Page 47 of It Runs in the Family

I gave him a weak smile. “Thanks, Garrett.”

“Of course.” He disappeared down the hall.

I took another sip of water, my mind running over what happened in the parking lot. None of this made sense.

Garrett came back out a couple of minutes later and sat down on the sofa next to me. “What happened, Irie?”

“A guy showed up at work looking for me.”

His face went blank. “The guy you had the vision of?”

I shook my head. “No, someone else. He had a photo of Selena.” I dug it out of my pocket and handed it to him. “He wanted to know who she was.”

He looked over the photo before lifting his gaze. “He didn’t know who she was?”

“No, he wanted me to tell him.”

“Did you?”

“Hell, no,” I scoffed. “He tried to come across as law enforcement, but he refused to show me a badge and when he threatened to ‘take me in’”—I said with air quotes—“I asked him if we were going to the station on Bradford, knowing full well there isn’t a station there. When he said yes, I knew he was just some creep looking for our cousin.”

“That was good thinkin’. Did he have a weapon?”

“Maybe, but he didn’t pull one out. Still, he was all up in my personal space and was very intimidating.”

“And he just let you go?”

I grimaced. “No, I gave him a fake name for Selena and that’s when he threatened to haul me in, so I grabbed him by the balls and forced a vision.”

Garrett did a double take. “What?”

I shrugged. “It was effective with Billy last night, so I figured I’d try it on this guy, especially since he was wearing dress pants.” I made a grabbing motion. “Much easier than jeans.”

“Jesus, Irie,” he groaned. “And how did you come into contact with Billy?”

I told him about running into our cousin at T-Birds but left out any mention of Boone.

“I suspected his changed-man routine was an act,” Garrett said in disgust. “You could have just had a vision for him.”

My jaw clenched. “Are you kidding me? I told him I would never, ever have a vision for him ever again, and I meant it, Garrett.”

He ran a hand over his face. “You’re right. He can’t get away with intimidating you. I’d have you report it to the aunts and uncles, but I think they’d blow it off since it’s your word against his.”

They’d always tried to find excuses for his behavior, and most of them would take his word over mine simply because he was a man.

“Agreed,” I said bitterly.

He frowned. “Now you have to worry about that asshole and this guy who tracked you down at work.”

“One worry at a time,” I said. “The guy at the Stop-n-Go is the more dangerous threat. If I hadn’t acted quickly, I have no doubt he would have tossed me in his car, pretending to take me to the police station, but taking me to his boss instead.” I told him about the vision I’d had of the man’s boss.

He ran his hand over his face again, then said, “Why are these guys looking for Selena? And how did they link her to you?”

I pointed to her in the photo. “This was taken last night. I saw her at T-Birds, and she was wearing this dress.”

His jaw dropped. “Did you tell her about the vision of your death?”

“I didn’t get a chance. I saw her as she was leaving the bar, and I ran after her. She was getting into the back of a fancy black car. She definitely saw me as she was getting in, but she didn’t say anything before they drove off.”