Page 52 of Killer of the Bells
“I’m sorry, Echo,” Love said. “Vale refuses to wear a tracker, so we can’t help you find him.”
My shoulders sagged, but I saluted Love’s speaker in thanks. I gave the twins a wave goodbye, but they both grabbed one of my arms.
“Stay!”
“Don’t go!”
“Wait until Vale gets back.”
“We promise not to hurt you.”
“Or let anyone else hurt you.”
“Baz is great at killing bad guys,”
“And Vix is great at being awesome.”
“Bunny, have you seen Trixie?”
That last one was courtesy of the huge Viking from the day before. He was a lot less scary up close. In fact, taking in his soft, fluffy pullover and kind eyes, I was finding it difficult to reconcile him with the version of him I’d seen before.
Baz ran to the Viking and grabbed his arm, “I haven’t seen her all day, and I’m worried!” his eyes went teary.
Paris snatched his arm back and went to Vix’s side. “Nice try, Baz, but you two look nothing alike.”
My eye twitched. They looked exactly alike. How the hell did Paris tell them apart?
Baz snapped his fingers. “I’ll get you one day, Paris.”
Vix glared daggers at his twin. “You better fucking not.” His eyes flashed in alarm to Paris. “He won’t, right?”
Paris’s eyes were gentle, and he chucked Vix’s chin. “Never. How could I not know the difference between my bunny and an imposter? There’s no one else like you in the world.”
My heart wibbled, and Vix’s must have too because he melted into Paris’s arms. Like, almost literally. His knees gave out, and Paris scooped him up like it was something they did all the time.
“Don’t bother sticking around, Echo,” Baz announced. “They won’t let us watch them fuck, so you might as well hunt down Vale and see if he’s willing to give you the D. God knows he won’t give it to me anymore. I’d call him for you, but he’s not answering his phone right now.”
I remembered my stolen phone in that moment and my decision to make someone get it back for me. Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Things were already weird enough without me doing an impromptu interpretive dance about wanting my phone back.
I waved awkwardly and left the scene of Paris and Vix vanishing into the house while Baz stared wistfully after them.
After that, I wandered the town aimlessly, hoping luck would let me run into Vale, but I found no sign of him. Eventually, I resigned myself to my failure and made my way to the church to set up traps.
I removed my old traps, both triggered and untriggered, and reset them all in a different configuration. I memorized the new layout and made my way into the bell tower. I was acutely aware of my surroundings as I worked on a new version of the trap Vale had found me tinkering with the other day, but my man was a no-show. I pouted my way through the rest of my traps and finished two hours before sunset.
When I got home, there was a huge box waiting for me from one of those fancy meal delivery services. I hadn’t ordered it, but it had my name on it, so I dragged it inside.
When I opened it, it was full of all my favorite foods. I kept checking the name on the packing order and the label on the box, but they continued to display my name. Not even my legal name, Brandon, so it couldn’t have been from a random giveaway or well-meaning acquaintance. It had to be someone I knew well. I don’t like that name, so I don’t use it. That means you don’t use it either, okay?
Okay.
So, anyway, a lot of my coworkers use my legal name even if I bust out my business card and point at my real name. My students use my real name, though, so at least I have that.
What’s up with my attachment to the name Echo? I don’t know, really. It came out of a misty and dark time where I rebirthed myself, and it feels good to hear. The person I was as a child is gone, and in his place is a person I choose to be. Does that make sense?
Well, it makes sense to me, and I’m the one using the name, so there we go.
Anyway, the name on the food package was mine, and the food was all stuff I loved, so why not eat it, right? It was one of those easy meal prep deals too, so it was going to make my life a hell of a lot easier over the next week.
