“Dixon promised to write you a glowing letter of recommendation, you know.”
I glared at her from the folds of my comforter and felt the fist of anger settle low in my belly. “A glowing letter from a dead guy is supposed to make me feel better?”
If it were possible for Nina to pale, she did so. Her lips dipped into a sharp frown. “I’m really sorry, Sophie.”
“I just want to be alone right now.”
“Oh ... okay.” I watched Nina scramble around the apartment, gathering up her purse and coat. She gave me a plaintive look before she slipped out the front door and headed off to work at the UDA.
It was just ChaCha and me alone in the apartment. “Well, ChaCha, it’s my first day as an unemployed woman. What should we do?”
ChaCha cocked her little terrier head at me, big brown eyes searching. Then she promptly rolled over and went to sleep. “Lot of help you are,” I told her.
There was a soft knock at the door and I stiffened, my heart going from zero to sixty in a millisecond. I crept to the door and pressed one hand against it, holding my body as far away as possible, lest I get another door-in-the-face visitor.
“Who is it?” I hissed.
“It’s me, Lawson, open up.”
I peeled up on my tiptoes, squinted through the peephole. Alex stood in my hallway, arms crossed in front of his navy-blue T-shirt, jeans cinched with a brown belt, lips pursed and looking slightly annoyed.
My hand hovered above the knob. “How do I know you’re Alex and not Ophelia pretending to be Alex?”
I could practically hear Alex’s eyes roll through the front door.
“I don’t know ... because I know you like to eat marshmallow Pinwheels in the bathtub.”
I crossed my arms, considering. “Lucky guess. What else?”
“Um, okay. I know you have a heart-shaped birthmark on your—”
I threw the lock and tugged the door open, snatching Alex by his shirtfront and pulling him into the apartment.
“Are you crazy? My neighbors already think I’m nutso enough; I don’t want them to think I’m a slut showing off my naked body to the world, too.”
Alex chuckled. “Your naked body.”
“Grow up, deadso. What are you doing here, anyway? How did you even know I would be home?”
Alex followed me to the kitchen. “Nina told me what happened. I’m really sorry about the job.”
“Me, too,” I said, pulling a box of frozen waffles from the freezer. “Want one?” I shook the box at Alex and he declined, but I popped two in the toaster anyway and stood by with peanut butter and jelly.
“It’s going to be okay, though, you know,” Alex said, patting me awkwardly on the shoulder.
“Right. Did Nina tell you I was going to be a doctor?”
“Don’t you need to go to school—”
I shot him an icy glare.
“You know I would help you out if you needed any money,” he said.
“Get an advance on your heavenly paycheck, did you?”
Alex rolled his eyes.
“So, what are you doing here?” I wanted to know.
“Frankly, I’m worried about you being here alone.”
My waffles popped up and I slathered them with peanut butter and jelly and slapped them together, sandwich style.
“I have a gun,” I said, mouth full of peanut-buttery-waffle goodness.
“I know,” Alex said, reaching out for my peanut-butter waffle-wich. He took a big bite. “Your gun smells like grape Hubba Bubba.”
I was indignant and snatched my waffle back, then pointed at him with it.
“Look, buddy, living in the city affords me a lot of opportunities where going in packing heat would solve a lot of problems. Like parking during the Christmas season or trying to make a left turn off of Market Street. You should be thankful that I keep the gun in a safe and non-emotionally charged place.”
“And the bullets?”
“When I’m stressed, I can reach for bullets or ice cream.” I polished off the last of my waffle and licked my fingers, satisfied.
Alex scratched his chin. “I think I’ve been earthbound for way too long. That’s actually starting to make a lot of sense.”
I grinned, vindicated.
“But that doesn’t mean that I feel better about you being unprotected—frozen ammo or no.”
“I told you, I have a vampire, too.”
“And Ophelia has the hounds of Hell and an entire army of the fallen behind her. Plus her Nephilim goon squad.”
“I have a dog, now, too,” I remembered. “Nina got her for me as a lovely parting gift.” I pointed to ChaCha in the living room.
Alex looked at her, snoring away in her Nina-furnished little pink doggie bed, rhinestoned PRINCESS inscription sparkling above her splayed furry belly.
Alex looked unimpressed. “Ophelia has Cerberus and you have ...”