Page 47 of Protector

So, I waited patiently for him to reappear, and he didn’t disappoint. Once, he’d even gone as far as waving to me before disappearing.

The breath burst from my lungs, and I jumped at the sound of loud tapping against my window. Fighting against every one of my instincts, I slowly turned to face him.

Manny lifted his fingers to his mouth and blew me a kiss with a wide grin before walking away.

“Was that him?” Molly whispered through the phone.

I gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles were white. “Y-yeah. That was him.”

“What’s he wearing today?”

Glancing at the side mirror, I replied, “Gray hoodie. Same as yesterday… and the day before that. He should be headed right toward you.”

I was convinced that Manny had scoured the school grounds for bikes and leather vests, yet he seemed to miss the bright red Chevy Cavalier that trailed a few cars behind his every day.

Initially, I’d wanted to be the one to follow him, but I had Dakota with me. Plus, he knew what I drove. It was better for him to think that I was weak and afraid.

Molly had insisted that she could use her own car, but knowing how dangerous the men were, I’d pulled my old car out of storage and had her snag some spare license plates from Bear’s body shop. There was nothing on that car that could be traced back to either of us.

There were a few seconds of tense silence before she excitedly exclaimed, “Got him! He’s getting into the same black sedan as before. Am I following him again? If so, you’re gonna have to get Little Ricky to jiu-jitsu.”

Dakota hitched her backpack up onto her shoulder when she saw me and began making her way over.

I grinned and waved to her before looking down at the phone. “Just make sure he goes back to the motel and then meet me at the house. I’m ending this tonight.”

“Tonight?” She all but screeched. “We’re not re—”

I ended the call just as the back door opened and Dakota climbed in.

“Hey, baby girl. How was school?”

She pushed her glasses up onto the bridge of her nose and leaned forward in her seat. “What’s wrong? Why are you smiling like that?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Can’t I just be happy to see my Kota-Bear?”

“Don’t call me that. I’m not a baby,” she protested with a frown as she buckled. “And you don’t look happy. Just crazy—like Hela.”

“Who’s Hela?” I asked, checking the rearview mirror for any signs of Manny. My fingers itched to dial Molly for an update, but the last thing Dakota needed was a reason to worry. She and Kate managed just fine on their own.

“Hela, Mama.” At my blank stare, she rolled her eyes and sighed, “We’ve been over this like a hundred times. Have you never picked up one of Daddy’s old comics and flipped through? She’s only the goddess of death and one of Thor’s biggest enemies.”

I stopped at a red light and turned to face her. “She’s what?”

“Thor’s biggest enemy? Well, not as much as Loki, but she still causes—”

“No,” I interrupted. “The one before that.”

Dakota’s blue eyes momentarily widened in confusion until she realized that I was genuinely curious about her favorite subject. Then, the corners of her mouth turned up in a big grin. “The goddess of death part? Yeah, that’s pretty cool, right?”

“So cool.” I turned back to face the road with a wince, needing a cigarette like I needed my next breath. She looked so much like her daddy at that moment that it took my breath away.

She went quiet again, so I prodded. “Goddess of death has a nice ring to it…”

“I mean, it’s neat except for the minor issue of her helping Loki bring about the events of Ragnarok. Did you know that she built her ship, Naflgar, out of the fingernails of the dead?”

Jamie would’ve lived for conversations like this, where I felt like she was speaking a different language.

“Fingernails? Okay, that’s it, I’ve changed my mind. I was all set to become the goddess of death and defeat Thor, but I’m not doing arts and crafts with fingernails. That’s where I draw the line,” I said with a laugh, feeling lighter than I had in years.

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