Hard Bitten - Chloe Neill [117]
“Really, Bob? Really?” asked the woman. “You think the best course of action is to spend an entire week’s salary on food tickets? That’s what you think? Because you want to eat gyros and fried cheesecake for the rest of the week? Not that I should be surprised. It’s just the kind of harebrained thing you’d do.”
“Oh, yeah, Sharon. Lay it on. Lay it on thick. Right here in public where everybody can see!” The man, who was only a couple of feet from me, lifted his arms and moved in a circle. “Did anyone not hear my lovely wife berating me? Anyone?”
The people around us chuckled nervously, not sure whether they should step in and put an end to the dramatics, or ignore them.
I had the same question—until the man made the full turn and I could see the red T-shirt beneath his thin jacket. MIDNIGHT HIGH SCHOOL was written in faded white letters across the front. These were my RG helpers.
The guy winked at me, then stepped directly between me and McKetrick. “I mean, really, sir, is this the kind of behavior you’d expect from your wife? What happened to ‘for better or worse’ and all that?”
The woman stepped up and poked a finger into the guy’s chest. “Oh, just another thing for you to criticize me about, huh, Bob? I’m shocked. Really shocked. I should have listened to my mother, you know!”
“Oh, yeah, Sharon. Bring your mother into this. Your poor, woebegone mother!”
A crowd began to gather around the couple, creating a thicker human barrier that put more space between McKetrick and me. Two security guards also ambled over, adding two more humans—and two more weapons—to the fray.
I got while the getting was good.
I found the Town booth and camped beside it, but fifteen minutes, and then half an hour, passed with no action. I cursed McKetrick, positive that he’d scared Celina away.
For the twentieth time, I stood on tiptoes to get a better look at the grounds, nearly falling over when a dark-haired woman nudged past me.
Absently, I watched her dark ponytail bob as she walked, but it wasn’t until she was nearly gone that I felt the tingle of magic in the air. I hadn’t recognized her—and wouldn’t have, but for the power that lingered behind her. My heart began to thud with anticipation.
Before she could escape, I grabbed her wrist.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS
Celina slowly turned to face me. She wore a one-piece, royal blue jumper with ankle boots, her hair in a ponytail. Her eyes widened in apparent shock.
Okay, now I was confused. Why did she look surprised to see me?
Her arm still in my hand, she moved a step closer. “If you’re smart, child, you’ll let go of my hand while you still have yours to use.”
“I was told you wanted to meet me,” I informed her. “By a mutual friend.”
Almost instantaneously, her expression changed. Her eyes narrowed, her nostrils flared, and her magic rose in an angry, peppery cloud. The humans still moved past with fair food and plastic cups of beer in hand, completely oblivious to the magical reactor who was throwing off enough power to light the Loop.
“That little shit,” she muttered, followed by a few choice curses.
I assumed she meant Paulie, but if she hadn’t been expecting me . . .
“Who did you think you were meeting?”
Her expression went haughty. “As you are well aware, and as the GP has reminded you, my life is none of your concern.”
“Chicago is my concern. Cadogan House is my concern.”
She scoffed. “You’re a vampire in a fourth-rate House. And sleeping with its Master isn’t exactly a coup.”
I resisted the urge to do the nail raking and hair pulling I’d complained about only a few days ago. Instead, I gave back the same pretentious look she gave me. It wasn’t that I was naïve about Celina or her power—or the damage she could do to me. But I was tired of being afraid. And if the GP was going to act like she wasn’t a threat, then I was, too.
“My life is none of your concern, either,” I countered.