Page 31 of The Deeper Game
I sat up with the sudden sensation that I was in high school, and the cool girls were coming. Even the way they walked was cool.
The Gigis had asked me to join up with them some time ago, when they had been down a driver. It had enraged my guys to no end, but I’d been flattered as hell. I didn’t want to join their gang, but I sort of wanted to be friends with them.
“I hear you found trouble, Isis,” Macy said to me. “Some asshole leaving a bloody feather for you.”
“Bloody feather and a creepy note,” I said.
She shook her head. “That’s messed up.”
She looked at Zeus. Then Odin. Then me. Macy was looking at everybody except for Matteo. “You all rustle up any leads?”
“We’re pursuing several good avenues,” Zeus said.
She snorted. “You sound like a cop.” Finally, she eyed Matteo. “You all look pretty cozy.”
Matteo shrugged.
“Up to something?”
“You know we can’t divulge that, baby,” Matteo said.
“Don’t call me baby,” Macy snapped. “You lost that privilege.”
“I’ll stop saying it out loud then,” Matteo said, “but I won’t stop saying it in my mind. Because you’re always going to be my baby. And every time I see you, I’ll be thinking,‘Here’s the woman I love.’And I fucked up, and I get that I’m in the doghouse now, but you won’t stop me from feeling how I do.”
“Could you not make a scene?” Macy said. “I’m just here to offer Ice some assistance.”
“I’m not making a scene,” Matteo said. “But fine, if it makes you feel better for me to posture and pretend, I can do that. Because I hear what you’re asking of me, and I’m going to honor that. I’ll sit here like a hard guy. You want that? For me to be a liar with my eyes? I’ll be a liar with my eyes, fine.” He crossed his arms and got a hard look in his eyes.
Angel said, “Too little, too late.”
“I was never a liar,” Matteo said.
“Just stop.” Macy threw up a hand and addressed me again. “If you need an assist in catching this creep, we’re all over it. Look, Jenny had a stalker, and we put that guy down. This is a man’s game out here, or at least, a lot of guys think it is. I know you God Pack guys are cool, but—”
“We got it handled,” Zeus said. “But if you hear anything, or if anybody has been buzzing about Isis, we’re interested.”
“Lots of people are buzzing about Isis. What do you expect?” Macy said. “But we’ll keep our ears and eyes open.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I really appreciate that.”
“Sure,” Macy said. “It’s not Jenny’s guy, I’ll tell you that.”
Angel snorted.
Matteo grinned. “It was a motherfucking thing of beauty to behold when they caught Jenny’s stalker.”
Macy glared at him. “What happened to hard guy?”
“You know what happened to hard guy,” Matteo said.
Angel looked around the table. “You guys are coming up on a job,” she said. “I can feel it.”
Thor strolled up behind them. “Sorry, ladies, you’ll have to read about it in the paper with everyone else.”
Macy rolled her eyes as Thor shoved in and sat on the other side of Zeus. Then she turned, and the three of them walked off, fighter jet style.
I narrowed my eyes at Matteo. “Whathappenedwith you and Macy?”
