Page 95 of Jake Forever
"Maybe not in miles. But inside?" He shook his head. "You know what. Forget that. You wanna know what happened? I'll give you the short version."
Gently, he gripped my shoulders and turned me outward again, facing the night cityscape. "Somewhere out there," he said, "are people who like nothing more than fresh meat. And today, wanna know who the meat was?"
"Oh, stop it," I said. "I'm not meat, if that's what you're getting at." Again, I turned to face him. "And you know what? I'm getting a little tired of the lectures. We already talked about this. Can't we just drop it already?"
He gave a wry laugh. "Right."
"What's so funny?" I demanded.
"You," he said. "You want answers. But you don't wanna talk about it."
"Except you're not giving me answers," I pointed out. "You're just giving me a hard time."
"Baby,I'mnot the one you've gotta worry about." His voice grew darker, harder. "I'mnot the one who's gonna drag you into some building, make you bleed, and brag about it after."
At the ugly image, I yanked myself away. "Just stop it. You're exaggerating."
He gave that same laugh, but lower and uglier. "It's nice to think that, isn't it?"
"No," I told him. "Nothingabout this conversation is nice."
"I know. And that's my point." He leaned closer, and his voice grew quiet. "You really wanna know what happened tonight?"
From the look on his face, I suddenly wasn't so sure. Still, I made myself nod.
He leaned a fraction closer. "They're dead."
"What?" I drew back as visions of dumpsters and dead bodies flashed in my brain. "Did, uh, you—"
"No."
I stared up at him, searching his face for clues. Desperately, I wanted to believe him. "Would you tell me if you had?"
"Maybe."
I made a sound of disbelief. "Or maybe not?"
"I dunno. But it doesn't matter, because I didn't touch them." He smiled. "But that doesn't mean I wouldn't have."
"What?"
"If they'd hurt you—"
"But they didn't," I reminded him.
"And now they won't." He shrugged. "See? Problem solved."
His words were so cold, they made me shiver. "None of this is making any sense," I said, recalling what he'd told me just a few minutes earlier. "Tonight, you told me that just saw them."
"I did."
"So, did you talk to them?"
"By the time I saw them?" Jake gave a cold smile. "No point in that, considering their condition."
His words, along with that smile, made take a step backward. The implication was obvious, and it made my stomach roil. "What are you saying? You saw their bodies?"
"Eh, what was left of 'em."
