Page 45
“She left.”
“With who?!”
“Lex,” he says.
Fuck. I get rid of one problem, and the white leech comes.
“Why does he keep chasing her?”
“I can ask you the same question,” he says and I don’t like his tone.
The Harry Potter guy tries to walk away, but I catch him by the shoulder and push him onto the bar stool beside me.
“Sit.”
He sits. I wave at the bartender for vodka shots. The man-witch looks at the blood on my hands, and I can feel his scent changing. When the shots arrive, I slide one toward him.
“No, thank you,” he refuses.
“Drink.”
He takes the shot without more protest and drinks it, grimacing like it hurts him personally. People in this city don’t know how to drink anymore. Everyone just takes drugs. I turn to the bartender to order two more, and when I look back, the stool beside me is empty.
But I can still smell him, the cigarette smoke and Tom Ford perfume.
“Do you think I’m that stupid?”
Nothing moves. I stare at the empty stool.
“Drop the mirror, or I’ll drag you out of it myself.”
The air ripples gently, like heat above asphalt, and the witch fades back into view. I push another shot toward him. His face spells resignation.
“You’re Rebecca’s boy,” I say.
“I like to think I’m more than that.”
“We all like to think that about ourselves.” I take my drink. “You and Lara. You’ve known each other long?”
“Too long.” He smirks, but the expression fades when he notices I’m not joking. “She’s like an annoying sister. The kind you want to drown one day and save the next one.”
“Does she ever smile?”
“Rarely.”
“What happened to her?” The question comes out more curious than I intended.
He doesn’t answer immediately, just turns the glass slowly between his slim fingers.
“Fucking everything,” he says with a sigh. “Everything wrong happened to her.”
I don’t know how to understand that, but I can feel the pain underneath it. He really cares about her. His eyes lift to mine.
“Do you want to add to that?” he asks, and I’m surprised by his bravery. I thought he was scared of me, like everyone. But when conversation becomes about Lara something in him hardens.
“Haven’t decided yet...” I admit. “And Lex? What does he want from her?”
The witch looks back at his vodka.
