Page 75 of Marked By the Pack
“Of course. Come on, it’ll be fun.” I patted her shoulder and shivered again. I needed to start wearing a warmer jacket around Crooked Point.
Chapter 20
Tuesday
Zoey
Seriously, if Bennett’s secret wasn’t the robbery thing or the sex thing…what the hell was it?
My mind wouldn’t stop racing all day. All I wanted to do was storm over to the bank right now and demand answers. Or log in to MyFanatics and brainstorm possibilities with Grudge. Actually, I really needed to talk to Grudge. I’d asked him to look into Elias for me, but that was no longer necessary. Elias had filled me in, and he was on the run from a different vampire.
Shit.
Was it possible…that Bennett and his friends were vampires too? They seemed awfully keen to kill Callum the other night. Maybe they didn’t want more competition in this town for blood.
Gah.Where was Emma? She was never late.
I ate another big bite of garlic bread. I’d chosen the Italian restaurant today for a reason. If any vampires tried to kiss me tonight they’d die. Not that I wanted to kill Otto. Or Ace or Huxley. Or Bennett even though he’d been a little rude this morning. Or even Titan. Sure, Titan seemed to hate me, but that didn’t mean such a beautiful man should be killed by garlic.
But I kept eating garlic bread anyway. Better for Titan to die than me. The waitress had given me a weirdlook when I’d ordered a bottle of wine for the table. If she knew what was running around this town, she’d be drinking in the afternoon too.
“Italian? Really?” Emma said from behind me. “And it’s barely noon.” She walked around my chair and lifted the bottle of wine.
A random woman next to her laughed. “What’s wrong with Italian? I love garlic bread. And day drinking.”
“See?” I said. “She gets it.”Whoever you are.
I thought she’d walk off, but she sat down in the other chair at my table. And Emma grabbed another and sat down too.What the fuck is happening right now?
“I hope you don’t mind if my new friend joins us for lunch,” Emma said. “Zoey this is…” she gestured to her apparent new friend. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t catch your name. And I’m Emma,” Emma said with a smile.
Yeah…these two were not friends. They didn’t even know each other’s names. Why had Emma invited this stranger to our lunch? I desperately needed to talk to her!
The girl laughed. “Hi. My name is Kebe.”
What kind of name was Kebe? How did you even spell that? Like…key and then bee? But honestly, it suited her. The name was badass and she looked badass. And she had an accent I couldn’t quite place. I’d kill to borrow her leather jacket. And I thoughtIwas good at doing a cat eye, but her makeup skills were next level.
“Thanks for letting me join you,” Kebe said. “And I love your necklace, Zoey.”
I touched my choker. She clearly had good taste. “Thanks.”
“I’m new to town and know virtually no one. Unless you count the barista at the coffee shop down the street. But that girl seems to hate me.”
I laughed. “She’s so sassy, right?!”
“She’s the worst.”
We both laughed.
“I knew the two of you would get along,” Emma said. “Kebe was just telling me she’s looking to buy a place. I was going to ask Callum to help her out.”
“Oh, you should take her to one of those places that I took you.”
“Wait,” Kebe said. “Are you new to town too, Emma?”
Emma smiled. “Yeah, I was supposed to just be visiting Zoey for a few weeks. But I ran into this guy I used to know back in the day. Callum. The real estate agent I was telling you about. And we kind of rekindled our spark. We’re actually moving in together. We’re fixing up a place. Hence the paint on my face.”
“Oh, I just thought that was your vibe,” Kebe said.
