Page 119 of Passion and Payback

A shaggy head of hair popped around the corner. “Hey, uh, Hunter?”

I glanced at Rich. “What?”

“We have a small problem.”

“If this is about you still not finding the perfect cup of coffee for Kai, I’m not helping you.”

“Aww, I know damn well you made him something that made him happy.”

That was true, but I tried very hard not to think too hard about that night, content to let it sink to the recesses of my mind where it could sit in obscurity. That was the second worst nightof my adult life, and it deserved to be shelved with the rest. But I couldn’t tell Rich that since it would involve some key details, including all the bodies I had to deal with and how I barely remembered what I’d done with the coffee that night.

“Maybe he just enjoyed it because I made it,” I said, setting my hand on a box. “Thankfully, that's something you’ll never be able to replicate.”

“Ugh,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “Love.”

“And sex.”

“Gross.”

“What did you really need?”

“That woman is back.”

“Which one?”

“The orange cat lover.”

“Oh God,” I groaned, rubbing my face. “How many times do I have to tell her?”

“I don’t want to throw around accusations, but uh, I’m pretty sure she’s keeping an eye on all of us, waiting for a moment to make her move.”

As much as I loved what I did, sometimes dealing with the public was the most tiresome thing. It made me want to hang up my hat and manage from the back—hire a floor manager and hide from the world so I didn’t have to deal with anyone. Then again, that would be a problem since I was supposed to be the face of the café. That meant I had a well-loved reputation; if needed, it could serve me if someone came sniffing around.

Sometimes I didn’t know if I should love or hate that my actual job was a damn fine cover for my second job.

“I’ll talk to her. Just keep an eye on her until I get there,” I told him with a roll of my eyes. “Apparently, talking it out doesn’t seem to be working. I’ll have to come up with something else.”

“Fine, fine,” he said with a heavy sigh and returned to the front counter.

Thankfully, the delivery was for toys and new beds, and all I needed to do was take the two heavy boxes of food and put them in the back storage. I could leave them on the floor, but that just invited the more ambitious and gluttonous cats to chew through the cardboard to get into the bags. I’d dealt with that a few times but didn’t want to go through it again.

With a sigh, I peered through the door leading out to the floor. The café was as busy as ever during the lunch period. I watched people milling around, some enjoying coffee while others were preoccupied with the cats and busy trying to coax one or more of them closer for pets or treats. Stepping out, I scanned the room as I always did when I came back in and found nothing out of place.

I had always done it, even before everything in my life had taken an abrupt turn. Now, it came with the added need from a year of training. I had to give Zeke credit. He put together an effective training plan. Of course, that training had pushed me physically. It was a good thing I’d spent the two years before staying in shape with a strict program otherwise, I would have been hurting.

The rest had all been mental, some just learning, and some for the required stamina and strength. Unsurprisingly, Kai had become better at getting around quietly and figuring out ways to get where we weren’t supposed to. I was better at being the ‘face’ of our duo, and while he wasn’t prone to giving compliments, Zeke seemed pleased whenever I had to talk my way into something. We’d had to learn a lot: how to get through locks and security systems, maneuver around computers, and dozens of other things.

The only thing left was ‘interrogation resistance’ training. Which left a few gruesome and unhappy images in my head, but that was a problem for another day.

My eyes settled on the small shelf behind the counter before I stepped out to deal with the problem on the floor. It was a picture of Brooke smiling in that warm yet sarcastic way she had, her brow quirked as if she had something funny or witty to say. She had joined Lucas in the halls of my memories, of people I had lost to monsters in the world that I couldn’t save.

Rich, Arwen, and I had agreed to put it up behind the desk to remember the woman who’d been a vital part of the café and adoptions. As far as anyone was concerned, the police included, Kai and I had gone to stay at a little bungalow at the edge of Port Dale. She’d come in early and found the people who’d cut the security system and broken in. The result was her having either fled or been carried upstairs into my apartment, where she’d been murdered before they made off with a few thousand dollars in cash and some of my things.

I hoped wherever she was, she forgave me for the lie and that the tears I shed while the police were there after I’d ‘found’ her body were as genuine as they could be. I still mourned her, and while he didn’t talk about it, I knew Kai did as well. They might not have ever been a serious thing, but they’d always cared about each other in their own strange way.

“See?” Rich hissed beside me, yanking me out of my thoughts and bringing my attention back to the floor. And sure enough, there was that damned woman. She was insistent that she should be able to adopt Clem and, from the looks of it, was trying to fit him into her oversized shoulder bag.

“Alright,” I said, opening the counter and stepping out, my voice loud enough to catch attention. “Susan put Clem down. He is a permanent resident here. And if you try taking him, Iwillpress charges.”

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