Page 135 of Broken Brothers

Maybe if I just waited a week until after Sarah had come, come, and gone…

No. I had to make amends now. I had to keep the good momentum going as long as I could.

“Hey, sorry about last night. The girl and I mutually ended it. Not that that matters for us given everything and how you probably feel about me, but you deserve to know I’m sorry. Hope we can still talk.”

It felt oddly reconciliatory for me, but then again, a hell of a lot felt oddly out of character for me over the past couple of months. Life had a way of doing that when life was trying to break you in half.

I looked at my text to Morgan one last time, and it still wasn’t received. I shrugged and tossed it to the shoulder of the couch.

Which, of course, was when someone decided to call me.

Layla?

“Oh, fuck it, fine,” I said, forcing myself to smile. Hey, if I wanted to set things right, that started with the truth. “Hey.”

“Chance? How are you?”

She sounded surprised to hear me, and perhaps even a little flustered.

“I’m fine?” I said, confused by her tone. “What’s going on?”

“I saw Morgan this morning, and he told me some things… you might want to come see me,” she said. “Meet me where we were last night.”

“But isn’t that—”

“I’ll see you there, Chance,” she said, followed by her hanging up.

All I could do was stare at my phone and think,the fuck?

So much for good momentum. I think Layla’s in on this Hunt thing now.

Whether she likes it or not.

55

Ijust tried to stay present.

I just tried to keep one foot in front of the other.

I just tried not to think about what the hell might be coming.

What had Morgan told Layla? For that matter, how had Morgan run into Layla? Given that he despised her, what the hell had he said to her that had caused her to want to meet me one on one?

Didn’t he hate her guts? And yet Layla sounded…

Around me, New York City seemed to have reached an unusual calm. What little vegetation there was slowly had begun to show signs of winter approaching, but the skies above still remained bright blue with few clouds. A gusty chill had settled into the city, forcing me to wear my thicker jacket. Taxis didn’t roar quite as much, which wasn’t to say there was no traffic—just that I had happened to pick the rare occasion on which the city would not blare at me so early in the day.

I came to the bar that we had spent the night before and was not surprised to see it closed. Nearby, two people who looked like they had drunk too much the night before lay on the ground,stretched out, drool coming out of their mouths. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said that it looked like the beginning of a zombie movie.

“Chance.”

I turned around and say Layla coming my way. She looked like she had just come from the gym, wearing long leggings, a hoodie, and some gloves. She had thrown the hoodie over her head.

“Hey,” I said, not really feeling in the mood for jokes at this hour. “What’s—”

“Come with me.”

I followed her, feeling more than a little suspicious of what was going on. But then again, if this was a trap or a game on her part, she was playing it rather poorly.