Page 36 of Warrior

“But…” Gabriel sighs. “Kade being there means our meetings have to stop.”

“No,” I blurt out. I want to snatch the word back as soon as it’s spoken aloud. I should bethrilledthat I can’t get drugs anymore. I mean—besides the syringe currently in my jacket pocket.

He beams. “I knew you liked me.”

“I don’t,” I grit out.

“Boo.” He sighs. “I mean, truthfully? Heroin is expensive. I’m afraid I created a freeloader in you, Artemis. What would your father say?”

I don’t react.

Can’t.

I once told him about my parents in confidence. How my father first sold Apollo to the Hell Hounds to cover his debt, and later me into Terror when he couldn’t climb his own way out of the hole.

And now it’s being thrown in my face.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Gabriel breathes. “It was just a harmless, tiny little question. Honestly. You didn’t end up wherewedid?—”

That’s it.

I knew there was a reason.

“I didn’t pay for drugs any more than you have. Well, I didn’t pay in cash.” He waves me off. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not going to whore you out. The kind of work I’m thinking of goes in a different direction.”

Invisible ropes tighten around my throat.

“You’re bribing me?”

He gasps. “What?No. Bribery is so…crude. You’re already addicted, aren’t you? A baby druggie hiding her sins from those closest to her. You’re doing this because youneedit, not because you want it. What do you call that?”

“Under duress?”

Gabriel snaps his fingers. “You can tell that to the sheriff if he ever catches wind of us.”

“There’s nous,” I snap.

“Sure.” He nods sagely, then springs forward. Quick as a whip, he has the syringe from my pocket in his possession. I reach for it, but he blocks me. “This godlike feeling is a rush. I giveth, I taketh away.”

Those ropes tighten until I can barely breathe. I reach for him, snarling, and he just dances away. My stomach screams when I lunge, and I stumble across the open floor. He dodges, twists. Twirls.

Taps me on the shoulder.

Pointless. In this condition.

Stopping, my shoulder stooping, I take a breath.

Then another, while my brain convinces my body to be rational.

To not do exactly what he wants me to do.

“There.” He strokes my hair. “Sit here for a moment.”

I sit at the desk. Stare at the monitor, which illuminates under Gabriel’s quick shake of the mouse.

A bar for a password pops up. I stare at it, my brow furrowed, while Gabriel undoes my jacket and maneuvers my arm out.

“Contemplate that, would you?” He hums. “Best guess. You succeed, you get this.”

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