Page 33 of Ride or Die (The Body Shop #5)

Still buzzing, Josie nuzzled the redcap’s throat. “What’s my prize?”

“Me.”

Harrow dropped his head into his hands, leading me to believe he had known this was coming and tried to either coach her in what to say or talk her out of it before she dug a hole too deep to climb out of unless someone threw her down a rope.

Knees buckling, Josie would have hit the dirt if Carter hadn’t been holding on so tight. “You?”

“That’s what you want, isn’t it?” Carter held her stare.

“You’ve been chasing after me all this time, and I’m done running.

” Her mouth pinched. “I’m terrified of you, and I respect that about you.

You’ve given me fifty heart attacks since we met, and only maybe half those were jump scares while I was in the shower or on the toilet.

The rest were exactly this. You rushing off into danger, me unable to reach you, and?—”

“You’re done running,” Josie echoed, sobering too quickly for Carter to notice the danger she was in.

“This is not going to end well,” Matty stage-whispered to me, hiding behind me.

“Yeah.” She bobbed a shoulder. “I am.”

“This is your idea of a grand romantic gesture?” Josie shook Carter off her. “Giving up?”

Wariness trickled into Carter’s expression. “I didn’t mean it like?—”

“Look, I appreciate the offer, but I want a partner who wants to be with me. Not one who thinks she’s doing me a favor being with me.

” She wiped under her eyes. “You told me, and I didn’t listen.

I should have, and I’m sorry. You don’t do relationships, and I wanted to be the exception.

I see now that wasn’t fair to you.” She tacked on a brittle smile.

“I’ll pack up and be out of your place by morning.

You deserve to be comfortable in your own space, and I don’t think you can be with me there. ”

“Josie…”

“I’m going to stretch my legs.” Josie blinked to clear her vision. “I won’t go far.”

“I…” Carter stood there, looking for all the world like she had no clue how she ended up here. “She…”

“I want to feel sorry for you. That was a fumble of epic proportions. It makes me want to buy you a beer and get you drunk enough you forget everything that just happened.” Matty scratched his jaw. “Except for the part where you broke our sister’s heart right in front of us. That was not cool.”

“Broke her heart?” Carter stared after Josie, dumbstruck. “How do I fix this?”

“You decide here and now if you want a relationship with Josie.” As much as I hurt for Josie, coming so close to what she thought she wanted, I sympathized with Carter too.

She didn’t have the words or the moves Josie was used to with her usual suitors.

“If the answer is no, then you just did her a favor. If the answer is yes, then you better beat her home before she turns your house into a forbidden temple with every poisonous plant and vine she can summon on short notice.”

“Fuck.”

“Apologize.” Harrow patted her shoulder. “Tell her how you feel about her, and make it genuine, or you’re going to lose her.” His gaze lifted to mine. “You don’t want regrets when it comes to Talbots. Trust me on that.”

Dread, fear, and panic melded into a look I couldn’t define on Carter’s face before she started running.

“What do you think her odds are of patching things up with Josie?” Harrow watched her go. “Her first attempt was as bad as it gets. It can only get better from there, right?”

“We can hope,” Matty weighed in. “Otherwise, Carter is going to die alone. Super alone. As alone as alone gets. Then heap more alone on top of it. Like a cherry. On an alone sundae.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I shoved him. “We get it.”

“I was thinking, while I was stuck out here on the outside looking in?—”

“Quit being such a brat.”

“What if we set up some cameras? Keep eyes on the divine burrito?”

“Divine burrito? I was thinking more along the lines of divine cocoon.”

“Ah.” Matty lifted a finger. “But cocoon implies he’ll emerge in a new ultimate god form.”

“Good point.” I shivered at the possibility. “Divine burrito it is.”

There was no way to hardwire the cameras, so they would have to be the kind you charged periodically. Or maybe solar. Solar would be better. Less maintenance. I would have to ask Carter, if she survived the face-off with Josie, since she was more tech savvy than me.

Claps rang out from the shadows, and Ankou strolled into the clearing with us. “Nicely done, Bijou.”

Crap. Crap. Crap.

Why did the universe hate me so much? Why couldn’t I catch a break?

As much as I wanted to ask for an update on Lucia, I hedged the issue. “Where’s Ithas?”

“How would I know?” He glanced around, curious. “You marked me for Dis Pater, remember?”

“Yeah. I needed bait he wouldn’t suspect before it was too late.

I learned from watching you to use whatever—or who ever—is on hand.

” I shrugged like he so often did to tip the weight of his choices off his shoulders.

“You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s all. ” I smiled sweetly. “Nothing personal.”

“You’ve spent far too much time around me.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more.”

“You got everything you wanted.” He tucked his hands into his pockets. “Everything I wanted too.”

“As long as Dis Pater remains confined, you’re free to do as you wish.”

“I’m not worried about that.” He chuckled low. “You would do anything to protect Kierce, and that protection now extends to me.”

“As long as you leave my family and my friends out of your shenanigans, we won’t have a problem.”

“And you? What do you say?” He cut his eyes toward Harrow. “You going to make trouble for me?”

“Killing you won’t bring my uncle back.” His fingers curled into his palms. “But letting you live means Frankie gets her happily ever after.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Yeah, it is.” Harrow slid his gaze to me. “If you had ever cared about someone other than yourself, you’d know that.”

“I would ask for a goodbye hug, but I don’t want to press my luck. Tell Josie I…” A flicker of emotion I couldn’t name pinched his expression, but he bounced back too quick for me to decipher it. “Never mind. We can skip that part.” He blew me a kiss. “So long, Bijou.”

A pop of displaced air, and he was gone, leaving Harrow and Matty staring at me.

“You marked Ankou to repay him for giving you the sword?” Matty looked so impressed with me I hated to disabuse him of the notion. “That was inspired, Mary.”

Tempted as I was to lie to my brother and paint myself as some type of mastermind, I had to confess. He would figure it out eventually, so I might as well go ahead and come clean.

“I marked Ankou to draw out Dis Pater. It didn’t occur to me until afterward that it would serve two purposes and one of those would square my debt.” I rubbed my arms. “I’m surprised Ankou took the betrayal so well.”

“He’s always had a thing for you.” Matty sounded thoughtful. “Maybe he thought you were two steps ahead of him all this time too.”

“He should know me better than that.” I snorted a laugh and started walking. “Let’s go home.”

We had earned our rest, and I could use a hot shower, a hot meal, and a hot god blood in my bed right about now.