“The best you ever had, baby,” I quipped back. My lips slid into a lascivious smile though the sheen of sweat now covering my body had nothing to do with the pressing Vegas heat.
I’d expected Miranda to roll her eyes so hard they’d threaten to fall out of her head. Instead, she kept that unerring gaze trained on me, as if she could see right through me. It both thrilled and terrified me to capture her complete attention.
To further the picture of ease I was trying to sell, I slipped my hands into the pockets of my shorts. It was also so she couldn’t see them shake.
Keep it together, you crazy fuck.
I couldn’t let her see the loose threads that I feared would continue to unravel.
Finally, she nodded and turned her attention back to our walking path.
I removed my hands from my pockets, clenching and releasing my fingers to try and shake off the tremors.
Miranda’s eyes continually scanned the crowd, always on high alert.
“So, exactly how have you been choosing which god to target?” I asked, needing to focus on what we were doing rather than the busy Vegas Strip.
“They usually leave behind a general trail of chaos, and the longer they’ve been left to run wild, the more reckless they become.”
“How so?” I asked, if nothing else, to keep her talking to me. I was addicted to every word that fell from her lips.
Godsdamn, those perfect lips.
She sighed. “The Obelisk hotel disappeared for several hours before reappearing, all the casinos in the Martini went off with jackpots at the same time, it rainedinsideof the Menaggio, and of course, strange animal sightings are showing up on the internet from people recording with their phones. Usually, the activity picks up once the sun goes down.”
I nodded. “Sounds like my asshole brethren. So are we going after any one of them in particular?”
And how can I keep you as far away from them as possible?
I knew I didn’t stand a chance in hell of keeping Miranda out of danger when she was determined to run headlong into it, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t do anything about it.
Miranda’s jaw tensed. “I still plan to go after Sheshem, since he has an easily discernible pattern. Even though you stepped in and ruined my chances last night.” She grumbled her last words.
I stopped at that. “Isavedyou.”
Therewas Miranda’s classic eye roll I knew so well. She didn’t bother replying to that. We both knew it was true, but it must gall the shit out of her that I saved her perfect, shapely ass. I had to jog a few steps to catch up to her again. I followed until we were cruising the back alleys of restaurants. Miranda deliberately unlocked or opened certain dumpsters as if to draw a path directly to us.
With my heightened senses, the stink of garbage was enough to make me toss my last meal, but I muscled my gorge back down.
“This is disgusting,” I finally said after our long stretch of silence.
Miranda shrugged. “Consider it all one big cat trap. There isn’t a night when a hotel brunch restaurant doesn’t complain of the garbage being splattered across the alleyway and the dumpster ripped into shreds. So, this is our best bet.”
Even though we turned off the Strip a while ago, there were still too many odors. Too many lights. Too many sounds.
Everything pounded into the side of my brain like so many nails. My fists clenched tight in my pockets.
Don’t let her see. Don’t let her know. She can’t know how fucking broken your brain is.
A bowl of broken spaghetti.
A rotting meat pile.
You’re shit. You’re nothing. You don’t belong. This world isn’t yours. You have no world. Worlds won’t swallow you?—
A blessed breeze swept by, and Miranda’s scent engulfed me, clearing away the incoherent jumble of stabbing thoughts.
I almost shuddered in relief as I breathed in the singular scent of her skin and bergamot. That sweet, refreshing citrus scent wafted from her skin that was also somehow deeply complex and round.
