Page 112 of Dream Weaver
If only it were noon and we were at a trendy restaurant.
But we weren’t. We were alone in a strip of businesses that had all shut down for the night.
Two men filed in after Liselle, and she nodded to a third outside. I heard footsteps crunch as he took up a lookout position.
My nostrils twitched. Were those three men the cougars Cooper and I had confronted at Devil’s Bridge?
I twirled my hammer. “We’re closed. Come back tomorrow at nine.”
“We’re not here for business,” Jay shot back, looking dangerously cocky.
I glanced toward my phone, wishing I hadn’t turned it off and tucked it away in my bag.
“Now, now. I’m sure you can spare a few minutes,” Liselle cooed. “You and that lovely daughter of yours.”
My blood turned to ice, and I thanked my lucky stars Claire was safe at home.
“If she’s even here,” Jay grumbled. He stalked around, looking behind tables and yanking lockers open as if Claire might be hiding there.
“She’s not,” I growled. “Now, get out.”
“The hell I will!” Jay stomped forward but halted like a dog when Liselle snapped her fingers.
Wow. She really had him under her spell. Then I frowned. Literally?
“Step outside, Jay,” she said in a perfectly even tone.
He turned to her with glassy eyes.
“Step outside,” she repeated in a monotone.
Her mind-bending wasn’t aimed at me, but I could feel the air tingle.
“Sure thing, babe,” Jay murmured, strutting for the door like he was in charge, not her. “You call me if you need anything.”
I had the sinking feeling he was nearing the end of his shelf life when it came to being useful to Liselle. What then?
The thought sickened me, but that was his own doing. I had to think of myself and Claire.
I piqued my senses so as not to fall for Liselle’s mind-bending again. I’d been distracted when I’d visited her home, but I sure as hell was on guard now.
“What do you want?” I demanded.
“Not much. Just that brazier I ordered.”
“Well, I hate to disappoint you, but it’s not done.” And it never would be. Not by me, at least.
“I need you to make it. Now.”
I laughed, indicating the clock, then the darkness outside. “Now?”
She nodded sweetly. “Now would be perfect, thank you.”
Such a bitch, yet so polite.
“Well, we’re closed, as I said.”
“Oh, I’m sure you can manage.”
