Page 110 of Taste of Blood

“W-what are you going to do?”

A good question. At my request, Uno stocked the cabinet down here with loaded bolts of his poison, so I have a quick way to dispatch subjects. And frankly, my heart isn’t in it with this one. He’s so pathetic it takes all the fun out of torture.

Besides, we’ve already gotten everything we wanted out of him.

“You’re lucky,” I say, crossing the room to pick up the crossbow and load it. “I’ve kind of satisfied my torture fix this week, so we’ll just make this quick.”

“Make what quick? I can go, right?”

I turn around and face him. “See, there’s a problem there. You betrayed Dante.”

“But I gave him all the information he asked for. I proved myself. Didn’t I?”

“Oh, you proved yourself all right, and now I’ll prove something to you. Dante doesn’t suffer traitors.”

And then I shoot him.

When I get upstairs, Dante is already gathering his men to raid the addresses Cosgrove gave us. “You did your part,” he tells me. “I’ll call you when I need you.”

Looks like I got the day to myself after all.

34: Asher

AFTER TEXTING CORD to tell him about his appointment with my tailor on Monday, I don’t hear from him the rest of the weekend. I spend the time catching up on work and attending a play, hoping he’ll show up in the evening, but no one appears.

Finally, when I can no longer stand the distance, I have Benjimen take me by his apartment after leaving the office Monday evening. I don’t know if he’s home and I didn’t check the garage for his car, so I’m flying blind. I have no excuse for being here other than wanting to see him. To be in the same space as him.

Space I had willingly conceded, but as I told him. I’m not a patient man. Especially where he’s concerned. If that makes me pushy, then so be it. He can just learn to deal with it. It’s not like we’re strangers.

The building is quiet as I make my way down the hall toward his apartment. I stop outside his door, wondering if I’m doing the right thing. Deciding I don’t care. I just need to see him.

I knock and wait.

And wait.

Finally I hear footsteps, the snick of the bolt unlocking, and then he’s there.

We stare at each other for a good minute without speaking.

He finally offers a wry smirk. “Something you want to tell me?”

“No. Well, yes.”

He quirks a brow. “Which is it?”

As usual, he doesn’t make anything easy. “Can I come in?”

He hesitates for a second, then steps aside and watches as I enter, his eyes never leaving my face. After he closes and locks the door behind me, he turns and leads me into the livingroom, where the TV is on but the sound muted. He picks up the remote and switches it off then looks up at me.

I have nothing rehearsed. No reason for being here other than pure desire. Maybe I should lie, make something up, but I know Cord would see right through that, so I opt for the truth.

“I just wanted to see you.”

Did you want to see me?is left unspoken between us. I know better than to ask a question I already know the answer to. If he had wanted to see me, he would have come by. I guess what I want to know now is if I’m wasting my time.

Every moment we’ve spent together since reconnecting tells me I’m not. Even when he acts indifferent to or annoyed by my presence, his eyes tell a different story. I like to think I’m a pretty good judge of character, and there’s no one I know better than Cord, which means I should be able to read him.

But I’m not sure.