three seconds flat.
Neat.
I walked past Pike into the light and stink of the rest of the world. It was still early afternoon. I had time to go home, chew down some more painkillers, maybe sleep off some of the get-a-clue-and-set-a-damn- Disbursement-next-time headache before I had to meet Stotts at the station at five.
And right now, a little sleep sounded fabulous.
“See you tomorrow,” I said to Pike as I headed toward the nearest set of stairs that would take me up into the retail space and on to daylight.
“Allie?”
“Yeah?” I looked over my shoulder at him.
His pale blue eyes burned in the shadows from the hallway. “It was worth it.”
And then he walked away, down the corridor quiet and quick.
I hoped he meant getting the Hound group together was worth it. I hoped he meant Hounding for twenty- five years was worth it. I hoped he meant deciding to retire was worth it.
Or maybe he meant putting Trager in jail once was worth it, and it would be worth doing it again. The right way.
Chapter Eleven
I emerged from the building just as the bus pulled to a stop across the street. I swore and jogged for it. I caught the bus, scanned the people there, and didn’t see anyone who looked like they were going to stab me. Just in case, I chose an empty seat near the driver and sat down.
Unfortunately, it was the wrong bus. That meant I got to spend an extra twenty minutes lurching from stop to stop, nursing my headache made worse by the stink of diesel that poured in the doors every time the beast belched its way back into traffic. And just in case that wasn’t fun enough, once I got off the bus, I had an eight- block trudge-uphill-to get to my apartment. The rain had let up, which was something, I guess, but the wind was still blowing out of the Gulf of Alaska, too cold and too strong.
Okay, yes. I was feeling a little sorry for myself.
And the headache made it impossible to pay close attention to the people around me. It wasn’t like I was wandering in a blind fog; it was more of a set-jaw determined slog up the hill, and I just didn’t have it in me to twitch at every little sound. If Trager’s men decided to jump me, I would beat them senseless with my shoe.
So when I paused to catch my breath outside a restaurant with big glass windows, it probably took me only a full thirty seconds to notice the man waving at me.
Apparently Davy had taken Pike’s words to heart. He was sitting at a table at the window, alone, half a huge burger demolished on the plate in front of him.
I frowned. There was no way it was a coincidence he chose this restaurant this close to my apartment on this day.
He was planning to stalk me. The little twerp.
I didn’t waste my energy glaring at him. I started up the block.
Davy jumped out of his seat. From my peripheral vision I watched him continue to wave his hands at me while he dodged tables, heading to the door and getting there faster than me since he was inside and didn’t have to deal with the incline. I hoped someone stuck out their leg and tripped him.
No luck.
Just as I passed the restaurant door, it flew open. Out strode Davy. The wind shifted and I got a hint of his scent. Beneath the cloud of burgers and onions from the restaurant, Davy smelled like warm cedar and lemons. The taint of booze lingered on his sweat too, adding a sour note.
“Here,” he said, closing the distance between us in a few loping strides. Kid was all leg. He stepped in front of me and shoved something at my face.
I knew what it was before I even looked down. French fries stacked in a cardboard carton, two packs of ketchup, and a napkin tucked down one side.
“Ordered an extra for Tom-” He swallowed the rest of what he was going to say and tried to hack it back up before I noticed. “-for a friend who didn’t show up. I think you and I started off on a bad foot today. No hard feelings, okay?”
Ordered for a friend. Right. His angry cutter girlfriend, Tomi.
“Did you spit on them?” I asked.
“I thought about it.” His mischievous twinkle was back.
I’d promised Pike I’d look after the Hounds. And even though Pike wasn’t retired yet, this was a part of it.
I took the carton. Still warm. He either hadn’t been waiting for his “friend” for very long, or he had ordered the fries late into the meal. He might have called her and asked her to eat lunch with him after he was already at the table. She might even have said yes and then called back to bail on him.
I so did not miss my high school relationships.
“Tomi?” I asked just to make sure.
He tucked his hands under his armpits and shrugged. “Not anymore, you know?”
“Yeah,” I said, not knowing what else to say. I didn’t know him, didn’t know her, and didn’t have much luck with my own relationships anyway. Even though my stomach was still queasy and my head hurt, I pulled out a nice thick fry and took a bite. Hot, crunchy, salty, and greasy. Really, really good.
“Thanks,” I said, lifting the carton a little. “I think I was starving.” I popped another fry in my mouth. “Next time we start off on a bad foot, could you bring me orange soda, too?”
He grinned. “No prob.”
I shoved another fry in my mouth and walked past him. “Excellent,” I mumbled. “See you tonight.”
“Not if I’m any good, you won’t.”
“I expect you to be very, very good, Davy,” I said over my shoulder, thinking about Trager. “There are bad men out there. You stay out of their way, out of my way, and I’ll give you a cookie.”
“Gee, thanks, Mom.”
I ignored that and kept walking, stuffing my mouth with hot, salty fry goodness. I didn’t even hear Davy walk away until the door to the restaurant closed behind him.
He was good.
The last few blocks went by quickly. I devoured the fries like I hadn’t eaten this century, hoping against hope that my headache would let me keep them down.
I made it to my apartment without any other interruptions and clomped up the stairs and down the hall to my door.
I paused outside my door and listened for movement on the other side before opening it. Some old habits are worth keeping. There was no one in my apartment. I checked every room, including the bathroom, where I swallowed a couple more aspirin and wished I had something stronger. Then I tugged off my coat, hat, gloves, and boots and left them in a pile on my bedroom floor.
Standing next to my bed, I took off my jeans but left my tights on. I wanted nothing more than to crawl into my bed naked and be wrapped up in the softness of my sheets, but I had to get up in a few hours to Hound. Getting undressed and comfortable would only make me sleep too deeply.
It had nothing to do with not wanting to be naked and asleep if my dad’s ghost popped in to pay me another visit. It had nothing to do with an ex-con blood magic dealer looking to break my neck.
Okay. It had everything to do with that.
The tights stayed on. I did take off my sweater but left my long-sleeved T-shirt on too. Good enough.
I crawled under the covers and remembered to set my alarm for three thirty. I closed my eyes and counted each beat of my headache until it lulled me senseless and, finally, to sleep.
Three thirty showed up far too quickly.
But even that much sleep helped shave away the edges of my price-for-using-magic headache so now it
