Part 6 (2/2)
”Sick as in...?”
”As in s.h.i.+fting while they're doing it. That kind of stuff.”
She clapped a hand over her mouth and stared at him with wide eyes. He winced in sympathy and hoped she wouldn't freak out.
Of course she wouldn't. She took a long, long, looong gulp of her beer, burped daintily (he didn't crack a smile), and said, ”Okay. I can see why you'd want to help catch these guys.”
”Yeah. They almost s.n.a.t.c.hed a friend of mine's mate back in Houston. She's not fae, but...yeah. And Nick-my Alpha-took it personally when they showed up in his territory. He figured the Feds could use some help.”
”So if you hadn't shown up, I'd have been turned into a squeaky toy by this weekend. Which I guess means I shouldn't hold a grudge about the undercover thing.”
He shrugged.
It was nearly midnight. Her eyes were heavy and her speech had started to slur around the edges. He knew he needed to get her back to the motel, let her get some rest, but he didn't want to quit talking quite yet.
That was something else she did to him. He didn't normally enjoy talking a long time with females, fae or not.
She was staring off into the distance, and he was wondering if she was about to fall over, when she said suddenly, ”I hope they kill Wayne.”
”They will. Probably already have.”
”I can't believe he'd do that to me. I knew he didn't love me-he treated me like s.h.i.+t-but to set me up with that...” She shuddered. ”And his own mother? I mean, as nasty as he was, I still wouldn't have- Wait. What about Jasper? You think Jasper's dead too?”
”Yep.”
She nodded to herself. ”Yeah, I bet he is. Jasper just cooked the stuff. Anyone can do that. Actually, anyone could do what Wayne did too. They wouldn't really need him.”
”What did your grandmother do?”
”All the business stuff-where to sell it, how to move it, how much to charge, all that. Wayne managed the dealers and beat up the people who didn't pay. He and Grandma fought all the time.”
”About what?”
”Everything. He hated the way she controlled the business, and she didn't like the way he blew money on sinful stuff.” She grinned tipsily. ”Because dealing meth is business, but gamblin' and drinkin' and runnin' 'round with Shreveport hookers-that's bad.”
”I can't believe your grandmother did the whole church and bake sale thing, then went home and ran the biggest meth op in the ArkLaTex area.”
”You don't know what it's like to live in a real small town. People are good at ignoring what they don't want to know about.” She took another long swig of beer. ”It's like...you have to see the same handful of people every day of your life, so everyone just instinctively agrees to pretend everything is the way they want it to be, and no one really talks about it. I mean, it's not like everybody didn't know my grandmother was the Redneck Drug Queen of East Texas.”
He choked on his beer, and she laughed too.
”Seriously. There's no way anyone didn't know what Jasper was doing back in those woods. But Grandma taught Sunday School for sixty years and no one would dream of talking bad about sweet old Mrs. Hedges. I think if anyone ever said 'Hey, y'all ever notice Miss Helen's boy is running a meth lab down by the lake?' all their heads would've exploded.”
He laughed again. ”s.h.i.+t. I'm glad I grew up in the big city.”
”Yeah, well, I think I might like living in one.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. ”Maybe. Marshall was one thing, but Houston, G.o.d...”
He squeezed her hand. ”Hey. It's gonna be fine. You can stay at my place for as long as you need. And I promise, Monday morning, I'll make some phone calls and we'll get your car towed down to my place.”
”Seriously? Do you think I'll be able to drive in Houston? I keep thinking about the freeways, and all those cars, and it scares me.”
”Don't even worry about it. I'll teach you the freeways. You're plenty tough enough.”
”I don't know about that.” A big yawn overtook her before she had a chance to cover her mouth.
”Come on, tough girl. Time for bed.”
Chapter Five.
Sara had confessed she was afraid to stay by herself, so he'd gotten a room with two double beds.
Just last night, they'd been all over each other. Just a few minutes ago, at the diner, they'd started connecting again. But as soon as they were back at the motel, with the two double beds dominating the room, they were instantly awkward, looking everywhere but at each other, keeping their distance, unable to think of anything to say.
He offered her the first shower. She practically ran to the bathroom, closing the door behind her with an audible sigh of relief.
He flopped down on a bed and called Nick, who answered on the first ring.
”B, listen,” said his Alpha by way of h.e.l.lo. ”First off, I left a present in your bank account. You done good. Second. Why'd you leave before the Feds showed up? I've been on the phone with them for hours-they're going nuts to talk to you.”
So Bryan told him everything, and Nick had plenty to say about it.
When he got off the phone an hour later, Sara was still in the shower. He stretched out and laced his hands behind his head, thinking about what Nick had said and wondering if a motel this size could run out of hot water.
”What are you going to do with her?” Nick had asked him.
He'd told her she could stay at his place, but the idea of her actually living there, even for a short time, scared him to death. He'd never contemplated her being a part of his real life.
He'd be responsible for her in Houston, at least for a while. She didn't know a soul. She needed a job, a place to live. She had to start a whole new life, and it meant a big disruption in his.
”Since when do you go for fae girls?”
He didn't. That was the problem, wasn't it? Sara didn't behave like a typical fae female. She wasn't flighty, impulsive, dramatic, narcissistic, emotionally unstable, trouble with a capital T-all the things some guys found s.e.xy, but Bryan found f.u.c.king annoying. None of that meant she was suitable long term.
He didn't like thinking that way, but at least it took his mind off the perverse and irrational part of him that loved the idea of having her around on a day to day basis.
How long could a female stay in the shower?
He put his ear to the door, but all he heard was running water. He should've been able to hear her moving around in the tub.
So he knocked.
”Sara?”
No answer. No sound of a body moving, fingers in hair, picking up soap, arm brus.h.i.+ng the shower curtain, nothing.
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