Page 50 of Found Objects

“True,” Kim agreed. “Though her pop-up menu items are better than yours.”

“They’re disgusting,” I assured her. “No one needs to eat peanut butter and jelly pancakes or marshmallow and fudge swirl pancakes. It’s too much sugar.”

“I have no idea why you hate sugar,” Lupe said. “And the cinnamon sugar praline and pecan pancakes were amazing.”

“I think I’m gonna be sick.”

“Maybe, since you have tonight off, you drive to Lewisburg and get laid,” Gaia suggested, waggling her eyebrows at me.

“Whose car am I taking?” I deadpanned.

“Yeah, that’s another thing,” Dakota chimed in. “You need a car. It’s time. I feel like a sports car is the way to go.”

“Because that’s such a good choice for the snow.”

“I always imagine him on a motorcycle.” Evie grinned.

“Also an excellent choice for the snow.” I hoped they could hear the sarcasm.

“You know what? Who cares?” Gaia told me. “You just need something reliable to get you to and from Lewisburg.”

I shook my head and started for the kitchen.

“You’re too pretty to be celibate,” Lupe called after me.

Everyone in my restaurant laughed, but I kept walking, hoping that little interlude wouldn’t show up in a Yelp review.

I ended up going home around lunch. They didn’t need me, and I’d realized lately that soon I was going to need another challenge, something new to focus my energy on. I just had to figure out what that would be.

I took the long way home, walking down the side of the road because every now and then people dumped dogs around there, although not as often as in a lot of other places. Thankfully, there were none, and I was about to make the turn up my drive when a familiar SUV slowed down beside me. I didn’t look around immediately; I waited until I heard the window roll down.

“Yes? Something I can do for you?” I asked Reggie, who was driving.

“That’s an awfully cold greeting.”

I kept walking.

He revved the engine and drove ahead of me before turning into my drive and parking.

“What do you want?”

He cleared his throat. “Abel was livid when the cops showed up because he thought you had betrayed us and buried one of the bodies from Friday night on our land.”

I let that sink in for a moment instead of exploding. After everything I’d done for his pack that night, that was the first thing Abel had thought of me?

“I want you to know that Cole was certain that wasn’t the case. Same as me, same as Fletcher. And every parent in the pack was adamant that you wouldn’t do that as well. You saved their kids so, you know, you’re forever golden in their eyes.”

“Also,” I said irritably, “when would I have had time to do that?”

“I know!”

“In the middle of the night or something? Me? Alone?”

“Fuck, Merritt, I know, all right?”

I walked over to the SUV, grabbed hold of the window frame, and stared at him. “I would think that the officers who were out there with me on Saturday might have noticed a freshly dug grave. What do you think?”

“For fuck’s sake, I already told you I knew better.”