Page 77 of Nemesis

“I expected you to just email it,” Kade rumbles, taking it from him. He towers over Nathan. “You went old school. Paper.”

“This was cleaner,” the sheriff snaps. “Take it or leave it.”

Kade sneers. “I’ll take it. But I’m not leaving.”

“Where are you?” Reese suddenly asks in my ear.

“Shh,” I whisper to him.

He swears.

Too bad.

I take my helmet off and set it on the ground next to me. Getting closer would be stupid—but so would letting Reese distract me from their conversation.

“You’re disrupting my city,” Nathan says with a grimace. “The deal was, I give you this and you leave Sterling Falls.”

Kade inclines his chin. “I came here looking for something, and I haven’t found it yet. This is just a puzzle piece slotting into place.”

The sheriff is going to make the fucking connection. Any second now. But instead, he sticks his hands in his jeans, seemingly passive. Considering, sure, but he’s not upset about it. He’s giving Kade phone records to Reese’s mother. Reese Avery, who ApolloandAntonio have raged about in his office.

Is this the sheriff’s method of getting Reese out of Sterling Falls? He hopes Kade will take him and go?

This can’t be legal.

No, dumbass, it’s definitely not.

Kade pulls an envelope from his back pocket and tosses it to the sheriff. It’s thick, and Nathan catches it against his chest. He takes his time opening it, thumbing through what I can only assume is cash. He nods, and they go their separate ways.

The sheriff back to the railing, overlooking the waterfall, and Kade to his vehicle.

I stay where I am until it makes a swift three-point turn and disappears back down the road. The sheriff doesn’t move, but I sense his attention shifting toward me.

“Come out, come out,” he calls softly. “You make an awful tail, Artemis.”

I stiffen. I grab my helmet and hang up on Reese, then pick my way out of the brush and up to the road.

“How’d you know it was me?” I fold my arms over my chest.

“Your brother doesn’t have breasts.”

A flush heats my face.

“Besides, you were parked at the top of my street earlier today. And again when I got out of work.” His lips quirk.

I open and close my mouth, but I’ve got nothing.

I thought I was so smooth getting in and out—all for nothing.

Stupid.

What can I say? I’m not on my A game.

Months of sneaking into a Hell-Hound-controlled Olympus, making not a whisper of noise, beingperfect, has transitioned to this?

Sloppy.

“It’s okay,” he says carefully. “He has you searching for something, too, doesn’t he?”

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