“Thank you,” I said.
And meant it.
“Kind of sad seeing you so messed up,” he said. “It’d be like seeing a dying dog on the side of the road and not helping it.”
I snorted. “Thanks for comparing me to a dog.”
He shrugged. “Drink some water.”
I gave him a thumbs-up and headed out the door but stopped once I reached the threshold.
“And thanks for whatever you said to the dealership about my car,” I murmured. “It didn’t work, but it helped.”
His eyes narrowed. “What are they saying?”
I sighed. “That they’re not going to replace it, even though I’ve had it in the shop more than I’ve owned it.”
He grunted. “Go home and get some rest, Constance.”
I smiled. “Bye.”
Nine
Do I run? Yes, out of patience, money, and time.
—Odin’s secret thoughts
Odin
I watched her go, my eyes narrowed in curiosity.
This woman was an enigma to me.
Pulling out my phone, I hit dial on Apollo’s phone number and waited for him to answer.
“You finally met her, I see.”
Apollo was a computer genius.
There wasn’t a single inch of Sawtooth, Bear Pass, or Jawbone that Apollo didn’t have eyes on.
In the beginning, it was just to keep tabs on the locals to make sure that there weren’t any questions or confusion about our sudden appearance in the area. Now, I decided, he watched because he was invested and wanted to make sure that his chicks were all doing well and were taken care of.
If you could consider seven adult male convicts “chicks” that he had to take care of.
“I did,” I said. “You didn’t tell me who it was for.”
“You didn’t ask,” he pointed out.
That was true.
When Apollo had contacted me months ago about a little girl needing blood on a routine basis, I’d never given it a second thought.
In truth, I’d been donating my Rh-null blood since high school when I’d gone to my first blood drive. I’d gotten a call within days, begging for me to come see them.
My parents had agreed, though reluctantly.
In the end, we’d found out that they were in desperate need of my blood, and donating as much as I could would help them immensely. They’d also told me to keep the information about my blood type private.
