Page 75 of Bleed the Shadows

“Not if I mean it. Besides, then you could get a job in a kitchen if that’s what you wanted. Or maybe you could open your own place like Rock. Or even a bakery.”

“It costs crazy money to open a restaurant,” I said. “Or even a bakery.”

He tipped the smoothie to his lips. “Believe it or not, we have crazy money.”

I scowled. “Stop it.”

He shrugged. “Something to think about.”

My stomach churned as he finished his smoothie, and I had a hard time concentrating on the rest of my kitchen inventory. It wasn’t the money, the ability to quit my job that was enticing.

It was the unspoken part of the deal: that I would stay with the Butchers.

My heart beat faster and my face felt flushed.

I was relieved when Remy’s phone rang and I didn’t have to make small talk.

“What’s up?” he said into the phone.

I could hear the timbre of a male voice on the other end of the line but couldn’t make out the words.

“Damn,” he said. “That sucks. What would I have to do?”

I looked at him, wondering if it was about his family. Work calls were usually brief and terse, and when they weren’t, the Butchers took them in another room.

“And it’s tonight?” he asked.

“I can do it,” he said. “I’m sure.”

He listened again, then laughed. “I’ll bring the Hummer. See you then.”

He slipped his phone in his pocket.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“My parents both have the flu. Someone needs to take their chaperone gig at Owen’s winter formal.”

It took me a second to realize what he was saying, mostly because it was really weird to think of Remy being the responsible adult at a high school dance. “You’re going to chaperone the dance?”

“Owen asked.” Remy grinned. "So what do you say, killer? Will you be my date for the winter formal?”

46

REMY

I was morenervous walking into the high school gymnasium than I’d ever been at one of my own high school dances. At first I thought it was because it had been so long since I’d been to one, but then I looked at Maeve and the butterflies kicked up in my stomach and I knew it was because I’d never loved someone as much as I loved her.

Not just in high school but ever.

It was enough to make me sweat. I’d never dropped the L-bomb on a girl, and it was probably a bad idea to start on a girl who was only living with us because Bram had forced her to live there in exchange for our help with Ethan Todd.

I guessed Maeve liked us well enough — Poe and me anyway — but she wouldn’t have been anywhere near us if it hadn’t been for the Hunt.

But looking at her as we entered the dimly lit gymnasium, I knew for sure I was a goner. Wearing a simple red dress she said she’d worn to a Christmas party the year before, she looked like a Christmas angel, but I knew she hid a devilish streak and that only made me want her more.

She’d left her hair down and it shone under the lights, her eyes bright as she took in the decorations, fake snow, and trees strung with white lights from the drama department, all in keeping with the dance’sWalking in a Winter Wonderlandtheme.

“See you around,” Owen shouted over the music, spun by a DJ at one end of the gym.