times, Mila finally managed to stretch over the seat and yank up the latch.

“I’m chickening out,” she said the moment I got in the car. “Just—shhhh.” Mila held her finger up, preemptively shutting down my questions about her plans to seduce my manager by showing her tits.

“Okayyyyy,” I said. “Next time.”

“It’s gonna happen. I fucking swear.” She pulled out of the lot, accelerating as I buckled my seat belt. “And then you’ll all be sorry.”

“I literally don’t even know who you’re talking about. Who are you all.”

“My haters, obviously.”

“Right. Gotcha.” I nodded exaggeratedly, holding in my giggles. “Of course.”

“My failure to seduce the hottest Gen X man in Washington aside, how was your shift? How’s your weekend been?”

I looked out the window at the spruce trees blurring past, not entirely sure how to answer her. Well, I found out a literal demon is probably hunting me, I’m failing half of my classes, my professor is a liar who wants to punish me for cheating on him, and the man I’ve been cheating on him with is also a nightmare.

“It was alright. I’m really tired recently, though. Need more sleep,” I answered, settling on the simplest version of the truth. I was exhausted. And now that I’d actually left the gas station, I was starting to get a pit in my stomach.