Page 55 of Poison Ivy
I snort into my tea. I couldn’t love him more. “Okay,” I say after a scalding sip. “Let me get dressed, and we can?—”
“Now,” Ramsey says and marches out.
Tate raises an eyebrow at his abrupt exit. “Wow. Okay. Guess he is not a morning person.”
“You havenoidea,” Josh says. “Anyway, Tate Blackwell. How about we get to know each other while these two go nerd it up?”
I throw Tate an apologetic smile and he grins back before settling down across from Josh at the kitchen island. “Sure. Not much to tell on my end. How about you?”
It’s like he knows his audience. Josh will talk about himself all day, every day. Not in a self-centred way, just in a he loves to talk way.
I follow Ramsey up the stairs and find him in his bedroom. I slip in and close the door. “What is so urgent?”
“Massive cat amongst the pigeons. Like panther size.”
“Give it to me, then. What’s the situation?” I take it like a pro because I know whatever it is, I can’t change it, so I might as well just get on with it.
“A hit has been put out on Walcott Ashford.”
I blink. “Yes, I know.”
“No,” he says like I’m slow. “Another one.”
I snicker. “Wow, he is not well liked, is he?”
Ramsey tries to keep a straight face, but I can see the hint of a smile. “Regardless, we now have a problem. Your timeline has been moved up.”
As his words sink in, my heart hits my feet and wooshes back up again. “Oh, fuck, no. Seriously? They gave it to me! So, this is a what? One dead vampire but two payments scenario? God, they are… they are…” I slam my mug down, sloshing tea everywhere so I can run my hands through my hair.
“Fuck,” I mutter, pacing Ramsey’s room. “How much time do I have?”
“Twenty-four to eliminate the target.”
I sink onto Ramsey’s bed, my mind racing. “That’s not enough time. I need more intel, more prep...”
“It’s not all bad. Your first assignment wasinfiltrating the Coven. Seems he isn’t with the Coven. He has run. He is solo.”
“He’s on his own?” Okay, that makes things a hundred per cent easier.
“Yeah. They’re tracking him down. Stand by.”
“Well, they’d better hurry the fuck up if they’ve given me twenty-four hours but don’t even know where the fuck he is yet!”
“I know,” Ramsey says. “But don’t worry. You know they will find him.”
“Yeah, and then I have to kill Torin’s dad.”
“I’d start thinking how if I were you. He won’t be easy to take down. I would imagine he is isolated, so you should be fine with an up close and personal weapon choice.”
I nod, taking that in. The kill isn’t the problem. It’s getting close enough to him to do it. If he is on the run, it probably means he thinks someone is after him, which means he will have his guard up. “Okay, I’m on it. But now I have to get ready for lectures. As soon as you know, I mean it, Rams, thesecondyou know. Text me or whatever, okay?”
“Of course,” he says and watches me pick up my tea and leave his room, my mind racing.
Bumping into Tate in the hallway, startles me. I’d totally forgotten he was even here. “Hey!” I say loudly. “You okay?”
“Yep. You?” His gaze bores into mine.
“Fine, fine. Have you got an early class?”
