Did I go a little harder than I should sometimes? On occasion. But when you’d spent most of your teenage years glued to an IV bag, you did everything in your power not to go back there.
“We’ll look into him,” Vee huffed, bouncing a finger between us. “But no one does anything until I give the green light. You hear me?”
“Great!” I slapped my hands against the table and pushed off the veneer to stand. “I’ll get started on recon.”
“Not so fast,” Vee barked. “You’re sitting this one out, Bells.”
I staggered back a step. More than if she would have just leaned forward and slapped me across the face. “What do you mean I’m sitting this one out? Who’s going in then?”
“I am,” Vee replied.
“You?” I balked, and watched her lips twist up.I’d hit a nerve.
“Yes, me. Someone has to bell the cat. Might as well be me this time.” It was code. She meant someone hadto get close.Being made was a self-sacrifice. Once you were seen, that was it. There were witnesses and you couldn’t get rid of them all without being suspicious.
I quirked an incredulous eyebrow. “You really think that’s a good idea?”
“Until we figure out what’s going on with the girl, yes, I do.”
“And if you don’t like what you see?”
“I’ll send you in to finish the job.”
I nodded, slamming my chair against the lip of the table before storming out. Vee hadn’t been seen outside this office in years. It was always me, and occasionally Gabby when we were looking for closer range. My soul sister loved her poisons while I enjoyed the chaos of blood splatter.
But I couldn’t let my emotions get the best of me. Not if I wanted to keep my head on straight, instead of flat against the hardwood floor when my muscles tensed up.
I could hear Gabby’s heels clanking behind me a few seconds later. She couldn’t run in those things but she sure as fuck could speed walk. She grabbed on to the back of my elbow, and I paused in my tracks to turn around and look at her.
“You’re going after him anyway, aren’t you?” Gabby whispered.
I shook my head. “No… I’m going after his friends.”
“What makes you think he has friends?” she asked.
“Everyone has friends, Gabby.”
“You don’t,” she replied, and I rolled my eyes.
“I have you.”
“Still not your friend.” She laughed, bumping my shoulder as she moved forward to walk beside me. Then she gasped and stopped walking again. “You already looked into him, didn’t you?”
“No, I looked intohis friends,” I repeated. “Betcha Vee did as well.”
It would be dumb of her not to. And Veera Vaughn wasn’t dumb.
There was a difference between disobeying orders and stepping around them. Vee said I couldn’t go in. And I wasn’t. I was staying out. In the open. Never knew who you might stumble across in a public place. Like a bar, or a club, or a dark parking lot in the middle of the night with an itchy trigger finger.
CHAPTER FIVE
CASPER
Ididn’t go to Sullivan’s for the atmosphere. No one did. There was none of that flashy shit here. No flavored beers or live bands. All the barstools had giant rips in the seats and most of the glasses were inconspicuously spit-shined.Bobby’s menthol-laced spit.Bubblegum-scented air replaced the cigarette smoke still yellowing the ceilings as it floated around the hordes of warm, sweaty bodies worth more in the morgue than their combined wealth. Fuckers were literal walking, talking dollar signs. They were also packed into the space tighter than sprats while the lights above them constantly flickered.
Buzzzz.It was a different kinda hum. Not nearly as satisfying as my tattoo gun. The odor of burning flesh instead of the copper of blood. It had a smokey flavor to it. Which was a lot better than the fucking bubblegum puffing out of the guy next to me’s mouth.
I lugged a ball of saliva in his direction, watching the fucker side-step it before scurrying away with his vape between his legs. I hated smokers.Snort your addiction, like a normal person.
