“He’s really gone?” Luck asked as the office cleared out with no sight of Cupid.
“Yes, you big bunch of sissies.” Bobby looked over to Fate and added, “Of course, I’m not talking about you. Just the rest of them.” Bobby leaned on the wall, mimicking the way Fate often did, as we walked past him.
“Fate! You going to golf with Death this weekend?” Billy asked as him and Buddy trailed Fate, who was shadowing me as I headed for the door.
“No. Have plans,” Fate responded and I wondered if I’d end up waist deep in whatever it was they were.
“Yeah, we don’t have time either,” Buddy said.
Fate stopped briefly and grabbed my arm, forcing me to do the same.
“Guys, if you don’t mind, I need a minute.” He didn’t look at them when he spoke, just me.
The Jinxes’ eyes hopped back and forth between the two of us, and then their little faces lit up with smirks.
“We got it, bro,” Buddy said.
“We know the score,” Bobby, who had caught up to us, added. Something similar to a leer appeared on his face. A leer on a prepubescent face was just too creepy for words.
“Oh my god.” I yanked my arm free and turned to continue on my way. Fate followed on my heels, stalking me out of the office. Even the Jinxes knew? I didn’t care how old they were; they looked like they were twelve, tops.
I didn’t say anything until we got into the hallway, which provided the thinnest veneer of privacy. Still, it was better than the middle of the office.
“I told you, I don’t have time for this.” I wrapped my arms around my body to prevent any dangling temptation, since he seemed to keep trying to touch me. It was probably his weird controlling manner.
He stepped in front of me, blocking my way. “If you had such an issue with people knowing then maybe you shouldn’t have said something.” His eyebrows rose accusingly.
I just wished I could be more like him about it. He didn’t seem fazed at all that the whole office knew. He also hadn’t been the rejected one, either.
I felt a blush spread on my cheeks. I wanted to kill Luck right now. She hadn’t meant to spread it—I knew she’d just gotten nervous and wanted to warn Murphy—but it didn’t make it any less embarrassing. But ultimately it was my own fault. Why did I tell her in the first place?
Either way, the reminder did nothing for my desire to talk to him about anything.
“I told you, I’m not doing this now,” I said and stepped around him.
Despite my preventive measures, he managed to force his fingers through my locked arms, forcing me to stop and look at him. “This isn’t going away.”
“You know what? For me it is. I don’t want to play your games. I don’t know what’s going on and I don’t want to. It has nothing to do with me, and I want to keep it that way.” At least I hoped I could. I knew Suit had been searching for me, but that didn’t mean his colleagues would continue to do so. Who knew how many there even were? Maybe it had been a lie. Maybe he’d been a lone wolf. And even if there were more of them, as long as they left me alone, I was perfectly content to leave them hiding wherever they were. I’d had enough drama in the past few months to last me a long time.
“You’re not listening to what I’m telling you. You can’t walk away.”
“Everything about my life has been hijacked. I’ve had no say in where I live, where I work, what I do—”
“No say in what you do?” The words were staggered, each pronounced with emphasis. His eyebrows couldn’t have lifted higher on his forehead.
“Fine, perhaps I’ve had a little say in what I do. My point is, I’m maxed out on being dictated to. I’m not putting up with it.” I shrugged and waited for him to do his worst.
“I told you this was non-negotiable.”
“I remember what you said, and I’ve decided it is.” I yanked my arm back again and crossed my arms in front of me, tighter this time. If he wanted a limb, he was going to have to seriously fight for it. No more easy conquests.
“Come with me.” He started taking off in the direction of the elevator, but I didn’t follow.
He looked back to see I hadn’t budged and walked back. He reached out for an arm and I turned my back on him. When he moved with me, I wouldn’t let him budge it away from my body to get a firm grip.
It was a good thing the hall was empty. We must have looked ridiculous, but I didn’t care. He wasn’t getting a hold. I’d beat him at his game.
He wrapped an arm around my waist and just lifted me entirely.
“That’s cheating!” I yelled, my feet dangling as he started walking.
“It’s not cheating, because there are no rules.” His voice was smug. “There is no legal system for us.”
I was torn. If I undid my arms to hit him, he’d just grab one of those. If I didn’t, he’d just keep carrying me. Without another clear-cut plan of action, I figured a verbal assault would be the most prudent. “Why do you insist on physically forcing me to go where you want? Have you no couth?”
“No. I don’t. Why do you refuse to do what I want you to?”
“Because I don’t have to do what you want.”
“Looks like you do.” He wasn’t laughing but he was definitely close to it.
I made the mistake of looking back at the office door down the hall. Someone had opened it and they were all hovering nearby. Every head swiveled guiltily away the second I saw them.
“Do you know what this looks like? They all think we slept together now.”
He leaned his head closer to mine. “No, they all know we slept together, remember?”
“Now that you’ve done even more damage, would you mind putting me down?”
“Sure,” he said as we strode through the hallway. “In one minute.”
We left the building and I thought he was going to try and make me go somewhere with him, but he stopped at his car.
“Do you plan on putting me down?” I asked. My legs were still dangling a foot off the ground and I was surrounded by his body heat.
“Are you going to listen?” he asked.
“Yes, I’ll hear you out.”
“Why do you sound so winded when I’m the one that carried you?”
“You were squeezing my lungs.” That sounded a lot better than the truth.
He set me on my feet and looked around to make sure no one was listening. My arms were still wrapped tightly around me, just out of principle.
“You aren’t going to be able to walk away from this.”
“Why? Because I know about your men? If the paltry amount I know is too much, you guys are in worse shape than I gave you credit for. And as far as catching your objective, I’d say you’re chasing your tails more than your target. Maybe it’s time to pack up and call it quits.”
“You can ID my guys,” he said, but I couldn’t help feeling like he was just throwing out excuses.
“But I haven’t.”
“But you can, and they don’t feel comfortable with someone that isn’t with us knowing who they are.”
“Then they can come talk to me.” I remembered the night it had all gone down. I really thought they would try and kill me after I’d stabbed Suit. But I’d had time to adjust and take stock since then. I wasn’t going to live out the next thousand years being bullied.
“I’m talking. For now.”
I didn’t like the implied threat and it made my hackles rise. “What would you like? Do you want me to come and sit in your warehouse, drink a couple of beers and ponder the mysterious bad guys? Fine, I cave, pencil me in.” I whipped out the cell phone from my pocket. I’d finally pestered Harold into an upgrade with a calendar option. “I’m free for ten minutes next Saturday. That should be enough time to cover all the leads you guys have and squeeze in a beer, too.”
“This isn’t a joke.” His hand ran through his dark hair as he shook his head, looking more frustrated than anything else, like I was wearing his patience down to the nub. “Don’t act like everything is just some game that you have no part in. I know better.”
I smiled. “It is a game, and in case you don’t realize, I’m winning.”