“Did you drive the same way back that you came?”
“No.” His face flushed red.
“What are you not telling me?”
“I didn’t drive the same way back that I started out because I kept getting lost.”
“You were holding a phone.”
Peyton shrugged. “Too caught up in the adventure.”
“Your inconsistent attention to detail is a little disturbing.” She blew out a breath and crossed her arms.
“Is this the part where you threaten to kill me or something?” Peyton asked.
“Not yet.” Shay pointed at him, picking up a new separate hard drive and looking at the new curved key board. “Keep your outside trips to a minimum. If you need a bunch of shit, just tell me, and I can get it. All it takes is one mistake, and you’re dead, but this time no take backs.” She shook her head. “Seriously, if you like breathing, you need to keep your playtime to when I’m with you. I know how to case places ahead of time. Choose the ones where there won’t be trouble.”
Peyton tipped his cup and drained the last of the coffee. He shrugged, not looking at Shay, as he poured more into his cup, pouring a cup for Shay, too. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed.
“So, teach me,” he said, handing her the cup. “This is looking more and more like a long-term relationship. Not my norm, by the way. Teach me what I need to know to stay above ground.”
“That can be arranged but it’ll take time.” Shay gestured around the large open area behind the office. “Besides, you shouldn’t mess with perfection.”
“A bunch of crates and shelves is perfection?” He narrowed his eyes and took a step closer to Shay. “Wait. Weren’t you blonde? So much for not messing with perfection.”
“Thank you, and I’ve been a lot of things.” Shay reached up and ran a hand through her chestnut brown hair. She dyed it as a way to celebrate starting a new chapter of life with her friends. Closer to her natural color, anyway.
Shay spotted a couple of folding chairs in a cubicle room around a small table and an eighteen-inch TV on top of a mini-fridge. “What’s this, your make-shift break room?”
“It’s my living room.” Peyton grinned, sweeping his arm to the side in a fair imitation of Vanna White.
She slipped into one of the chairs. “These chairs suck ass. Pick out some nicer ones, and I’ll get them here.”
Peyton’s face brightened. “Thank you,” he said, hugging her tight, even as Shay peeled him off of her. “When you sit as much as I do, a quality chair is a must.”
Shay raised an eyebrow, aware her schedule was slipping away. “I can imagine. Tell me about the new job.”
Peyton’s face fell. “The client suddenly wrote and said he was no longer interested. No explanation.”
“Huh… Don’t get too worked up. That shit used to happen to me all the time when I was a hired killer.”
“People got cold feet about paying to have someone murdered? Big surprise.”
Shay shrugged, sipping the coffee. “Damn, that’s good. Greg Abbot may hook me up with some power players, so things will work out. They always do.”
Peyton cleared his throat and looked away from Shay. “About your business… I have something else that might be handy.”
“Go ahead and tell me. If it’s useful, I’ll give it a spin.”
Peyton forced himself to look at Shay, staring at her forehead, avoiding eye contact. “I haven’t been completely honest with you.”
Shay snickered. “Then you’re not a total fucking idiot. But go on.”
“I’ve just been thinking that if you’re going to start getting more into magical artifacts, that I could maybe help with that. And, you know, that seems to kind of be the business model you’ve been bragging about.”
“Don’t drag it out. I’ve shot people just to get them to cut that out. How can you help me?” Shay narrowed her eyes. “You can do magic?”
Peyton shook his head. “I wish, but no, not without an artifact at least, but I’ve studied a lot of magic. Folklore and legends, along with more modern extra-dimensional engineering stuff.” He went and sat down behind his desk, typing away on the new keyboard, pulling up different images on the screens. “It’s like you and history. I find it fascinating.” He pointed at the screen. “Magic is like any other system. Instead of hacking a computer, people are hacking reality.”
Shay stared at him for a moment, taking in the rapid-fire images he was showing her of different experiments people were posting online. Useful. That’s what he wants to be. His face screamed it.
“That’s all interesting. Why do I care? You know me, Peyton. I’m all about the practical. If you can do something for me, I’m happy to hear it.”
Peyton rubbed the back of his neck. “You have to understand that when I was growing up, I was drowning in all that privilege. It’s not like I wasn’t aware I was suffering. It’s why I tried to carve out my own path.”
“Not a bad thing.”
“Yeah, if you come from a family willing to smother you in your sleep, better figure out how to go it alone.”
“You do believe the hit came from your family…”
“Not important,” he said, waving it away, his voice barely above a whisper. He lifted his old money, square chin and shook it off. “That’s where I think I can help you and myself.”
Shay furrowed her brow but didn’t say anything. Let him finish, it’s his moment.
“I’m not a specialist on general history, but I am a specialist on magical history. I can help you find the good artifacts. Sort through the cooked history books and not just by
