“You—”
“Be very careful of the next words to leave your mouth, Detective,” Vivian warned.
“You haven’t answered a single one of our questions and now you have the nerve to call me a dumbass? Give me one good reason I shouldn’t throw you in a cell overnight.”
“I’m no lawyer, but last time I checked it wasn’t a crime to call an egotistical man-child a dumbass. Miss Law, you’re a lawyer, is that against the law?”
“No. No, it is not.” She was keeping a straight face but Williams was struggling to do the same.
“There you have it. Throw me in a cell, and I really will sue. One of your officers can meet me at my office on 49thtomorrow morning. I start at 9. Make sure your officer is on time. I hate being kept waiting.”
I had a feeling the scowl on Grumpy’s face would be permanent after this interaction. Fine by me, he earned it by being miserable.
Vivian was leadingme out of the police station twenty minutes later. They asked me some more stupid questions I didn’t have the answers to before finally letting me go. I was so exhausted that all I could think about was crawling my ass into bed and sleeping through my alarm in the morning.
“There’s a car waiting for you outside. They’ll get you home. I just have to finish some paperwork back at the office to be your official attorney of record.”
“Thank you so much. It was really great meeting you, Vivian.”
“You as well, Violet.”
A mini-limo sat outside with the passenger window rolled down.
“Miss Hayes?” the driver asked as I approached. I nodded. “Cool, I’ll be your driver. My name is George. You can take a seat in the back. Vivian made sure there were some snacks and stuff, figuring you wouldn’t have eaten in a while.”
I thanked him with a smile, then slipped into the back seat ready to devour all the food in my sight. Instead, I was greeted by an entirely different kind of snack.
“What the fuck?”
Avalanche—in full costume—was grinning like an idiot.
“I’m pretty sure you mean:It’s so nice to see you, Avalanche. Thank you so much for sending me a lawyer so I didn’t have to spend the night in jail, Avalanche.”
“No, I’m actually quite sure that’s not what I meant. Besides, Weave footed the bill, did he not?”
“Semantics.” He waved his hand. “I picked the lawyer. Vivian’s the best. Only the best for my favourite volunteer,” he said as the car started moving.
“Is there a reason you’re hiding in a limo outside the police station? Or do you just enjoy being a pain in my ass?”
His eyebrow rose. I shook my head.
“I didn’t mean it like that and you know I didn’t mean it like that. Don’t look at me with…that face.”
“I’m sorry, let me learn how to shapeshift. I’ll get on making a new face, just for you.”
God, he was insufferable. We’d spent the better part of a month seeing each other every day for one reason or another. First it was the cypher, then he was hanging out at the hospital to make sure none of the other villains tried anything, and he was walking me home almost every night. Now this.
“Avalanche, I’m exhausted. What do you want? Other than annoying the shit out of me.”
Again, not a good choice of words judging by his growing grin.
“I heard some girls only shit twice a week. I just want to make sure your digestion track is in good working condition.”
I sighed. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t. You might wish that you could, but I’m adorable.”
“No, I’m adorable. You’re annoying.”
