Hannah had pity for his situation, but only to a certain point. “You’re going to have to get over it.” Her tone was firm. “I know you’re upset but ... you seriously have to put it behind you. I know that’s easy for me to say because I didn’t throw punches at my best friend, but we have a real problem.”
“I’ll say we do.” Jackie bobbed her head in agreement. “There are seven of those things total. Hannah has taken out two. That means there are five left ... and given what we’ve seen and heard, I’m guessing the other five have different abilities.”
Cooper shifted on his chair. “Are we sticking with the seven deadly sins theory?”
“It makes as much sense as anything,” Jackie replied. “That means we have sloth, lust, and greed left.”
“And envy and pride,” Hannah added, pursing her lips. “I get how greed and lust will probably play into the mix. Even envy. How does a creature use pride and sloth to kill us, though? Are we going to lay around and watch television with Doritos until we die or something?”
Despite the serious situation, Cooper’s lips quirked. “If I have to go, that’s the one I would choose.”
“Please.” Tyler rolled his eyes. “We both know you would go for lust. That way you and Hannah can go together.”
It was a simple statement, a lame attempt at teasing, but it was enough to have Cooper meeting his friend’s gaze. “I probably would choose to go that route,” he acknowledged. “You’re right ... although I would like to include the Doritos in both those scenarios.”
Tyler snickered, and although the atmosphere in the room wasn’t completely back to normal, it was as if a weight had been lifted. Hannah was thankful. That didn’t mean she could simply turn her back on the obvious.
“I very much doubt it’s going to work that way,” she said. “There’s not a lot of punishment associated with Cooper and I going to bed and never leaving. It’s far more likely they’ll try to push him together with someone else — like Astra — than pair us together.”
Cooper frowned. “I hadn’t considered that.” His hand automatically went to Hannah’s shoulder. “Just FYI, you’re all I want. If you see me with someone else ... .” He trailed off, the possibility too horrible to give voice to.
“I know.” She squeezed his hand reassuringly but her stomach was upset at the prospect. “We have to figure this out before it gets that far. They’re going to be more organized next time they attack.”
“That’s not what I want to hear.” Cooper leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth. “We definitely need to figure this out.”
Since he was being accommodating, Hannah decided to spring her opinion on him. “We might need Astra to do it.”
Cooper immediately started shaking his head. “Absolutely not. We’re not bringing her into this.”
“I don’t see where we have a choice,” Hannah argued. “She knew about the nexus before we did. That means she might know a way for us to stop the other five. We can’t just sit back and do nothing. It might break us in other ways.”
Cooper hesitated and then made a face. “Hannah, she’s manipulative,” he said. “She will try to put a wedge between us every chance she gets.”
“I know that.” Hannah’s smile was rueful. “I’m not an idiot. In this particular case, though, I think her wedge is preferable to whatever these furies can do, which is probably ten times worse than anything her twisted brain can come up with.”
“I wouldn’t rely on that,” Cooper argued. “In fact ... .” He trailed off at the sound of footsteps on the porch, and when he shifted his attention to the door, he found Jacob standing there with a duffle bag in his hand.
“We can explain,” Tyler volunteered out of nowhere, gesturing toward the bruises and cuts on his face. “A couple of the horses got out of the paddock and we had to track them down.”
“That’s a total bummer,” Jacob said blandly. “I’m glad you guys caught the horses.” His eyes drifted around the room until he found Hannah. “So, I’ve been thinking that I need to spend the night out here to get a real feel for how things operate. I know you said there were rooms above the brothel for parties. I’m assuming they’re empty now.”
Hannah hesitated and then nodded. “They are.”
“Great.” Jacob flashed a wide grin. “I’m going to camp out there. I still can’t figure out what happened to the bullet that killed Rob. It should be somewhere on the street ... and yet there’s nothing.”
“I believe the coroner told you there’s also no bullet path in the body either,” Cooper pointed out.
“Yes, but I’m having him check again. That makes no sense.” Jacob flashed a vacant smile. “I know how this happened. I just need to prove it.”
“Great,” Cooper drawled. “Do you want to share with the class?”
“As soon as I have my proof, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Awesome.” Cooper flashed a sarcastic thumbs-up at the man’s retreating back. “We can’t wait to hear your results.” He lowered his voice and glanced around the room. “Okay, now we’re officially screwed. We definitely need to figure this out ... and fast.”
13
Thirteen
Once Cooper was patched up — he had what looked to be a nasty bruise forming on his cheek — Hannah pressed him hard about going to Astra for help. He hemmed and hawed, scuffed his feet on the saloon floor, stood at the window and stared at the brothel so he could project his annoyance at Jacob, and then grudgingly gave in.
“I’m doing the talking,” he announced as he parked in the lot of Astra’s store. He’d changed his clothes because the shirt he was wearing
