Page 37 of Where There's Smoke

“This afternoon’s canceled.” I shoved my phone into my pocket. “Looks like we’re coming back up here in two weeks.”

Ranya twisted around in the passenger seat and stared at me. “Are youserious?”

I nodded. “Good thing we have a few other events while we’re up here, or I might have to bash some skulls together.”

“Wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you did it anyway.” She groaned and rested her forehead against the seat. “God. That means another flight, doesn’t it? Can’tfuckingwait.”

I gave her a sympathetic grimace. “Sorry. Par for the course for the next few months. I’ll see what I can do about making sure we’re close enough we don’t have to fly, but…”

“I’ll live.” She scowled but made a dismissive gesture. “Don’t worry about it.”

“So what do we do with the rest of the day?” Jesse asked. “Before we have to go to that dinner, anyway?”

“As far as I’m concerned,” Ranya said, “this afternoon calls for hanging out at that shithole you guys call a hotel, eating pizza, andnotcampaigning for five minutes.”

“I like that idea.” Jesse looked at me and bit his lip. “You?”

Any other day during any other campaign, hanging out in a hotel room with pizza would have been heavenly. Any other day during any other campaign, I wouldn’t have made out with the candidate who’d be hanging out in the same room.

Way to complicate things, Hunter.

Jesse muffled a cough. “Anthony?” In the rearview, his eyebrows rose again, a distinct look of panic creeping into his expression. Ranya glanced at me, at Jesse, at me again, and I wondered how much she knew.

I cleared my throat. “Yeah. Sure. Pizza. That actually sounds like a good idea.”

An hour later, there we were, sitting around in the shithole we called a hotel, eating pizza, andnotcampaigning for five minutes. I sat cross-legged between the extra-hard pillows and one of the pizza boxes. Jesse and I both had half-empty beers on the nightstand between the phone and the clock radio, and he mirrored me on the other bed. Beside him, Ranya sprawled on her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows as she ate.

“I thought you were a vegetarian.” She nodded at the slice in my hand.

“I am.” I tilted it so she could see the toppings. “If you’ll notice, there isn’t a single scrap of animal corpse to be found.”

“So you’ll eat cheese, then?”

Normally this kind of discussion irritated me, but Ranya was good-natured about it, and it meant we weren’t discussing the fact that I knew how Jesse kissed, so I didn’t mind at all. “I’m a vegetarian, not a vegan.”

“Why are you a vegetarian?” Jesse glanced at me just enough to be polite. “Ethical reasons, or…?”

I shrugged. “Just can’t stand the idea of eating meat. It’s disgusting.”

“You are aware you’re a predator, right?” She gestured at her eyes. “Forward-facing eyes? Teeth meant for cutting?”

“You’re talking to a man who buys cigarettes on his way to a health food store,” I said. “I assure you, what nature intended and what Anthony does are not always in sync.”

She picked a piece of sausage off her pizza and tossed it into her mouth. “Suit yourself. Just means more for me.”

“Have at it,” I said, chuckling.

“Has anyone ever pointed out the hilarious irony of your last name, though?” she asked.

I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Ohno. No one’s ever caught on tothat.”

She snickered, and even Jesse let himself laugh as he picked up his beer.

Adopting a ridiculously horrible Australian accent, Ranya said, “Look, it’s Anthony, the fearsome Hunter. Watch him as he prowls the produce aisle and stalks the unsuspecting bean sprouts.”

Jesse choked on his beer, and Ranya and I both burst out laughing.

Still giggling, Ranya continued, “The tofu packages are helpless to fend him off, and now he’s moving in for the kill. Look out, he’s—” She snorted and dissolved into giggles.

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