“Give the boy a gold star.” Shay smiled as the waitress arrived with their bottle of wine and filled their glasses.
“Your food will be here soon, ma’am.” The waitress hurried to another table.
Shay waited until the woman was on the other side of the room to speak. “That’s the good thing about having you as an assistant. I don’t have to waste time explaining shit to you. You’ve got initiative and a thirst for knowledge. I really appreciate that.”
“Even though you regularly threaten me with a bullet hole or two?”
“What can I say? It’s a complicated relationship with no 401k necessary.”
Peyton glanced around the room again, tension lining his face. “I haven’t heard anything to suggest this place isn’t still a popular dark magic underworld hangout.”
Shay took a sip of her wine, enjoying the fruity notes of her Chianti. “Neither have I, and like you pointed out, there are several mobsters here, and some of these people I don’t recognize. Who knows who they might be? Mobsters? Magical killers? Lots of possibilities. Kind of exciting when you think about it.”
“Are you insane?” Peyton whispered, his face growing pale.
I’m pushing him a little hard, but he’s gonna have to learn not to get spun up by this sort of thing. At least I’ve almost got him cured of his Chicago-style pizza shit.
“Not last time I checked, ignoring the whole going after dangerous magical artifacts for a living thing.” Shay nodded toward his glass. “Drink a glass of wine and calm down. This place isn’t a big deal, and it has good wine.”
Peyton rolled his eyes as he took a sip. “Okay. I’ll admit it. It is good wine, and I’m not even that much of a wine guy.”
“See?”
“But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re sitting in a place where some magical assassin could show up any minute. You’re good, but you don’t have magic.”
“Messing with Dante’s is just going to cause them trouble. But sure, somebody really dangerous could pop in. They could fireball this place before I even knew what the fuck was happening.”
“Why are we here then?” Peyton swallowed and lowered his face even more. “Isn’t this way more dangerous than me going to the store? Or even getting my own place. I can’t let my guard down long enough to take a bite.”
Shay took another small sip of wine. “You can’t let your guard down anywhere. Here, you never forget, and sometimes the best way to stay alive is to remind yourself not to get complacent. That’s why I love coming here, and I’m always more relaxed overall than I am most places.”
The waitress arrived with their thin-crust pepperoni pizza.
Shay and Peyton fell into a more comfortable silence as they attacked the pizza.
“Bet this place is near a warehouse,” Peyton mumbled through a full mouth. “That probably explains the real deal.”
Shay shot a grin at him. “Chew, swallow, repeat… not. You’ll have to try and find that out yourself.”
“It is good pizza, though.” A lot of Peyton’s color was returning. “Very damned good. Wonder if they use magic when they cook it.”
“Only the magic of a great woodfired oven.”
Peyton’s eyes widened. “I’ve just had a great idea. Fantastic idea.”
“What? Tomorrow you’re going to wear a yellow suit and start carrying an overly curious monkey around with you?”
“No, I mean… huh? Whatever. No, you love pizza, and you’re rolling in the dough, metaphorically at least. We should put in a pizza oven in… the place I live.” Peyton glanced around for a moment, suspicion on his face.
Shay appreciated his situational awareness, though she didn’t worry about anyone keying in on references to warehouses. The average customer in the room probably had warehouses containing something far worse than equipment and weapons.
“I don’t even have a pizza oven at home,” she said. “So why would I give you one?”
Peyton blinked. “You don’t? You, Queen of all Pizza?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s a lot more to pizza than the oven. Besides, I thought you liked going out.”
Peyton nodded. “I do. Was just a thought.”
Either Peyton was adjusting to the situation or his wine was kicking in. His shoulders had loosened, and the lingering concern in his eyes vanished.
He downed half his glass in one gulp. “Speaking of me getting out. It won’t be the end of the world if I lived in an actual apartment. Look how easy it was to bring me here.”
“Yeah, you’re right but we need to be smart about it. Do what you do.”
“What do you mean?”
“Research it, Peyton. Make sure you’ve looked at it from all the angles. I have just as much interest in making sure you don’t make a mistake picking a place, so I’m reserving a veto, once I see it.”
Peyton polished off his wine. “Fair enough.”
Shay’s phone buzzed. “One sec.”
Bella was texting her.
Hey, girl. You interested in doing something in the next few days?
Sure. Just let me know.
Okay, going to text the others.
Peyton glanced at the phone. “Trouble?”
“Far from it. Just trying to arrange a girls’ night.”
Shay allowed herself a smile. She led two different lives, both completely compartmentalized. She liked it that way.
When she’d worked as a killer for hire, there was no other life around so much death. Her friends were people involved in the scene, one way or another. Now, though, she could have fun when she didn’t want to worry about zombie rods, blood magic, or barbecue-loving muscle-bound bounty hunters.
L.A. granted a person freedom, as long as they wanted to maintain a false front. It was the perfect place for that, the capital at the heart of an Empire of Masks. She fit right in.
Peyton poured himself a new glass of wine. “So there’s something I’ve been wondering. And I wanted to kind of ask about it.”
“Yeah? What?”
“You’re making a lot of money.”
Shay shrugged. “Not a big secret from you.”
Peyton frowned. “It’s just… what are you even planning to do with all that money? It’s not like you’re saving up for any reason. If you kept
