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Three hundred!That was amazing. “Thanks, boss.”
He groaned. “Not your boss, not any more than he’s your brother.” He stepped away before he headed toward the employee parking lot to the left of the building. It was the closestparking lot to the prison, clearly intended as a privilege for their employees, who didn’t have to walk far. While I thought about the psychology of keeping your employees happy, my demon wondered if we could break a window in the prison by throwing a rock. Since we didn’t give it a shot, I assumed she either didn’t think we’d make it or didn’t care that much.
Instead of causing mayhem, I walked over to Ryker. “Thanks for coming today. You don’t have to do this every time I work for him. It can’t have beenthatinteresting.”
“What did he want to talk to you about alone?” Ryker’s gaze remained on the departing Cruise rather than focusing on me.
“Nothing important.” I sighed, rolling my eyes since he wasn’t looking at me anyway. “I’m going to go now. I’ll see you in two days for our regular lunch, okay?” I squeezed his shoulder, hoping to finally earn his attention. He liked touch. Despite it no longer bringing me any peace, I kept up the façade because it kept things on an even keel for us. Ryker fed me twice a week, since I stopped being able to pay for myself. If he didn’t notice that I was basically faking it—the way I went through life—there was nothing I could do about it.
He didn’t notice I’d been in love with him for a decade before I was possessed, either.
Or, if he had, he didn’t care. Ryker was either completely oblivious or polite enough not to hurt my feelings, but either way he left me alone.
“Let me take you home.” He pointed. “I gave up my lunch with you for this, so at least give me the time in the car to talk to you.”
I shook my head. “Sorry, Ryker. You know I don’t want you to know where I live.”
His hopeful expression fell. “Yeah, but I don’t know why. We’ve known each other forever, so you can’t still be worried I’djudge your home. What your apartment looks like? I’m not like that. I don’t like not knowing where you are in an emergency.”
I want to smack him around. I want to beat him to death. I want to get a demon to come eat his soul.
I ignored my demon. She really,reallyhated Ryker.
But him imagining me living in an apartment proved how little he understood. He proved my point without trying. “See you in two days, okay?” I stepped back. “I’m grateful for you. Say hi to Taylor for me.”
His face fell. “I don’t think you really like Taylor.”
I shrugged as the bus slid to a stop in front of me. “Maybe it’s a demon thing.”
“I don’t think so.”
He was right about that, at least.
The weather cooledby the time I arrived at my “home.” Almost everything I owned fit in a backpack, including my tent and tarp. If I needed to run from Hunters, I could—fast. I pulled a ten out of my pocket and passed it to Lance, our resident protector at the tent city. If I tipped him, he watched my shit while I was out.
A fire crackled in a pit someone had made from a tire rim, and Lance sat around it with a few other familiar faces. He looked up to accept the ten. “Hey there, Addalee. Thanks. All was quiet here. You get done whatever you had to get done?”
Lance wasn’t possessed. At fifty-ish years old, he’d landed on hard times and hadn’t gotten out of them yet. The old me would have wanted to help him. Of course, the old me wouldn’t have met him in a million years. Regardless, he didn’t have to run if hunters showed up. They left him alone.
Not that we knew how they knew I had a demon. Whatever his reasoning, Lance never judged those of us who had to run from them, so for that I was glad to tip him when I could.
“Have you seen my mom?” The constant ache burned in my chest like a wound. Part of me dreaded the day when I would hear she wasn’t alive anymore. Part of me couldn’t stand the constant waiting for it to happen.
He pointed over his shoulder with a thumb. “She’s not in this one today. I think I saw her two over.”
Two tent cities away meant a greater distance than he implied. Two over could be a good mile walk, but I was responsible for her. My demon didn’t agree, but she liked to watch her suffer, so she tolerated my daily check-ins.
I shivered as I approached my tent. I’d long since lost my coat, the most recent one stolen on a bus. Arguably, I’d been distracted at the time, since my demon had been tormenting a young mother and her baby. It was one of my least favorite memories.
My demon could make it so I was never cold, but I’d freeze to death anyway, since my body would still freeze, even if I didn’t know it. I preferred to know it. I changed into a sweatshirt and pants, at least. The cash I’d just worked to earn would pay for a visit to the local laundromat, where I could wash more clothes finally.
“Hey,” a voice called. “Good moment?”
Nathan’s familiar greeting made me smile even as my demon hissed. She hated him, but not in the same, pest-like way she hated Ryker. Something about Nathan Hall set her off, but she didn’t want me to know why.
Get him away. Now.
Much as she ranted, she never did anything to him, nor did she take me over when he was around. In fact, it was so pleasant, I sometimes thought about following him around just to keepher away. Nathan would hate it, though. He might be helpful, but he preferred to remain a loner, and I didn’t know much about him other than that.
