Page 31 of Bone’s Choice

The first drag burned into my lungs, and I blew the smoke toward the side of the road.

Whoever had sent that coffin had gone through a lot of fucking trouble. They wanted us to find him.

I just didn’t know why.

The light turned green and I took off.

Marshfield moved around me as I rode.

Restaurants.

Gas stations.

Stores.

People going about their day like there wasn’t a rotting corpse sitting in a back room on Grave Prowlers property.

Normal shit.

My eyes moved automatically as I went.

Cars. People. Parking lots. Side streets. I wasn’t looking for anything specific. It was a habit. You spent enough years in my world; you learned to pay attention.

I passed a couple restaurants, then Bing’s Billiards and Bar came into view.

The place had been there forever. Pool tables, cheap beer, and decent burgers. A crowd that could be perfectly fine at five in the afternoon and turn into a bunch of drunk assholes by midnight.

I was almost past it when the front door opened and a woman stepped out.

Hazel.

Well, fuck. She walked across the parking lot toward the SUV I’d noticed missing from her driveway. I kept riding for about three seconds and then I slowed.

What the fuck was she doing at Bing’s in the middle of the afternoon? Not my business.

I reached the next crossroad and slowed. Then I turned around.

I didn’t even think about it until I was already heading back. “The fuck am I doing?”

Apparently, I was going to find out what Hazel was doing at Bing’s. Made perfect fucking sense.

I pulled into the parking lot just as she reached her SUV.

Hazel heard the bike and turned. She stopped with her hand on the driver’s door. I rolled in behind her SUV and parked close enough that she wasn’t going anywhere unless I moved.

The engine died and Hazel stared at me.

I took another drag from my cigarette.

She put one hand on her hip, then lifted the other over her eyes to block the sun.

Even with my sunglasses between us, there was something about the way she looked at me that hit low in my stomach.

Interested. Maybe a little amused.

I liked it.

“What are you doing?” she called.