“Get out,” I say.
His smile flickers. “That’s not very neighborly.”
“Neither is extortion, vandalism, assault, or whatever cologne you’re wearing.”
Darlene says, “Smells like a funeral home had a midlife crisis.”
Ron’s jaw tightens, and for a second the sunglasses cannot hide how close he is to snapping. Then he laughs softly and removes them. His eyes are bloodshot, bright, and wrong.
“Still funny,” he says. “I always liked that about you.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know enough.” He taps the side of his bandaged nose. “I know your dragon listens when you say heel.”
My stomach twists, but I keep my face still. “Kauss isn’t here.”
“I know.”
That is when fear slides cold through my ribs.
Darlene reaches beneath the counter.
One of Ron’s men lifts a compact pistol and points it at her.
“No,” Ron says pleasantly. “Don’t.”
Darlene freezes with her hand halfway to the shock baton.
My heartbeat roars in my ears. The bakery narrows around the gun, Ron’s smile, the rain on the glass, the tray of biscuits cooling innocently behind me.
“Ron,” I say carefully. “Whatever you think you’re doing, this is a bad idea.”
“No, see, that’s the problem. Everybody keeps telling me what ideas are bad.” He steps closer, boots crunching on a sugar spill near the case. “My father. His little suited errand boys. Your scaly boyfriend. Everyone’s got advice.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
The lie tastes stale the second it leaves me.
Ron’s smile turns mean. “You sure about that?”
Darlene speaks quietly. “Boy, you walk out now, maybe you keep whatever teeth Kauss left you.”
Ron turns on her. “Shut up.”
Darlene’s chin lifts. “Make me.”
One of the gang members looks like he wishes violently to be somewhere else.
Ron points at Darlene without looking away from me. “I like her. I really do. She reminds me of old women in stories who curse people and then get eaten by wolves.”
I step around the counter slowly. “Leave her alone.”
His attention snaps back to me, delighted. “There she is.”
“What do you want?”
“What do I want?” He laughs once, too loud for the room. “I want my father to stop acting like the whole city is a chessboard and I’m the dumb piece that keeps embarrassing him. I want your monster to stop looking at me like I’m garbage stuck to his boot. I want Halo to remember who ran these streets before he crawled up from the drains and started playing hero.”
