“Why are you so warm?” she whispered.
So she felt it, too?
“What?”
“Aren’t you supposed to freeze things? Why aren’t you cold?”
“I—I am. Always.”
“You—”
“You found him?” Eva’s voice broke through the haze. Violet’s hand fell from me, and I stepped back. “Is this how you get guys to buy your drinks?”
I looked over to see an amused looked on my sister’s face as she towelled off the glass in her hand.
“I— He— No. I should get going. It was really nice to meet you, Eva.” Violet stood from her chair, collecting herself faster than I had. “Tall, dark, and arrogant is going to pay for the drink he took from me, isn’t that right?”
I was still a bit dazed so I just nodded. It would take me nearly a minute before the words fully registered. By then she was already gone.
Usually, I paid for my drinks because Crossroads was owned by Avalanche and Blacksmith not Matt and Eva, but I was too busy following Violet out the door to care. Eva could ream me out for it later.
Luckily Violet hadn’t gotten far—just around the corner.
“Hey, wait up!” I called after her.
She stopped and visibly sighed before turning around. “What?”
“You shouldn’t be walking alone in this area after dark.” That was so lame. It was barely 5 p.m., not even close dark.
“Good thing it’s not dark then.” She turned and resumed her walk toward 45thStreet.
I followed.
“But…” I searched for something, anything that would keep her attention on me just a little longer. “We never finished our discussion. Now that you met The Weaver, would you be okay with others reaching out?”
“Yes. You can pass on my info. Now go away.”
“Sure.”
6
THE VOLUNTEER
“Hello?”
“Hey, is this Violet?”
This was the fifth call in three days. Every time my phone rang, I was a little afraid to find out who was on the other end. So far all the calls had been from people who were mostly harmless. Sure, they killed people but not innocent people, so I could look past it.
“That depends on how you got this number.”
The guy laughed. “Weave said you were funny; I’m pleased to know he wasn’t lying.”
My eyebrow rose. “I thought Avalanche was handing out my information.”
“I tried. Stubborn bastard wouldn’t give it up; I had to go around him.”
Interesting. I couldn’t imagine why. Well, I could, but it would be delusional.
