Page 30 of Wicked

“I was thinking that if the media ever heard about what you did, they’d make so many true crime shows about you.Escort kills client with deadly dose of Viagra and elopes with plastic man.”

I bust up laughing. “Oh, that’s too good.”

“They’d interview everybody from your hometown, and all these old ladies would be like,He was such a nice young man. We were shocked when we heard the news.”

I fall asleep to David speculating about the structure of my true crime show, safe in the knowledge that Dorian Gray is finally dead. It’s not the happily ever after I pictured with Manny, but I haven’t felt this settled and hopeful in years.

Sometimes you have to take what you can get.

9

Manny

The next morning, I leave Anne’s apartment alone.

That’s partially because it’s too early to wake her. I got more of a power nap than a full night’s sleep, and I need to let her sleep for a little while longer. But it’s also because I want to do something forbidden, given my religious beliefs: buy Candlewick a present.

Twelve years ago, I told her I didn’t need a salary for the work she wanted me to do, but she insisted on paying me and even helped me open a bank account. I insisted I didn’t want anything to do with the money she put in there other than to compensate her for my expenses like room and board. She agreed to manage the account for me, and for the first six years out of the compound, I didn’t access the funds at all except to pay Judith and a few other red wolf shifters who needed help.

Five years ago, I decided I wanted a cabin like the ones on the compound, and she helped me purchase land in upstate New York where I built the cabin myself, along with Timber and the other alphas I escaped the pits with. I know the property and materials were expensive, but Anne said I could afford them, and I didn’t question her.

It wasn’t until three years ago that Anne gave me a debit card connected to my bank account. She insisted I put it in my wallet “just in case” and said I needed to start taking care of my own finances. I told her I wanted her to stop paying me if I was making enough money that it needed to be managed. It turned into a huge fight, which is probably why she never brought it up again.

I still have that debit card in my wallet, and it doesn’t expire for another month. That means I can buy something for Candlewick before I try to convince him to take me back. I’ve seen alphas in movies buy flowers or chocolate for their omegas when they mess up. I don’t believe in materialism, but that doesn’t matter right now. I messed up with Candlewick, and I want him to know my religion isn’t going to stand in the way of our love anymore.

Or I hope it won’t. I’m still not sure about how my religion factors into all of this.

I hail a cab and tell the cabbie to take me to the nearest flower shop that’s open. He looks at me through the rearview mirror and tells me they’re all closed.

“It’s five o’clock in the morning. They might have a cheap bouquet at one of those twenty-four-hour grocery stores.”

“No.” Candlewick isn’t a twenty-four-hour grocery store bouquet kind of guy. “I need something nice for my omega.”

I love sayingmy omega. Especially because it’s true. Candlewick is my fated mate, and I finally get to be with him.

“Uh, I could take you to a pawn shop. My uncle works at a shop that has some pretty nice jewelry if you know what to look for.”

He assumes I know what to look for. I don’t even know how much jewelry costs. It could be way outside the range of what’s in my bank account.

“Do they have an ATM?” I ask. Anne told me more than once that the pin number on this card is the anniversary of when I got out of the pits: 0612. I’ve seen her check the balance on our expenses plenty of times. I could probably check the balance on my bank account from an ATM.

“Sure. Most pawn shops do. My uncle’s place is in Brooklyn. You okay with that?”

I wonder if he knows what my clothing means, and if he thinks he can take advantage of me because of it. Judith and the others have talked about situations where they were swindled out of their earnings or charged more because people thought they were fresh from the compound and easy to trick.

“Let me check with my colleague. She’s a blue blood and familiar with the area. What’s the name of the shop?” I ask.

“Sulcata Pawn Shop. Like the tortoise. We’re tortoise shifters. He’s been in business for over a hundred years. That shop’s got everything.”

I would have no idea what to pick out in a shop like that.

“What if I don’t know what to get him?”

The cabbie pulls away from the corner, unconcerned. “Well, what did you do?”

The answer to that question could take hours to explain. “I, um… left him?”

“Jewelry from a pawn shop isn’t gonna fix that problem. How ’bout I take you to Animalistic? They’re open twenty-four seven because they have shifter clients from all over the world. They sell jewelry made with magic metal and nice clothes and shoes.”

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