Peyton kept rubbing his hands together and looking everywhere but into her eyes. Not a great sign.
Shay shot a smile at the researcher and pulled off her jacket to hang on a hook inside the office. “You look nervous, Peyton.”
He swallowed. “I’m not nervous. Why should I be? I’ve got a beachfront apartment and an awesome cat.”
Osiris meowed on cue from the other end of the warehouse. The little furball had gone from lounging around the office to hiding half the time in recent weeks.
Shay slowly pulled her gun out of her holster. She didn’t aim it at her assistant, but instead let the hand with the gun hang loosely at her side.
“Where’s Lily?” Shay’s expression grew dark. “What happened?”
Peyton’s gaze dipped to the weapon. “Uh, Shay?”
“Just remembered I need to clean it. It’s gotten a lot of use in the last few days. Figured I’d do that while I was here and not running right off to a job.”
“Okay. Just to be clear, you’re not planning on shooting me, are you?”
Shay took in a long slow breath. “Not unless you give me a reason, so go ahead and spill whatever is eating you. Start with where Lily is.”
Peyton’s face scrunched, and he groaned. He held up his hands in front of him. “Okay, first, I don’t know where Lily is. Don’t wave the gun! The kid slips out of here on occasion. She used to bother with excuses, now, she just goes. Unless I was cleared to duct tape her to a chair that’s gonna happen. She’s a damn gray elf. I’m not sure the tape would even hold her.”
Shay knew Peyton was right. What was she thinking even taking in that girl? She took a quick glance around the warehouse and wondered if it was time to burn the place. “Second thing?” she asked, swinging her attention back to Peyton.
“I guess I’m loyal to a fault, at least to one person at a time.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? I’m starting to get confused here, and when I get confused, I get pissed.”
“I would have told you earlier, but Brownstone told me not to. It’s hard to say no to the Scourge of Harriken, the Granite Ghost, the Alien Ass-kick—”
“Shut it.” Shay narrowed her eyes and holstered her weapon. No reason for intimidation now that the man was talking. Well, babbling, but it was a form of communication. “Told you to not tell me what?”
“AET was after you. They got a partial image from the LAX fight. Even with your disguise, the FBI was starting to link it to you, at least the old you back in New York. It looked like they were closing in.”
“Shit, really?” Shay frowned. “And Brownstone knew? How did you find out? He told you, but he didn’t tell me? What the fuck is up with that? He barely knows you.”
“Uh, it was kind of the other way around.”
“How so?”
“I found out about the AET stuff, and I mentioned it to him.” Peyton held his hands in front of his chest. “He told me he would handle it. That you needed to concentrate on kicking cartel ass.”
Shay shrugged. “I did, kind of, but that doesn’t change anything. You’re telling me that you had information that police might have identified me and you held it back?”
“I’m sorry. Look, I’m telling you now, even though the Alien Ass-kicker didn’t want me to.”
“Stop calling him ‘the Alien Ass-kicker.’”
Peyton chuckled.
“Anyway, I saved your life. Always remember that.”
“You’ve also threatened it several times.”
“Details.” Shay went into the office and slumped into a chair. “Fuck. AET? Now I have to figure out how to get them off my ass.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. Brownstone already did, and I helped.” Peyton stood up taller, a huge grin splitting his face.
“Huh? What the hell did you two do?”
“You see, there was some sort of witch or somebody pretending to be you. She was hitting on Brownstone and he figured out it wasn’t you, so he set AET on her with my help.” Peyton whistled. “Check out the news. It was a hard-core battle. I don’t think Brownstone realized how tough it would be. AET ended up killing her. As far as the LAPD and FBI are concerned you’ve been killed twice now, and I’ve poked around in the LAPD systems to confirm it. They aren’t looking at you anymore, figuring the body they have is the infamous hitman the FBI was tracking.”
Shay crossed her arms. “Let me get this straight… When I was off in Europe finishing off the last few high-level members of the Nuevo Gulf Cartel, you and Brownstone were sitting around conspiring to trick cops into assassinating random witches pretending to be me? Meanwhile, a teenage girl gave you the slip.”
Peyton looked to the side for a moment before nodding. “A teenage magical girl, but yeah, that about sums it up. Good news, Brownstone never saw her.”
“You’re both more ruthless than I realized.” Shay snickered. “I kind of like it.” She shook her head. “And why was she pretending to be me? Maybe she’s some friend of Yulia’s.”
“Don’t know. From what Brownstone said, she was trying to get into his pants. I don’t know if it was part of some strategy to get close to him for something else, or if she just wanted a little out-of-this-world bedtime fun.”
“Fucking bitch. She’s lucky she’s dead already.” Shay’s phone beeped, and she yanked it out of her pocket. She glared down at the alert. “I’ve got to go. The gnome’s back in town.” She shot up and snatched her coat from the hook. “By the way, next time you tell me first, not Brownstone.”
“I’m telling you now.”
“Yeah, but next time tell me right away.”
Surprise spread across Peyton’s face. “Not going to threaten to kill me?”
Shay slipped on her coat. “The fact that you have to look at yourself in the mirror in those outfits is punishment enough. Keep an eye out for Lily, or short of that keep an
