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“Where do you get these? This is next level,” I asked.
“I know, right? Good shit,” Cookie said. “There’s a place on the corner of Purgatory and Main that sells them. Little retired leprechaun cranks them out. Don’t tell him you know he used to be a leprechaun. Word is he sold off all his gold on the exchange because of gambling debts. Made things difficult for him back home. Lost all street cred after that. Pisses him off something fierce, and no one needs a pissed leprechaun on their hands. They can be nasty little shits on a good day.”
Purgatory and Main? Pissed-off leprechaun? There were so many odd things about what she’d said that it was hard to know where to begin.
“Too much info?” she asked, probably because of the dazed look on my face. “You’ll get used to it eventually. So what did you think of the twat? No one but Kaden likes her.”
Understandable, considering the interaction I’d had with her.
“Oh,” I said, not sure what else to say.
“What did she say to you? She can’t open her mouth without insults flying out,” Cookie said.
“I didn’t talk to her much.”
“Yeah, I’d try to keep it that way. She’s not what you’d call a girl’s girl, like me.”
If she hadn’t nodded, reinforcing her words, I might’ve taken it for a joke. Cookie was a girl’s girl? I mean…IguessI could see that, if I put a lot of work into it. She had been the only one to tell me Nowhere wouldn’t kill me and defended my right to make my own choice. In retrospect, feeling as banged up and wiped out as I did right now, a few more details might’ve been helpful, but it didn’t negate the intent.
“Is Antionette a tinker or does she work with Kaden?”
Connor laughed to himself while he read.Dice rolled his eyes.
Cookie scoffed. “Shewishesshe were a tinker. That woman has zero skills outside the bedroom, from what I can see, other than politically. She’s so cold that I have my doubts about in bed as well, except that Kaden isn’t exactly desperate, so I imagine she must have something.
“He’d never mess with anyone who works for him. He doesn’t even like to mess around with anyone he does regular business with. Says it ‘muddies the waters.’” She laughed hard before she added, “Considering how many jaded women he’s left behind, it’s a good thing, because he’d be standing in a mud pit by now.”
Habitual womanizer. Just another thing to add to my long list of reasons not to like the man. He was attractive enough, if you liked the cold, too-much-testosterone type.
“Politics? Wait, I thought Nowhere had no rules?”
“Rules or not, there’s no place in the universe that doesn’t have politics,” Dice said, holding up his gun and squinting down the barrel.
“I wouldn’t feel bad about the twat disliking you,” Connor said.
“Yeah,” Cookie added. “She universally dislikes anyone that takes any of Kaden’s time. She hates all of us because we work with him, and his work takes his time. She’s definitely going to hate you the most. She might even despise you at the moment, but you’ll eventually fall into just bland disdain.” Then she leaned forward, and it looked like she was counting lollipops by color.
“How long have they been together?” I asked, since everyone seemed eager enough to gossip.
“If by together you mean hanging around and waiting for whatever crumbs he has left to give her?” Cookie asked, writing down numbers on a scrap of paper while she talked. “A year or so? Eventually she might tire of it and move on like the rest. Some stick around longer than others.”
“Does it bother him that his relationships fail over and over again?” I asked.
“Who, Kaden?” Dice laughed. “If he did, he might try a little harder. He hasn’t yet, and has never seemed overly upset.”
“You need to understand something about Kaden,” Cookie said, pocketing the scrap of paper with the numbers. “He doesn’t get into relationships because he cares. It’s more about convenience. The only long-term commitment that man has ever made is this place.”
I sank another inch into the couch, kicking my feet up on the table and letting the sugar do its job. For some reason, hearing about Kaden’s escapades only annoyed me more, probably because it showed what a bastard he was.
“At least you can start getting on with things too,” Cookie said. “Get some real freedom and move on with your life.”
Move on? I wasn’t moving forward. I was going back home. Ignoring Kaden’s rules, being able to go into Nowhere, was one step closer to being able to navigate this world on my own, learn its rules and how to get myself out of this place.
It was one more step closer back to my life that felt like it was slipping away. As it was, my phone had barely rung this last week. Johnny used to call me every day after work. He hadn’t called me in days.
“What’s wrong? That should make you happy, and you look like you lost your dog,” Cookie said, shifting close enough that her arm brushed mine.
I was ready to buy her a box of hair dye. I moved over a couple of inches as casually as possible before answering.
