Page 102 of Skin Deep

I put the sword down next to Simeon’s body, knowing that whoever Shepherd had arranged to come in and clean it up would dispose of it. That was a pity. I liked the sword. I might have to get one for myself.

Xion shuffled over to the empty exam table and waited for me to lay out the body bag he was supposed to be taken out in. The plan was to slip him into the back of the hearse and drive away with him in the back. I’d be meeting with Connor McCormick out in the country. He’d only given me coordinates, but I’d looked the place up and it was nothing more than a patch of dirt near an abandoned farmhouse.

I unzipped the body bag and held it open, glaring at him. “Get in.”

Xion grunted and eased onto the table without a word.

ConnorMcCormickwasaquiet man with a kind face and haunted eyes like the rest of the men in Boone’s squad. He was younger looking than most of the rest of Boone’s guys, closer in age to Xion than me.

When I arrived at the rendezvous point, Connor was there with Boone, leaning against the side of a jeep with two of the ugliest mutts I’d ever seen on heavy chain leashes. A brief stretch of grass separated the road from a corrugated metal wall. Towers of broken junk leaned on the other side of the wall, and a rusty metal sign announced the entrance to Junkyard Dogs Securities and Salvage Yard.

Boone pushed away from the Jeep, smoke rising from his lit cigarette. The way his shoulders hung around his ears made him seem even smaller than he was. “Any problems?”

“Not unless you count Xion bitching the whole way.” I came around the end of the hearse to open the rear doors.

The doors exploded open as soon as I unlocked them. With a grunt, I landed on my ass on the gravel. Xion leapt out the back and made a run for it, booking it across the field headed away from the junkyard.

“Shit!” I pushed up, intending to chase him down, but Xion already had a sizeable lead. Scowling, I turned to Boone. “Don’t just stand there. Your prize is getting away!”

Boone snorted and gave a vague gesture with two fingers. Connor bent down and let the two dogs off their leads. I jumped back to get out of the way as they tore across the gravel to run Xion down.

I frowned, watching them close the distance in seconds. “They won’t hurt him, will they?”

“Trixie and Morty?” Boone snorted. “Shit, no. Well, probably not. Depends on him. The drool’s worse than the bite. Besides, ain’t nothin’ my baby girls can do to your boy Conner here can’t fix. Ain’t that right, Bones?” He patted Connor on the shoulder hard enough that Connor stumbled forward a step.

There was a loud shout as the two hounds brought Xion down like they were trained to do it. I winced as one of the dogs let out a loud bray.

“Welp, better go get our new pup.” Boone tugged the cigarette from between his lips and touched the lit end to his tongue. It died with a sizzle and he tucked it, unfinished, behind his ear before he and Connor crossed the road at a leisurely pace. They came back a short while later, Boone dragging Xion kicking and cussing by his hair.

“Will you be okay?” I called to Boone as he shoved Xion into the back of the Jeep.

Xion tried to get up again, then howled as Boone sat on his lower back. “Get off me, motherfucker!”

Boone ignored him. His two dogs jumped up into the back, putting their massive paws on Xion to hold him down.

“Yeah, we’ll be fine. This ain’t the first wild pup to come my way,” Boone said. He waited for Conner to get into the driver’s seat before giving Xion’s ass a smack, the sound of the crack echoing. “You quit tryin’ to bite or I’ll get the muzzle, Pup.”

“Fuck you!” Xion said and chomped right down on Boone’s arm.

Boone sighed and used his other hand to gesture for Connor to start driving.

I watched them go, unease churning in my belly. This whole exchange was strange. I didn’t know why Boone wanted Xion, and part of me said I shouldn’t care. Boone was a crazy fucker, and Xion was feral. If any two assholes deserved the trouble they’d bring each other, it was those two.

But if Xander or Xavier found out, it’d be on my head.

I waited for Boone’s Jeep to disappear behind the junkyard gates before getting back in the Hearse and driving away.

After the exchange, I went back to Liar’s Corner filled with bone deep exhaustion. I couldn’t wait to tell everyone that it was over, even though they probably already knew.

When I pulled into the parking lot next to the funeral home, I was ready to go inside and sleep for a week. My fatigue lifted as soon as I saw Paxton coming out of the house with Charlie on his hip. Scarlet skipped out behind him with fresh braids in her hair and wearing one of Tatty’s dresses.

“Look!” Lettie shouted, rushing past her father to greet me. She gave a twirl, showing off the way the skirt moved when she did. “Do you like my new dress? Annie took it in a few inches for me. What do you think? Isn’t it pretty?”

My chest tightened and my heart warmed at the realization that she was waiting for my approval. “Let me look at you,” I said and squatted to put my hands on her shoulders, turning her face one way and then the other. “Are you wearing lipstick?”

Her smile faded. “You don’t like it?”

“I love it,” I said. It was what she needed to hear, even if I was unsure. How I felt about it didn’t matter nearly as much as seeing how happy it made her to hear.

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