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CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ST. CLARE

So he’s straight.

But he thinks I’m very cute.

And I thought this week couldn’t get any more confusing.

Perry finishes bandaging my ear, and I’m a good patient, sitting there without teasing him again.

It’s hard though. His big hands are so gentle. His tongue is poking out again, and the concentration lines on his forehead, mixed with his scent—lightly sweaty from our run, slightly caffeine-y from work—is making it really fucking hard to keep my mouth closed.

He agreed easily to being called cute, but I don’t think he realizes he’s sex on legs.

Really long fucking legs.

“Okay,” he says, standing and dumping the garbage into the trash. “Next stop, Margy’s place.”

“No.”

“But I have to.”

“No, you have to do exactly what you wanted me to do and stay hidden.”

He thinks that over for a moment. “I see your point?—”

“Good—”

“But no one saw us come here, so they also won’t see us leave, and if I really am now being targeted like you say I am, I should probably give my sister the heads-up.”

“Use the phone.”

When it comes down to it, we still know a whole lot of nothing, and the best thing we can do with today is make a plan and then get straight into it. Visiting sisters doesn’t make the list.

“I … well, we don’t really know how long this is going to take, and I have a lot of unfinished business …” Perry starts. “It’s not like I can totally disappear on my job, and I need to get home to Sir Squeakerton?—”

“ Who is Sir Squeakerton?” I ask.

“A mouse.”

“You have a pet mouse?”

“Well, no.” He scratches his head. “There are a bunch of mice that live in the wall of my apartment. I’m friends with one of them.”

“Friends. With your rodent infestation?”

“They prefer to be called little squeakers.”

“I don’t care what they prefer,” I say, trying to imagine mice in my apartment. “They’re wild animals. They’ll be fine.”

It’s almost endearing the way he looks so torn until I remember that we’re talking about disease-carrying mice.

“Okay, let’s make a deal.”

I give him a pointed look. “Because those have always gone so well for us before.”

“We’re working together now though. Our powers combined and whatever.”

“Sure. You know Captain Planet and not Austin Powers.”

“Who?”

I give up. At the risk of taking another verbal detour, I get us back on track. “What’s this deal?”

“We go and deliver Margot and Elle dinner, but we won’t stay. I’ll tell them that I’m going out of town for a few days and that maybe they should also have a super-romantic lovers’ week in Elle’s apartment and not leave it for anything. ”

Right, because that won’t make them suspicious. “You think your sister could be a target?”

Perry shrugs. “I’m still not convinced I’m a target, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to take any risks with her.”

“You guys are super close?”

“She is literally all I have left.” The vulnerability in his tone is something I latch onto. Like his human side makes it easier to forgive myself for not being able to hate him.

If our roles were reversed and Colin could potentially be in danger because of me, I’d want to warn him too. It doesn’t feel smart, but when it comes to protecting people you care about, emotion is what leads the way.

At least that’s something we have in common.

“Fine,” I relent. “We’ll pick them up dinner— I’m paying—tell them whatever you want, and then we’ll go back to my apartment.”

“Should I grab clothes from mine first?”

“There’s a good chance they could be waiting for you there.”

Perry scrunches up his face. “Well, wouldn’t you also think they’d be waiting for you at yours?”

That’s also a good point.

“Fuck. Okay. Maybe Colin’s?”

“That still feels risky.”

Thankfully, Lars takes that moment to get back. He closes the door and locks it behind him, then tosses Perry his backpack.

I watch as Perry sinks to sit on the floor and tugs the zipper open before rifling through whatever the hell he has in there.

“We were just talking about where we should go next,” I tell Lars. “Both of our apartments probably aren’t safe, and I thought maybe Colin’s, but what if they’re watching that too?”

He rubs his short beard, thinking. “We can’t stay here?”

“And what? Sleep on the floor? Besides, you’d think if someone was looking for me, this would be one of the first places they’d go.”

Not for the first time, an unsettling feeling slides down my spine. Being watched, hunted, whatever, it’s not a great way to exist. I’m refusing to give in to the fear, and do well ignoring it most of the time, but there are moments, like this one, where it sneaks in and throws me for a second. It’s sort of hard to let things roll off you when you realize you have literally nowhere to go.

The seconds stretch on without any of us speaking.

Then Perry’s voice cuts through the room.

“Hello, favoritest sister of mine.”

I glance up and am shocked to see him on the fucking phone.

His upbeat tone dims a little. “Why do you always think I’m up to something?”

That pulls a smile from me. I’m with Perry’s sister. If he called up and immediately gave me a compliment, I’d be suspicious of him too.

“I’m still coming tonight,” he assures. “But I kinda sorta need a favor. Not, like, a big favor. More of a medium-big favor.”

I have no idea what she’s saying, but Perry pulls the phone away from his ear and covers the speaker. “Sorry,” he tells us. “She does this. Needs to get the ranty out, then we’ll move on to fixing the problem.”

“ Ranty? ” explodes from the phone.

Perry cringes, and Lars lets out a full-blown laugh.

“Ah … I love you very much, and I’ll see you soon,” he says quickly before hanging up. “Phew. By the time I get there, she should have worked off some of her irritation.”

“Or built it up ready to unleash on you.”

That makes him pause. “Well. Guess we’re about to find out.”

Lars is shaking his head. “If you want something from someone, you probably shouldn’t insult them before they’ve agreed.”

“I wasn’t insulting her!” Perry’s mouth drops in offense. “It’s not an insult if it’s true.”

“Well, that’s definitely incorrect,” I point out.

Perry shoves his phone deep into his bag. “We should probably go.”

“Wait.” Lars looks between us. “As much as I’d love to see your sister go off on you, you’re not going anywhere.”

“Of course I am.” Perry picks himself up off the ground and pulls his backpack on. Then he throws me under the bus by waving his finger between us. “We have a deal.”

“A deal that we haven’t finished working out the details on.”

“What deal ?” Lars asks, sounding very much like a dad dealing with toddlers. I’d resent the tone, but in this instance, it’s probably fair.

I jump in to explain before Perry … can be Perry. “We’re taking his sister dinner, telling her he’ll be gone for a few days and that she should probably lie low too, then we’re supposed to be going somewhere safe to work out what the hell we do next, but we haven’t figured out where.”

“And that’s why we need to get moving,” Perry says. “We’ll feed them up, make them happy, and then Elle will have the solution for us. She’s very smart and very rich. I’ve never cared much about the rich thing myself because she’s not one of those asshole rich people, but it makes things easier in a pinch. And if you ask me, we’re in a bit more than a pinch.”

I look at Lars because it’s not like we have a whole lot of options here. Perry’s right. This is definitely more than a pinch.

“Maybe you should call her back,” Lars says.

Perry looks at Lars like he’s lost his mind, and seeing him give anyone that look is … a choice. “This isn’t the kind of conversation you have over the phone. Over the phone is for things like what did you want me to grab for dinner or hey, your parents have died in a car crash . It’s not for warning your sister you’re potentially highly wanted and need a safe house.”

There’s so much there that I really don’t know what the fuck to tackle first. Lars apparently doesn’t share my confusion.

“You can’t tell her you’re wanted or that you need a safe house.”

“Well, not in those specific words?—”

“Not in any words.” Lars rubs at his curls in frustration. “Look, none of us know anything yet, other than you were set up to kill St. Clare. That still has you as enemy number one in my books, so it’s going to take me some time to come around to this idea that you’re suddenly on our side. ”

“Do I look like a killer?” Perry asks.

“No, and St. Clare is determined to trust you, so I have to as well. All I’m saying is that I’m keeping an eye on you, and until we know more, I don’t want to go anywhere or tell anyone anything. How do we know that the safe house your sister comes up with isn’t some kind of trap?”

“You don’t.”

“Exactly.” Lars reaches into the back of his pants and pulls out a gun that he drops on my desk. “I also found this in your bag. Who the fuck takes a gun to work in a cafe?”

“Well, it’s not like I could leave it lying around at home.”

“Why the fuck not? You don’t carry it with you unless you’re expecting to use it.”

Perry sighs, tugging his backpack higher. “It’s not loaded.”

Lars hesitates before checking.

“I don’t leave it at home because my place is notorious for being robbed.”

Mice and being robbed? Where the fuck does this guy live?

“We can’t stay here,” I remind Lars. Even if I didn’t think it was being watched, there are no beds, for one thing, and there’s only so long that we can survive off granola bars.

“What about your parents?” Lars asks.

“I don’t think we can go anywhere near family at the moment.”

I can tell he’s torn. It’s not an easy choice, and when he signed up for this job, neither of us thought it would be actual life and death. We’re way out of our comfort zone, and figuring out what to do isn’t easy. It probably also doesn’t help that I’m running off gut feeling than any kind of actual logic.

“Fine. We’ll visit the sister.” He turns to Perry. “But if you fuck us over, I won’t hesitate to make her pay for your mistake.”

Perry looks like he’s wet his pants. “I have no plans for that to happen. Intentionally.”

Unfortunately, his mistakes by this point are legendary, so that really doesn’t give me much hope.