Page 40 of Lure

Real delight lit her up and took my breath away. Right.

More magic tricks.

Chapter

Fifteen

GRACE

One day bled into the next and rather than get bored or frustrated with the tedious task of taking each morsel of information apart, Alphabet seemed to come alive with the work. He’d zero in and stay at his desk and on his comp unless one of the guys bullied him away from it.

I’d asked if I could take Goblin for another walk just the day before and that seemed to rouse him. He’d blinked at me almost blearily. The redness of his eyes coupled with the rough dark of the stubble coating his face suggested what he needed more than a walk was a nap.

With a sigh, he glanced at Goblin then at the screen. Before I could backpedal my request, he keyed in several things then checked his phone before he stood. The cracks of his joints had me wincing, but they didn’t seem to faze him in the slightest.

Goblin bounded to his feet and turned in a circle next to me without getting in Alphabet’s way. “It’s supposed to be colder out there,” he warned me. “Storms coming through. Grab a jacket?”

Even his voice was hoarse and rough. “Maybe you should take it easier,” I said. “You sound bad.”

He shrugged then shoved his hand through the disarray of his hair. Three things happened in that moment, his raised arm sent a waft of distinctlyunwashedandmuskyman in my direction. The smell of sweat wouldn’t usually bother me, but sweat laced with onions and something I couldn’t identify wasreallybad.

My nose wrinkled and I backed up a step before I even registered I was moving. He shot me a brief frown, then made a face himself before tested his own smell by raising his arm again. Oh, yeah. That was like old sweaty gym socks left in the bottom of the hamper bad.

“I can just go get that?—”

“Fuck,” Alphabet said with a scowl. “I reek.”

“I mean,” I began, fumbling for something that might be a polite response before I gave it up. “I don’t think you’re quite corpse-like yet, but it’s definitely nasty. Can’t be healthy.”

With a snort, he glanced down at Goblin. “And he definitely needs a walk. Ten minutes?”

What was I going to say?No?“Of course.”

“Thanks, Gracie.” Then he moved at a steady, if faintly limping pace out of the room. I frowned at the hitch to his gait. Maybe I should have just said no so he could get some rest.

Lunchbox stuck his head in the door not even a full minute after Alphabet and Goblin disappeared. “Good job, Gracie. A walk and some air will be good for him.”

“I hope so,” I murmured, then followed Lunchbox out to the kitchen to wait for Goblin and Alphabet. After his shower, and a shave apparently, he seemed in much better spirits. Even if his eyes were still red. He was also armed, a gun in a holster on the back of his belt.

The guys didn’t wear them in the house, butnoneof them seemed to leave without having it on them. After Mexico? Well, they wouldn’t get an argument from me. We walked for over anhour, lingering until the first spits of rain hit us and then a little longer.

By the time we got back to the house, dinner was ready and dark swept in soon after. I didn’t think the sun had gone down but the pitch dark nature of the storm clouds made the night come early. Rumbles of thunder rolled over the house while we ate. It wasn’t long before I excused myself to sleep.

Even after the walk, I wasn’t that hungry. The rain came down in sheets and I watched it out the windows as lightning flashed. With the lights out, I could almost pretend I was somewhere else entirely. Eventually, I curled up in the bed and listened to the storm. Sleep eventually swallowed me.

Following the debrief, the guys had fallen into a routine. Alphabet seemed permanently attached to his computer. But I might try to get him out for another walk today. Lunchbox started every day with a fresh loaf of bread. He smoked a brisket one day. On another he cooked up a batch of savory chili.

Voodoo spent more nights in my room than he spent away. Even if he wasn’t there when I went to sleep, I’d snap awake between one and two in the morning and there he’d be. More than once, he’d just been murmuring to me and wiping away tears I hadn’t even been aware of shedding.

Then there was Boney Boy.

I had no fucking clue what he was doing or where he was, but he didn’t bug me and I didn’t go looking for him. The problem with the passage of time was, I seemed to be losing track. I had no idea how many days it had been since I’d been rescued from the truck or we’d gone to my apartment or after we got back from Mexico.

Worse, I had no idea how long it had been since the last time I saw Amorette. My gaze tracked to the photo on the dresser. I looked at it every morning and every night. Still, she felt a million miles away. Blowing out a breath, I made myself turnaway. Voodoo wasn’t in my room, but I could see from where he’d moved one of the chairs and the blanket there that he’d likely slept there with his feet up.

It surprised me that he hadn’t asked about sleeping in the bed. Despite me mentioning it during one of the times he was soothing me, he’d merely pressed a kiss to my forehead and told me to sleep. He would be right there. His staying wasn’t about sex either, cause we weren’t having any.

A part of me regretted that. The night we’d had at the hotel had been both desperate and… No there was no “and” about it. I’d been desperate to feel anything beyond what I’d been experiencing then. Voodoo had made it all go away.

---