“One of—oh, God,no.” Pan scowls, then frowns. “Jesus. He’s not working ten-year-olds, is he?”
“No.”
The word slips out before I mean it to.
And everyone looks at me. Pan, Blue, Kit, Fox, even Treasure.
Fuck. My throat burns. I shouldn’t have said that, shouldn’t know anything about what Hook does or doesn’t do,idiot.
“That’s what I’ve heard,” I mutter, eyes on the toes of my boots.Stupid.On stage, one of the Mermaids is tap-tapping out in her lucite heels and bends a leg around the pole. I glance back at the other end of the bar to Wendy, but she’s hunched over what appears to be a game of tic-tac-toe between her and Emerald using olives and maraschino cherries for Xs and Os.
“Okay, so,” Treasure says, impatient and firm, “how did she and her little puppy dog end up in my club, then?” She frowns again. “And why is he all…smoky?”
“Oh, this?” Fox glances down at his hands and arms, which are smudged with black. “Fire.”
“What?” say Treasure, Kit, and Blue in unison.
“It’s…” Pan sighs theatrically. “A long story.” He lowers his gaze, then looks up almost mournfully. “So, you know how I lost my jacket?”
“Oh, for fuck’s—” I mutter. Pan gives me a look that’s half-scowl, half-grin, and throws his hands in the air.
“Okay, soyoutell it, then.”
I exhale. Guess it is up to me. So I do my best, starting with…well, Pan losing his jacket, the collateral, the visit to Krye for the cash yesterday, going to Kensington, the bodies, the cops, the return, the fire—“Wait, I thought you were taking her back to her Nana?” “No, no, Nana’s thedog”—and…
“…and now we’re here,” I finish.
There’s a pause.
Treasure’s mouth is slightly open. Kit’s eyes are as wide as Wendy’s were when we first came in here. And Blue makes a short, scoffing sound in the back of his throat.
“We couldn’t just leave her there,” I add, as if that needs saying. But maybe it does.
“Or the dog,” Fox says again.
“So you just kidnapped her,” Treasure affirms, her kohl-rimmed eyes incredulous. “That was your solution?”
“Well—” I stuff my hands in my pockets, casting around for an answer.
“Man, kidnapping is such an ugly word,” Pan interrupts. “It’s more like we just…removed her from the situation.”
Treasure groans. “What the fuck, Pan?” She jabs him in the shoulder with a long fingernail. She turns to me, making my heart stutter in my chest. “Andyou.”
“Me?” I rasp.
“I thought you were smarter than this, Tink,” she says. “You are the only one of these guys with any kind of common sense.” She leans in and raps on my forehead with her knuckles, like she’s trying to jog something loose.
“I didn’t want tokidnapher,” I say, ducking away from Treasure’s hands. “I just didn’t want her to go to the cops and say, ‘Yeah, that dumbass with bright red hair? He was trying to break and enter, and?—”
“So, wait,” Kit says, rubbing his forehead behind his glasses. “What, exactly, is she going to do now?” His voice is low, like he’sworried Wendy might overhear, even though with the volume of the music in here, that’s not likely.
“Yes, please.” Treasure swipes a hand through the air, rubbing her forehead with the other. “What exactly is your plan, here? You’re just keeping her?”
Silence. Just the thumping of the club.
Pan shrugs.
“Sure,” he says, casual and calm like he’s just been askedyou’re just having the salad?
