Not knowing how else to convince Theodore Dunkin to let me talk to Gigi, I drop the phone.
Brexley magically falls into step with me when I start for home again.
“Your boss is holding my Gigi captive.”
The Were stops cold, forcing me to stop. “What?” he asks.
“Theodore Dunkin. Hunter’s father says Gigi is safe, but that I can’t talk to her. Not while she’s in so much danger.” I can’t help the disgust lacing my words. I know Brexley only works for him, but I can’t help but be irritated by him too. He’s one more thing standing in my way of Gigi.
Brexley slides his hands into his pockets, and we commence walking again. “Did he say when you could?”
I shook my head. “He said they would be in touch. But I doubt he’ll even tell Gigi that I called. He wouldn’t want to worry his number one asset.”
“They’ll be in touch,” Brexley repeats absently.
I slam a fist into my palm and rub it in. “If they still haven’t come round after finals, I’m going to personally track Dunkin down and shake that man until he tells me where she is.”
Brexley is oddly silent. Like his mind is a million miles away. After a while, he says, “Your grandma doesn’t seem to care what happens to you. Maybe she’s not the nice old lady everyone thinks.”
“Hey.” I push his shoulder. The brick wall of a man doesn’t yield even an inch. “That’s my Gigi you’re talking about.” And no one gets to bad mouth her except me. “Of course, she cares about me. It’s still likely she doesn’t even know what’s going on with me. Her entourage is so efficient, they circle their wagons around her for her own protection,” I make air quotes around those last words, “until not even a speck of daylight or reality can get through. And since I forfeited that treatment, they’ve locked me out. But I know once she figures it out, Gigi will blast their asses out of the way to get to me.”
As I say it out loud, the disappointment darkening my soul began to lighten. I speak the truth. It’s Gigi’s life, not the woman herself who causes the problems. “She loves me more than anything.”
Again, Brexley’s expression turns indecipherable. This time it’s almost like he swallowed a bee and is trying to pretend he hadn’t.
“You realize your friends think you come from some poor little no-name magic family. You didn’t tell them about your grandmother, about your lineage.” His abrupt change in topic throws me.
I push my hair back from my face. “It’s better this way.”
“They are your pack. You shouldn’t lie to your pack.” There is almost anger in his voice, but before I can respond, he picks up the pace. I huff and puff trying to keep up until I eventually slow and continue at my own rate. His tactic to keep me from questioning him about his pack is effective.
Though I find I’m more desperate than ever to know about what happened with his past. Almost as desperate as I am to feel his skin on mine again. I want to know what his scars are from, all of his secrets, and I want to make him feel as safe as he makes me feel.
I realize how hopeless I’ve become. If I know what’s best for both of us, I’d send him away, but I crave him. I crave him on every level and I don’t think I can let him go even if I tried.
A hollowness opens inside my chest, and dread pours in. Because I have absolutely no doubt that Brexley is going to leave me once the craziness ends and he’s given another assignment. And I know he won’t look back.
Chapter28
Thumper and Bangs
BREXLEY
Ican't get comfortable on Red’s damn lumpy couch.
They’ll be in touch.
The thing about tracking someone down that most people don’t understand, is that it takes time. Stakeouts are laborious, boring, and a whole lot of nothing before you get the target in your sights. Even the old man fails to see the patience it takes to hunt another being. I’d been content to settle in for the long haul, betting on the sure thing. Inevitably, Gigi will come for Red.
But now the inevitability is waving right at my face. The particulars of what I’m here to do keep slipping away like powdered sugar in a sieve, only leaving the spicy taste of Red.
Telling her to strengthen her pack was my effort to guard her against the loss I’m going to bring down on her. If she has Goldie, Cinder, and Rap, she might survive the blow. The killing blow I was going to deliver.
But I’m finding it difficult to even imagine myself going through with my mission.
Shifting yet again, I’m convinced I'm going to need weeks of chiropractic adjustments to undo the damage of Red’s sofa.
Maybe I could slip into her room, lie on the bed next to her.
