Page 32 of Dark Things
He raises his eyebrows and takes a sip right over where my lips just were, and a shiver runs through me. He doesn’t look away for a moment, then screws the top back on, and our eye contact breaks.
“You’ve got a good palate. Most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.” His eyes are alight with curiosity, and I shrug.
“Live in Kentucky long enough, and you get pretty good with tasting the different notes. I’m a fan of their Indigo’s Hour, but that’s Lost Prophet.”
Haunt laughs and turns to the guys, full-on smile with crinkles next to his eyes. “Don’t let her fool you, Reb can pick out the difference in the amount of time it’s been aged. She’s like a bourbon expert.”
I slap his arm, but return the smile. He’s always teased me about being a bourbon snob. “Just cause you’d rather drink Coors than a quality liquor doesn’t mean the rest of us have to suffer.”
“Hey, Coors is theonlybeer choice. All that other shit is unnecessary. Don’t get me started on those microbrews.”
The guys laugh, and I can’t keep myself from relaxing. This is the longest I’ve been in their company in five years, and I don’t want to like it, but it feels like a part of me is complete again. I want to hate it, I do, but it’s like no time has passed.
Cat comes stumbling toward us, arm hooked into Aslyn’s. She starts to tip and Brooks manages to catch her by the elbow before they all go down to the ground.
“Yeah that’s our cue,” Haunt says, lifting me off his lap and setting me on my feet. This brings me closer to the guys, but Haunt is right behind me, crowding into my back.
“You don’t have to leave for me,” Cat slurs.
“Yeah okay, and I’m the shittiest twin in existence. We’re going home. Night, guys,” Haunt says, fist bumping the guys.
I don’t extend the goodbye, but busy myself with making sure the girls get to the truck. But just before I leave, I see the shift in Colter. I’ve caught his interest, and that’s not a good thing. He’s always loved a good mystery, and I think I’ve just become his next one.
12
Rebelle
We drop Cat off at home, pretend like we’re off to bed, and go right out of my bedroom window. This is the perfect opportunity to start getting some intel on Mario’s guys.
“Are you okay to do this still?” Haunt asks, grabbing my hand as we walk over to my bike.
“Yeah, I only had two drinks and that swig of whiskey. I’m fine,” I reply, squeezing his hand before lifting it to my mouth and kissing his knuckles.
“Tonight’s only about seeing if we can get close enough to Gino to clone his phone and then find out what he’s up to. We know he uses a burner, but Hex gave me this app that will allow us to at least get something from it.”
Hex is the guy that took over all our tech communications and hacking from the one who taught me howto access cameras. He’s around our age, a little quirky, and never says or does more than he’s required, but I’d consider him one of the good guys, if you could say any of us are like that.
I climb on the back of the bike and lean forward, wrapping my arms around Haunt’s waist. He starts the bike up, and we zip down the road heading toward the town over. Gino usually eats at a twenty-four-hour diner on Friday nights, where he gets a certain type of pie before heading back home. Hex used his credit card receipts to get that pearl of information, and tonight we’re going to see if it paid off.
Resting my head on Haunt’s shoulder, I run my hands up and down his abs, trying to soothe myself from the run in with the guys. When Aslyn asked to meet up, I didn’t think I’d be slipping and calling Brooks BK, or having them watch me dance with Haunt. Everything is so fucked up inside of me, and I’m not sure how I can navigate both plans without losing myself in the process.
I sigh and look out into the night, enjoying the breeze washing over me as we ride down the quiet country roads.
“You’re being quiet, what’s going on?” Haunt’s voice comes through the speakers in our helmets.
I click the button on the side and speak into the built-in microphone. “All good, just wanting this to all be over. It feels like we’re so close but all the missing pieces are giving me a bad feeling. Like why is Stanmaking his move now if he’s clearly already been onto where Mario is? Planning something like this had to be months in the making and we only found out about it two weeks before we left for Saratoga.”
He’s quiet for a moment, and then his deep voice comes through. “Honestly, I think we only know half the story. As much as we think Stan is a moron, he’s like a cockroach. He’s survived his own apocalypse and lived to create this massive mercenary network to get back at the people he thinks wronged him. I don’t doubt for a second that he’s always known where Mario is and what he’s doing. I just think he’s been waiting for something to happen before he jumped at the chance to take him down.”
I had a similar feeling, but these last years have been about survival for me and figuring out how to get back to Magnus. While Stan has always been a constant in my mind, he’s never been the main thing. The boogie man in the closet or the monster under the bed, sure, but never the most important thing to me. I maneuvered my life around him so that I could be safe enough to flee and take those I love with me. Mario, the Russos, and even the guys never factored into that plan.
We pull up to an old looking diner, the kind that resembles a train car, and pull around back. Haunt cuts the engine and hands me a phone.
“All you have to do is sit close enough and open the app. Once it’s running it should take care of the rest.Try not to let him see your face or get close enough to recognize what you’re doing,” he says.
“What am I, new? Jesus, Haunt, it’s not like we haven’t done missions like this a thousand times before.”
I kiss him quickly to shut him up before I walk to the front of the building. I pull the hoodie of my jacket over my head and walk in. There’s not many people here, but for this time of night it’s more than I expected.
