This was his fucked-up way of reminding me I was still in his orbit.
“So…you’re an accountant?” she asked.
I shoved my phone back into my pocket. Tonight I wasCalder.
“Forensic accounting,” I answered. It wasn’t entirely untrue.
“So you catch bad guys with math?” she asked, and tilted her head to the left, an action I was starting to see meant she was analyzing something.
It was distractingly cute.
“Something like that,” I said.
She nodded to herself, taking another bite of her appetizer.
“You’re only in Utah for a little?” Shay asked, and I nodded. “How long will you be here?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. Normally I’d be gone within the month. Andrew and Butcher were complicating things.
“Maybe another month or two,” I said.
She nodded and finished her plate. A moment later the appetizers were cleared, and we had a few minutes before the main course.
We fell into silence. She kept looking up at me, biting her lip, brow furrowed. She was more nervous in a restaurant than when I’d chased her across a fucking graveyard.
I found it oddly endearing.
“When did you become vegetarian?” I asked.
“About four years ago,” she said. “I found my body reacted better to a plant-based diet. It was one of the first things that really helped me get better.”
“Better?” I asked.
She froze, looking like a deer in headlights.
Guilt flooded my body. Because I knew what she meant. I’d crossed that boundary days ago and stolen the information.
Guilt because I still wanted to hear it from her lips.
But even when I’d been Void, she hadn’t opened up about this.
“I’ve never been vegetarian,” I said instead, and she visibly relaxed at the shift in conversation. “But when I was a kid, I thought Goldfish came from actual fish, so I didn’t eat them for years.”
She laughed, then snorted, covering her mouth, eyes wide.
Fuck. The noise went straight to my cock.
It was somehow soft, glittery, and totally fucking chaotic.
The waitress set down a steaming plate of pot roast and a thick burnt-orange soup—butternut. Next came the sides, brussels sprouts, fries, and garlic potatoes.
“I think there’s been some kind of mistake,” Shay said to the waitress. “I didn’t order this.”
The waitress shot me a concerned look, and I shook my head.
“Did you order this?” she asked, eyes narrowing in accusation.
Yes.
