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They shouldn’t think it was a favor or that I owed them anything. I’d made up some story about how I’d overheard the guy talking about moving in on their territory, pretended he was one of those posher city criminals. It wasn’t like Silvio’s bunch minded the excuse to push around some slick Mercedes-driving dude. But my nerves still itched at the memory of Silvio’s raised eyebrows and the questions Rose had asked me yesterday.
It was really too early to head home, but I didn’t much feel like figuring out where Brad and George had gotten to and loitering around Main Street with them. Maybe I just needed to take my mind off all this crap. Crack open a beer, put some action flick on the TV, and see if I didn’t feel better by the final explosion.
I was just changing direction when Gabriel stepped out of the town’s auto service shop in front of me. He had a plastic bag that looked heavy slung over his forearm, but he carried it like it was nothing, of course. Goddamn unshakeable Gabriel.
“Hey,” he said, and tipped his head toward the shop. “I had to pick up a couple parts for the garage.”
“Sure,” I said with a shrug, like it wasn’t anything to me. Which it wasn’t. “Don’t let me stop you from heading back. I’ve got my own stuff to do.” All my big plans. The fact that I didn’t have any somehow made me feel more ticked off at him.
Gabriel gave me that look he’d had even when we were kids, casual but considering. Never intrusive, exactly, but a prickle ran over my skin at the thought of what he might be seeing. As if he had any right to make judgments when he’d only just gotten back in town.
I started to walk away, but Gabriel made a quick gesture with his hand, beckoning me out of the way of the shop’s door, closer to the building where we weren’t stopping foot traffic. My gut tensed, but I went. ItwasGabriel. He might have something important to say, as much as I hated to admit it.
He glanced at the sidewalk and then at me, with that considering look again. His mouth slanted down. I braced myself for some kind of criticism.
“We haven’t had much of a chance to catch up since I got back,” he said quietly. “But I know things were tough for you even before I left. I was distracted by how things were going with my dad, and—but that’s not really an excuse. I wish I’d been around to help more. It wasn’t quite the same for the other guys, was it?”
For a few seconds, I could only stare at him. Was Gabriel…apologizingto me? I didn’t even know what to say to that. Only that an uncomfortable thickness had formed in my throat. I swallowed.
“I got by,” I said, aiming for nonchalant. My voice came out a bit rough anyway.
“Yeah, you did.” His smile slanted too. “I know a lot has changed. I just wanted to say that, and—if you ever do want to talk with someone who maybe can understand…” He spread his hands.
“Right,” I said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
I said it like a dismissal, and Gabriel caught my tone. He nodded to me with a quirk of his smile and headed down the street. I pushed myself on toward home, trying to shake off the weird feeling his offer had given me. I didn’twantto be feeling grateful toward Gabriel.
Then I forgot all about him when I turned the corner toward the house that held my basement apartment.
Two figures were standing outside the house. One of them was the broad, frowning James Cortland.
Shit. Whateverhewas here for, it couldn’t be good. I glanced for the nearest driveway to bolt up, but his head had already turned, his narrow eyes fixing on me.
What good would running do anyway? He obviously knew where I lived.
I let myself keep walking, keeping my expression bland as if I had no idea who this guy was. I didn’t know how much he knew. Maybe he didn’t know much at all. He sure as hell wasn’t learning anythingnewfrom me.
The woman at Cortland’s side was about half his size, middle-aged with light red hair pulled back into a bun. Her dark gaze was even sharper than his. She nodded once as I reached them, and a prickle ran down my back.
I hadn’t seen her do anything magical, but I knew it. She was a witch, like Rose. And not like Rose at all.
I moved as if to walk around them, and Cortland held out a meaty hand. “Hold on a second there,” he said.
The longing for the shield of my jacket rose up again, as if it could have protected me from whatever magic these two were planning. I made myself shrug and gave them a puzzled look. “What do you want?”
“I think you’ll be able to tell me what happened to this,” Cortland said. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. Cracks splintered the screen where I’d stomped on it before tossing it into a public trash can—because really, did this prick who’d been helping Rose’s stepmom scheme against her deserve his phone back in working condition, if he’d ever managed to find it? I didn’t think so.
But he had found it. And then he’d found me. I caught myself just before my gaze slid to his companion. Her magic—that must have been how.
“Well,” I said, “it looks like you broke your screen. Since it’s your phone, not mine, I’m not sure why you think I’d know how you managed it.”
“You probably think you wiped it off,” the woman said in a dry voice. “Not well enough.”
I had wiped my fingerprints off it, but I guessed not well enough to evade her magic. Okay. My throat tightened, but I kept my voice steady. If I’d left some trace of skin or whatever the hell she’d used to track me down, that was all it could have been. A trace.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. “I saw a phone on the street the other day, picked it up to see if it belonged to one of my friends, but it didn’t, so I left it. If that’s the one, that’s all I know about it. It wasn’t even cracked when I saw it.”
The pair didn’t look convinced. Well, what were they going to do to me? Start throwing around magic right here in the middle of the street? A car rumbled by us. Some lady was rocking her kid back and forth in his stroller down by the corner. I knew how much Rose’s people liked their secrecy.
