Shay crossed her arms. “If you’re with me, you’re safe, and I know I can make sure no one follows us back here. I’m only worried when you wander off by yourself. Let’s go and celebrate.” She grinned.
“Celebrate? Your texts were rather… uh, cryptic. You did find something, then?” He propped his blue Vans up on the metal desk until Shay gave him a cold look that managed to send a shiver down his spine.
“Diamonds, and even gold, but there was an issue recovering everything. I only escaped with the diamonds.”
Peyton nodded. “An issue? Is that code for a bunch of angry guys with guns?”
Shay shook her head. “Nope. Just man’s greatest and much ancient enemy. Nature. The treasure was under a pile of unstable logs, and well, they shifted, and they almost buried me. It was kind of a big fucking mess. Came close to getting buried in a bad game of Jenga.”
“Wait. What? Are you saying you almost died in that lake?”
Shay laughed. “Almost dying is like being almost pregnant.”
Peyton stared at her, shaking his head. “You’re insane. Do you even realize that you’re insane?”
“I think the word you’re looking for is brave, asshole.”
“If you got buried under there, no one would have known to look for you. I wouldn’t have even known to contact the authorities until it was too late.”
“Don’t worry. If I did, I’m sure I would have been crushed to death, so it wouldn’t be like I was waiting to die and praying for rescue or anything. I assume when I check out, it’ll be pretty quick and probably pretty painful.”
Shay opened her mouth to mention the hitman but closed it without saying anything. Following the hitman even after realizing he wasn’t on her tail was an unnecessary risk. I would have chewed Peyton a new one if he’d tried something like that. For now, it’s more important that the only thing the man sees is the face of success.
“I don’t think I could swim into a pile of logs that might bury me alive,” Peyton said. “Call that cowardice if you want. I call it being smart.”
“Good thing you’re not gonna be a field guy, then, huh?” Shay clapped her hands together. “Anyway, even if I didn’t get the gold, I got the diamonds, so we can afford a little pizza.”
Peyton eyed her, suspicion on his face.
“What?” Shay reached for her car keys, ready to go eat.
“It’s just that I thought you didn’t go there for diamonds or gold. I thought you went there for a magic Nazi pin.”
Shay shrugged. “I did. And I found it. It just so happens that I valued my life more than the artifact, and I had to make some hard choices.”
“I can tell you’re going back there some day. Whatever. Um, glad you’re not dead, I guess.”
“Aww. That’s sweet. Now, let’s go get some pizza.” Shay headed toward her Spider.
Telling Peyton the truth about the magical trap wouldn’t be useful. He didn’t need to be aware of any of her miscalculations. Don’t tell them how you make the sausage.
The important result of the lake raid was establishing she was right about the mission. There was a magical artifact there, judging by the defenses. That established that her gut, mixed with a lot of research and some satellite hacking, was a good source of information.
Peyton headed toward the passenger side door. “I was looking around online, and I found a place that does Chicago-style nearby. I wanted to maybe explore the Californian interpretation of Chicago-style pizza.”
Shay halted at her door and shot him a death glare. “What did I say about pizza if you want to roll with me?”
Peyton groaned. “NYC thin crust only.”
Shay grinned. “Good boy.”
Shay folded up a slice of pepperoni and all but devoured it in one bite, savoring the flavor over the long seconds of chewing.
“It’s good,” Peyton admitted, swallowing a bite of his pizza. “I can see why you’re so into this.”
“Quality speaks for itself and all that.”
“How did you find this place?”
“I hit Prime Pizza pretty early since the warehouse is nearby. They are known around L.A. for their NYC-style pizza. It’s nice to have a place close so I don’t have to worry about traffic.”
Peyton took another bite before speaking. “Traffic? Come on, I know I haven’t been out of my new address, but I figure it can’t be as bad as New York.”
Shay shook her head. “Nope. This place is terrible. One of the worst in the world.” She laughed. “It makes me miss the mild-by-comparison congestion of New York. It’s why a lot of people like to stick to their neighborhoods.”
“Isn’t that a problem for you, then? It’s not like all your… stuff is in one neighborhood.”
Shay winked. “Well, normal people like to stick to their neighborhoods. I just so happen to have a lot of neighborhoods.”
Peyton lapsed into silence. At first, Shay thought it was just the seductive power of the tasty pizza keeping him quiet, but the haunted look in his eyes suggested something deeper. If the man was going to work with her, then he needed to get out of the funk.
“Problem?” Shay lowered her voice, leaning across the shiny wooden table, rustling the red and white paper placemats. “Or is it something we can’t talk about here?”
Peyton looked up at her and shook his head. “No… I was just thinking about how I ended up here. About what you said about my family maybe being responsible. I don’t want to believe it, but it’s hard to just shake it off and say it’s ridiculous.”
“Finally coming around, then?”
Peyton shrugged. “I know it sounds lame to bitch about growing up in a wealthy family, but I kind of feel like it screwed me.”
“Oh?” Shay folded another slice of pepperoni.
“If you’re poor, you know, you have to look out for each other, because you don’t have the money and influence to get out of trouble, or not starve or whatever.”
“Yeah, that’s why poor families always look
