AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The corner of Shirley’s mouth crooked. “Small car, that.”
“I don’t need much room. Neither does Samantha’s father. He’s rather small as well.” Lila held up her thumb and forefinger, leaving only a few centimeters between them.
The people in the garage snickered.
Samantha tightened her grip on her tranq gun. “Don’t talk about my—”
“Then don’t let your attention wander while you’re on guard duty.”
Samantha harrumphed and returned to her post.
Shirley put down her part and strode across the garage. “So where were you really?” she whispered, eyeing Dixon’s face.
“Other work kept me away.”
“You ever find the asshole who tried to kill you last month? I’d half thought they’d succeeded, what with Tristan refusing to talk about you.”
“I took care of them.”
“Dead, I hope?”
“Dead is taken care of, Shirley, unless you’ve found some tonic that can bring a person back to life. Is that it, Shirley? Do you have a zombie tonic? Is that why your people are staring at me like they’ve lost all sense?”
The old woman turned her head. “Stop gawking,” she barked over her shoulder. “Not unless you want to clean the break room and the bathroom for the next month.”
Her people snatched up their tools once more. Electric drills started up immediately.
“Guan came by a few moments ago with enough food for an army. Samantha carried it upstairs. I should have known by the smell of pork lo mein who would be coming by for lunch.” She clapped Lila on the shoulder. “I’m glad you’re back. We can always use a woman of your caliber around here.”
Lila’s stomach growled again at the mention of food.
It took all her highborn willpower not to run upstairs immediately.
Instead, she followed Dixon through a maze of twisted metal and side-view mirrors toward the back of the shop. They slipped through a door and jogged upstairs to the top floor.
Dixon entered the apartment first. After a quick peek, he motioned her inside. Nothing had changed in the last few weeks, not that Lila had expected it to. The walls were still purple. The counters and furniture had still been made of wine barrels and slabs of wood. Dixon still flipped on the heater immediately after he entered, preferring a tropical heat, rather than the mere hint of warmth.
As it whirled to life, the scent of Chinese food flooded her nose, causing her stomach to rumble and growl in anticipation. She took off her hood, grabbed the first container she came to, and opened the lid, digging a plastic fork into the pork lo mein.
She stuffed her hood into her coat pocket as paradise erupted in her mouth—not that she tasted it. Five bites slid down her throat before she even chewed.
She hadn’t even sat down.
Luckily, Dixon hadn’t paid attention. He’d ventured to the front of the room and turned on the screen. The theme music for the News at Noon filled the space, and he moved to a free-standing locker at the back. He withdrew a bottle of Sangre de las Flores, Lila’s favorite wine, then fumbled deeper inside, glass bottles clinking.
Her mouth watered between bites. She hadn’t had wine in nearly a month.
She stroked her belly absently, as had become habit over the last few weeks. She didn’t want to think about the child growing inside her womb, if it still grew at all. Perhaps she’d miscarried from hunger and hadn’t noticed.
But Lila knew the stupidity of that thought. She’d bought a dozen pregnancy tests when she still had credits. She’d taken one every few days, just to check, just to see if her nightmare pregnancy had ended during the night or had been some silly joke.
Every single one of them said the same thing.
Pregnant. Pregnant. Pregnant.
She hadn’t decided yet what to do about it.
“Hot chocolate or tea wouldn’t go amiss.” She carried her meal to the black leather couch and plopped on a cushion in the middle. It was so large that it could have sat four grown men easily, or perhaps one enthralled couple. She recalled having sex with Tristan on the very same couch, many times, the month before.
