Page 27 of Stubborn as a Shadow

“Fuck. I hadn’t thought of that,” Violet muttered. “No, Gary. Give me a minute.”

I froze. “Gary’s there?”

“Hey, little dude, how’s it hanging?” Gary’s voice slithered over the connection.

Gary was maybe half an inch taller than me. I was hardly a little dude compared to him. He called me that to irritate me. And it worked, every single time.

“Gary, let me talk to Morgan for a minute.”

Some muffled noises came through the receiver, but I couldn’t make out what was being said. Violet must have covered the receiver with her hand.

“Okay,” she said a few seconds later. “Gary’s getting me a glass of water. Now talk. What did you say a second ago? Did you say there were guards after you?”

“Why is Gary there?”

I didn’t trust him. Whenever he was around, I felt itchy, and I didn’t think it was because he was a carrier of some kind of contagion. He was a liar. And although he didn’t seem it, he was smart enough to weave in enough truth that I couldn’t quite tell what he was lying about.

It was like his whole existence was a lie.

Of course, Violet wouldn’t accept my itchiness as proof of his being an asshole. But at least they’d broken up when I was kidnapped. I thought he was gone for good when she rejected his overtures to get back together in the months since I’d returned. But he hadn’t given up, and his persistence was paying off, apparently. His being there now worried me.

I hated worrying. Ergo, I hated Gary.

“He showed up with some Chinese food. It smelled good, and I was hungry. Sue me.” I could easily imagine Violet shrugging. “Now answer me. What was that about the guards? Are they coming for you?”

“Not me specifically.” I shook my head, then remembered she couldn’t see. My words skated around the truth but came close enough to a lie that I felt like I was wearing a wool sweater. I scratched my shoulder. Hopefully that would go away soon. “A super amazing shadow guy swept in and saved me. If he hadn’t, they would have found me in a supply closet.”

Oh, the supply closet.

That’d been fun.

I had rather liked being pressed between Nelson and the wall in the dark. And now that I knew Nelson was for sure one of the good guys, perhaps we should try doing that all again. You know, to practice in case more bad guys showed up.

And while we were doing that, we could maybe kiss too. No. Not maybe. We should definitely kiss.

A little giggle fluttered out of me. A bubble flew out of my mouth. Oops. I swatted it out of the air.

“Mo-Mo, are you okay? Are you laughing? Remember how we practiced control. You can’t laugh there…”

“I know…” I sighed and picked at the corded trim on my cloak. “I swear I’ve been really good, V. No laughing in public. No thank you’s. No smiles. No shimmies.”

“Should we kill the mission?”

“No!” I shouted. “This is it, V. I can feel it. I’m going to find the artifact. It’s like I can feel its energy or something.”

Nelson shoved his phone into his pocket and paced to the window. He opened the curtain just enough to peer through a narrow gap and stare out at the dark landscape beyond. His back was to me, and I took a moment to admire how attractive he was from this side. Let’s face it, he was attractive fromallsides.

And although I was all for cloaks making a comeback in fashion, I was happy he wasn’t wearing one. If he had been, I wouldn’t have seen the way his black jeans wrapped around his assets so nicely. His form-fitting long-sleeved black sweater made his back look as good as his bottom.

“Mo-Mo,” Violet whispered. “This is dangerous. Before the cameras were cut, I watched everyone arrive. The place is filled with terrible people.”

“Which is why it’s great to have a sidekick now,” I said. “I’m not leaving, V. Not yet.”

“Fine. But if you can’t wear your earpiece around the hotel, I want you to check in every hour and let me know what’s going on.”

“Will do!” I smiled. There. She’d agreed to my plan. That’s all I needed. “Love you! M’kay. Talk soon! Until then, I’m wishing you moonbeams and sparkles.”

I tugged the earpiece out and turned it off before she could change her mind.