Page 24 of In the Monster's Wake
“Which is why I’m offering to bait him.We can catch him that way.”
“Or you could become his latest victim.I’m not putting you in danger that way.”
“You’re not the one who decides whether or not I should put myself in danger.I’m offering.I’ve done this before, and I know what I’m doing.”
“This is better than a movie,” Braith muttered.
Both Archibald and Jasper turned to look at him.He didn’t seem to care.He gestured at them to continue talking, but Archibald couldn’t do it with his best friend watching him.
“Come on,” Braith complained.“It was just starting to get interesting.The sexual tension between the two of you is explosive.I wouldn’t want to be around when it finally comes to a conclusion.”
Archibald was going to strangle his best friend, and no one would blame him because anyone would want to do the same in his place.“Can we focus on the reason we’re here?”
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m here to watch the two of you.”
“Stop being an asshole.”
“I’m not.I’m trying to help you get in his pants.”
Archibald snorted.As if whatever Braith had been doing would work.“Why would he let you convince him to sleep with me?Besides, I don’t need you to do that.I don’t need help sleeping with people.”
Jasper made a strangled sound.It reminded Archibald that Jasper wasn’t used to the banter between him and Braith.He was going to have to learn to deal with it quickly if he was going to work with them, but it could be pretty weird initially.
“Don’t worry about Braith,” Archibald quickly said.
“I’m not worried about him.I know he’s joking.”
“He’s not.”
Jasper’s cheeks turned red.“I’m sorry?”
“Well,he’sprobably joking about helping me get into your pants, but I do want to get there eventually.”
Jasper spluttered.“You can’t say that.”
“Why not?”
“Because you can’t.It’s not nice to lie to people.”
“Why would I lie about that?I thought the kiss at the club would’ve made it obvious.”
“You kissed me to get me to stop fighting you.”
“I could’ve done that in many different ways that didn’t involve kissing you.I kissed you because I thought you were hot.I still think you’re hot.”
For a moment, Jasper looked like his head might explode.He eventually cleared his throat and squared his shoulders, and when he opened his mouth, Archibald was dismayed to realize he’d decided to move on and ignore the fact that Archibald wanted him.
“We’re not a hundred percent sure that Kester is the monster who followed me in the club, though,” he said.
They were here to work, so Archibald followed Jasper’s lead and tried to focus on that.“I don’t think it matters.If that monster wasn’t Kester, he probably wasn’t dangerous.Hell, maybe that monster just needed to use the bathroom or something like that.The reason I followed him was because I was worried he was about to kill a human in the bathroom.”
Jasper nodded.“I agree.So, we have a name and a description.What do we do next?”
“We need to find him, which means we need to talk to people.”The more information they could find on Kester, the better.They needed to know all of his weaknesses before they got to him.It was the only way they’d win this fight.
