Page 39 of Wonder
Tucker:
Well, if it’s for a good cause. 2345
Me:
[eye roll emoji] I’ll get him to change it to something more secure.
Tucker:
Yeah, good luck with that
Reno had fifty-four text messages, so I dealt with those first. I did tell everyone I responded to who I was, so Reno would know I wasn’t pretending to be him. The messages were mostly wanting reassurances regarding the escaped vampires, but there were a few others. One person’s child needed to learn to drive but they didn’t own a car, one woman wanted to tell her boyfriend about the campaign, and a wolverine shifter couple were planning to move to Corpus Christi and wanted to know where the Wonder-friendly neighborhoods were. For each of those I created a group chat with my own phone, muted the notifications for it on Reno’s, and responded that I would ask Reno and get back to them as soon as the danger from the escaped vampires had passed.
Once that was done, I opened his Discord app. From my own phone I requested to join the South Texas District server, and on Reno’s app I gave myself admin rights. Then I started with his direct messages. He had well over a hundred. This would take a while.
When the movie was over, I carried Nicky to the bathroom and then settled him on the sofa again with a pillow and a blanket. Jackson curled up next to him in their panther form. Reno had woken up during this process, so I didn’t have an excuse to touchhim and see his sleepy eyes open. On his way to bed he picked his phone up off the kitchen table where I’d left it.
The next morning I was awake before everyone else. I did a brief yoga session in the backyard, pretending I didn’t see the Hunter camouflaged in the corner. They’d been switching teams out every four hours or so, which, if they had the people to do it, was an optimal amount of time to make sure everyone was fresh and alert.
Nicky was awake when I went back inside. He held onto me as I helped him to the bathroom, but he was able to lift his feet off the floor as he walked. His magic was replenishing itself and healing his body a tiny bit at a time.
When we came back out, Reno was standing next to the coffee maker. He glared at me as I got Nicky to the table. Would he yell at me in front of Nicky or not?
I was calculating the odds when he spoke. His tone was stiff but calm. “Simon, you went into my phone last night without permission.”
“Yep.” I threw him a wink. “Nicky, do you want coffee?” Jackson’s furry head popped up from the sofa. They loved coffee.
Nicky, tired from his trek from the sofa to the bathroom and then the table, brightened. “Yes, please. I’ve never had it before, but everyone on TV is always drinking it.”
This had the intended effect. “What? You can’t—coffee isn’t nutritious, Nicky. It’s not good for you while you’re still recovering.” Reno waved his mug around while he sputtered.
I patted his shoulder as I nudged him aside to get a mug for Nicky and a bowl for Jackson. “I’ll put a lot of milk and sugar in it. It’ll be fine. If he doesn’t like it, I’ll make hot chocolate.”
Nicky beamed. “I like almost anything, but hot chocolate is the best.”
Grumbling, Reno bent down to get a pan from a lower cabinet. I stopped with my hand on the handle of the coffee pot. How had I not remembered to admire Reno’s ass until now? This was a tragedy I needed to spend the next hundred years rectifying. He was wearing shiny black basketball shorts, and they draped lovingly over his buttocks. I couldn’t see any outline of briefs, so he was either wearing something like boxer briefs, or he was commando.Thatwas not an image I needed in my mind while I was standing in the middle of the kitchen. I got my eyes back under control and finished making the coffee.
Reno made pancakes, which Nicky adored, particularly because he’d seen characters on TV eating them. He liked the bacon but wasn’t sold on scrambled eggs. “When I was a child we had them all in one piece? Can I have them that way?” Reno promised to try that tomorrow.
When everyone was done eating, Reno cleared his throat. “I didn’t have a vision last night. Cal’s feeling better, and he’ll try to call a vision today, but with him so far away I’m not confident he’ll see anything.”
Nicky set his coffee cup down and pushed it away. “So, what? If Cal doesn’t have a vision, we just wait for the vampires to find us?” His voice rose with each word.
Reno pressed his lips together, then gave a half-shrug. “I’m sorry, Nicky. We don’t have a lot of options until we get a clue as to their whereabouts.”
Nicky’s face went even paler. “You mean until they attack someone else.”
Reno made a face but shrugged. “I hope it doesn’t come to that, but it might.” He rubbed his forehead. “Okay, since we can’t do anything to find the escaped vampires this morning, I do have something Simon and I need to work on.” He explained about the gargoyle costume. “We need to go check out this guy’s apartment and see if we can find anything to tell us what he’s using that costume for.”
“You mean like Grace Kelly going into the apartment across the courtyard to look for evidence inRear Window?” Nicky’s worried expression wasn’t much of an improvement over the frightened one he’d worn a few minutes ago. “Are you sure you won’t get caught?”
I was about to respond when Jackson cut in. “I will go. No one will see us.”
I smiled. “Thank you. That’ll be very helpful.” With Jackson there, we could take our time.
“Hold it.” Uh oh. Reno was mad again. “Somebody needs to stay with Nicky, and I’m the one with the private investigator license.”
I raised my eyebrows at Nicky. “Wanna break into an apartment? I’ll carry you on my back and you can help search for clues.” And it might distract him from thinking about Marcas and Roibeart.
