Page 22 of Cruel Games

It was as if she’d never been there in the first place. As if she were a ghost, nothing more than a figment of our imagination.

I’d almost believe it had it not been a mutual hallucination.There was no way I imagined a whole-ass girl if Coyote saw her, too, right?

When Dingo was safely tucked away in the car I’d hotwired to come pick him up, we piled in and started it up, quickly disappearing into the night, just like the strange girl had moments before.

I met his gaze across the center console as he glared in my direction, obviously displeased. “What the fuck are you looking at me like that for?”

He shook his head and turned those baleful eyes to the window, his face reflected in the smoky glass. “You froze.”

Iwhat?“Bullshit. I didn’t freeze.”

“You did.”

Of all the times for Coyote to decide to speak up,thiswas not the best opportunity. I regretted bringing him with me, even though I knew damn well moving Dingo would have been impossible alone.

Still, he didn’t have to call me out like that. I mean, shit. We all had our fucking moments, right?

“Fuck off,” I snarled, getting defensive over the perceived slight. “You’re just mad that you had to do the talking for once in your short life.”

He huffed in annoyance and crossed his arms, effectively ending our conversation. I wasn’t done, but I also didn’t like the idea of arguing with a wall.

The rest of the ride back to the Guild was a silent one. No music, no talking, not even the sound of breathing broke it. By the time I pulled into the parking garage, I wanted nothing more than to get out of the car and get the fuck out of there.

Unfortunately, it would be a colossal dick move to leave him with our very obviously incapacitated friend, who would likely wake up and need more than some asshole growling in his face.

Sighing, I resigned myself to my fate for the night and opened the door, hesitating as I spotted Bonnie and fuckingClyde coming around the corner with some of the biggest shit-eating, malicious, up-to-no-good grins on their faces that it made my skin crawl.

We were far from good people here in the Guild, but those two, I was convinced were another breed altogether. Hell, I didn’t even know what kind of fucking contracts they liked to take out. All I did know was they liked to play with their food before they ate it. It was a joke the Surgeon had let slip once at a meeting. They looked so serious at the time, it made me wonder how much of the intended joke was actually that–a joke.

Maybe theywerereally out here eating people.

More power to them, but they could stay the fuck away from me.

“Oh look, it’s tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber, Clyde. Should we stop and offer them a hand?”

Bonnie waggled her fingers at us as she hung on Clyde’s arm, taunting her favorite targets–well, okay, so to her, everyone was an equal opportunity target. But she really had it out for me and that one fucker from the Skeleton Crew–Ghoul.

I rolled my eyes and flipped her the bird, already done with this interaction as a whole. I had too much shit to deal with to be doing this right now. “Get bent, Bonnie. We’ll leave the cannibalism to you two–you can keep whatever hand you’re gnawing on these days.”

Her screech was cut off as Clyde dragged her away, kicking and screaming. It was music to my ears when the sound finally stopped.

Coyote grunted as he pulled Dingo from the car feet-first, a little too enthusiastically. Poor bloke’s head hit the concrete floor with a dullthud,and I winced on his behalf, rubbing my own scalp in sympathy.

“Fuck, wait for me, you’re gonna give the poor guy brain damage.”

Coyote’s scowl deepened, but he stopped, waiting for me tocatch up and grab our partner under the arms, shuffling casually to the elevator like we did this every fucking day, no sweat.

I mean, it wasn’t the first time, but the whole roofie thing definitely was. So there was that.

Once the fucker was securely sprawled in his bed, a bucket next to him just in case, a water on his end table, and an ice pack on his eyes, Coyote and I took up residence on the couch to discuss our next move.

Not that there was one to make, but there was work to be done, and we’d already let a target slip between our fingers once today.

There wouldn’t be a second time.

“So,” I started, my foot bouncing casually against the floor as I spoke. “We obviously have someone after us. Unless Dingo just got very unlucky and intercepted a drink meant for someone else.”

Coyote was silent but thoughtful, his brows drawn together as he threw that revelation around in his mind. I waited for a second to see if he had anything to add, but when he looked in my direction again, I realized he was waiting for me to continue.

---