AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I have a computer system that tracks the known possessed. It’s how I found you that night with the hunters. We had to figure out who had been taken with you. I don’t have a tracker on you. I mean, I never would now, and truthfully, I would be in a lot of shit if anyone knew I had one on all of those people. It’s not legal. I’d be disbarred.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder. “I won’t tell. I’m just grateful you did it. Do you think we can find Ryker using it?”
“We need him to be spotted, then I can do it. Your demon, the one in him, she didn’t stay alone very long. You tended to end up in groups, from what I could tell. Danvers, yes, but also when you robbed the convenience store. Even then, you had three others with you.”
I stared at him. “I have no memory of robbing a store.”
“I know.” He rose. “It’s better that way.”
Just then, the cabinet across the room flew open. I jumped to my feet as Cruise whirled around. A television I hadn’t known was there turned on and changed channels rapidly.
I tried to speak. “Cruise?”
“No fucking idea.” He pulled me right up against him just as the flickering channels stopped.
A crowd parading on the screen carrying signs. Okay, not a parade or a crowd. A protest. They wanted demons dead. Their signs had a lot of suggestions as to how it could be accomplished, some of which were pretty creative. Well, that was great. Iwanted them dead, but I doubted we had a shared goal beyond that. I’d seen how the hunters liked to interrogate, and they killed far more than they saved. At the front of that line, though, holding a sign, I spotted Ryker. He walked next to their leader, chanting.
My mouth fell open. There he was. With the hunters.What the fuck?
“Cruise,” I whispered. “What is happening? I can’t think.”
He shook his head. “Get dressed. We’re getting out of here. We know where he is now. We’ll go get your friend.”
I pointed at the television. “How did that just turn on?”
“I don’t know. Could it have been my sister? And how creepy is it, if James is hanging around my bedroom while I’m naked with you.”
She seemed pretty preoccupied with possession, but he was right, that was really pretty cringe. I covered myself up quickly in the outfit from earlier since I didn’t have enough to change all the time.
Cruise finished dressing and looked over his shoulder at me. “James, if this is you in here, don’t look at things you wouldn’t have wanted me to see. I’m going to get Nathan. He needs to know about this, and I want him to come with us.”
I nodded and he left. I remembered James telling me how Cruise was soft inside, and I thought about how many times he proved her right. How many guys would be fine going from sex to working with a guy who wanted to be in my bed, too? In fact, we were rescuing a guy who loved me, who I had been desperate for before things got even weirder.Andhe’d offered Danvers a place to live.
Cruise was really incredible. I turned off the television. “Hey, James, thanks for deciding you wanted to know me. You’ve been very helpful.”
The lights in the room flashed on and off and then back on again. It might be the only answer I would get, and I wasn’t sure how to interpret it. James could have been saying it was her, or she could’ve been pissed. Who knew?
Nathan ran into the room, his shirt half off, rubbing his eyes. He must have been asleep when Cruise got him.In fact, where is Cruise?
“He has something he needs to do. It’s important, trust me on that. Come on. Let’s get out of here and then we’ll find the protest and locate Ryker.” He offered his hand.
Why wouldn’t Cruise have told me he was going to leave? My brow crumpled, thinking about it.
“Feels a little strange that he would take off like that.”
The other man shook his head. “You can trust me, Addalee. You know you can. He is doing something for you.”
I could trust Nathan, and I did. I shook off my concerns, deciding I just wasn’t used to normal human interactions, so I took his hand. “It’s just…off that he didn’t tell me he was leaving.”
“Cruise can be off sometimes.” He shrugged. “Particularly when he gets really focused on a project. This is one of those times. We’ll go. We’ll find Ryker, and when we need help, Cruise will show up.”
I liked not thinking about other people’s behaviors and motivations when my demon was in charge. Without her navigating interactions, I tried to focus and consider past information with the current data. Was Cruise always a little off? I hadn’t noticed. Or was it because I had sex with him—I knew it sometimes got weird for couples after their first time. Besides, when had I become the kind of girl who freaked out because the guy she had sex with once didn’t say goodbye to her? Damn it. I didn’t know myself anymore, and I might not have aninner demon to play havoc with my head, but I wasn’t sure if I particularly liked myself anymore, either. Had I ever?
“I should say goodbye to Danvers,” I said, standing to do so.
Nathan shook his head. “He’s sleeping. I’ll have Maura tell him you said goodbye. You’re preoccupied tonight. Goodbyes? Something going on in your head?”
He was right. I really was preoccupied. “I…Maybe I know how quickly the ability to say goodbye can be taken away.”
