Page 56 of The Wild Moon
I frowned, assuming they were talking about people given this was his quartermaster, Aaron had anotherfourmembers of his team. How many employees did he have? And why did he need them?
“Seven, okay. Where?”
“Mountains. Same as previous,” Aaron replied, the two of them having half a conversation.
“Okay, I’ll get it done,” Jaxton said, laying down his hand. “Now, leave me alone. I’m on a win streak here.”
The player to his right laid down four aces. “Not quite.”
“This is all your fault,” Jaxton said, still without looking up at Aaron as the other player, a hardy man with the look of a ship captain, swept up the chips on the table. “You ruined it for me. I expect a bonus.”
Aaron chuckled, then turned to me. “Okay, time to go.”
I followed him outside. There was no trouble this time from any of the patrons. Nor did the lookouts bother us. I guess if we came out in one piece without causing a fight, they assumed we were okay.
Aaron kept walking. He was heading up the sidewalk, back toward his car.
“Wait a second,” I said, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around. “That’sit?That was all you came here for?”
“Yes,” Aaron said indifferently.
“We could have fuckingcalled him,” I spat.
“He doesn’t have a phone.”
“You don’t need me for this,” I said, my voice dropping to a growl as I got into his face. I didn’t care how sexy he was, how dangerous he might be. I didn’t like being used.
He didn’t flinch. Nowthatwas confidence, though of course, he didn’t know I could tear him limb from limb if I wanted to.
“No,” he said calmly, his blue eyes staring at me unblinking. “I didn’t need you, you’re right. I did, however, need to see just how committed to this you are. This won’t be an easy journey.”
I backed off slightly. “It’s camping and exploring in the mountains. How difficult could it be?”
Aaron gave me a long look as if to tell me I should know better.How much do you know about everything?Not for the first time, I had to wonder just how well-informed Aaron was. And who had told him I was in town in the first place? Had he been keeping tabs on me?
“How can I trust you?” I asked. “How do I know you’re not lying about my father?”
“Now that is a fair question,” he said, reaching into his pocket, pulling out his phone. “Here. Look at these.”
I waited while he unlocked the device and then handed it over to me. It was an image gallery. Of him and my father. Together. Smiling. Laughing. They were all taken out in nature.
“Your father was a good man,” Aaron said. “I valued his friendship. You have nothing to fear from me. The choice is yours whether you will trust me or not, however. If you do, meet me tomorrow in the warehouse district just up the road from here. I’ll text you the address. If not, then we’ll consider this thing canceled.”
He took the phone and walked into the night, leaving me alone.
“I notice you didn’t say anything about a refund,” I called after him.
It was a good point, though. Was I going to trust him, or wasn’t I?
Chapter Thirty-One
Three days to go until the Wild Moon, and I was out grocery shopping.
“Gathering supplies,” as Aaron put it, which made it sound way more badass than pushing a cart around a store. Probably helped with his ego.
He pulled us up to a giant warehouse. Several other cars were parked outside. I got out of the car, the plush white leather of his Mercedes SomethingFancy-Class–I didn’t know cars, nor did I pay attention when he’d told me–starting to rub me the wrong way. It was too comfortable for me.
“I figured when you said the warehouse district, you wanted to go to one of the markets there,” I said, staring up at the drab, gray building covered in corrugated sheet metal without a sign on it. “Why didn’t we do that or go to a grocery store?”
