Page 18 of Thief of Night
“You could give it to me,” he told her.
She frowned in confusion. He couldn’t mean the coat. “Give you what? I didn’t think you wanted anything from me. Wasn’t that what you indicated last night?”
“I mean whatever you’re feeling. All the bad bits. You can give them to me.”
“Won’tyoufeel bad then?” Charlie cut him a look.
He shrugged.
“Do youwantto feel the way I do right now?” Her voice cracked and she was abruptly worried she might cry. “Like I’m about to jump out of my skin or throw up or throw things? Like I can’t keep my sister safe? Like everyone believes you want me dead and I’m a fool for letting myself think otherwise?”
“I don’t want you dead,” he said.
“Good to know,” she told him. “And for your information, whether or not youwantto feel all the trash I am feeling right now, you’renot going to get tobecause it’s my trash and you can’t have it.”
He gave a huff of breath that might have been a laugh. “You are a very strange person, Charlie Hall.”
“Yeah? Well, you’re kind of a weirdo yourself,” she said, and slammed out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom where she put on deodorant, brushed her teeth, and cried a little without being entirely sure why.
Posey came in as she was staring at herself in the mirror, looking at the bruise coming up violet and black at the corner of her very puffy left eye.
“Did he hit you?” Posey demanded.
“No.” Charlie grabbed some concealer and dabbed it on uselessly.
“The Cabals are dangerous,” Posey said. “You should let me come with you.”
“I won’t be alone,” Charlie reminded her.
Posey gave her a skeptical look. “I heard you two arguing—I mean, I couldn’t hear what you were saying, but I could hear your tone of voice. Vince used to be kind—maybe a little bit of a pushover, but kind. He’s not that way now.”
“You didn’t like him back then.”
“Well, now I miss him,” Posey admitted. “And I don’t trust Red.”
Vince had lied, but Charlie didn’t mind lying. Lying was the better story. Unlikely tales were very often true ones, but lies—lies were the world as we wanted it to be or most deeply believed it was. Lies were art, wishful thinking, and deepest dread. Charlie had felt the closest to people when she was lying to them, but the closeness usually only went one way. “I miss him too.”
“So can I come?” Posey asked.
“Absolutely not,” Charlie told her sister. “If I’m not back by midday, call Raven. I’ll give you her number.”
Posey laughed without any mirth. “What’sshegoing to do?”
“I don’t know,” Charlie said. “But she knows the Cabals. Promise her I’lldo whatever favor she wants and she can use her contacts to find out what happened. If I’m in trouble, I’ll need you on the outside.”
“Fine.” With a glare, Posey slammed out of the bathroom. However pissed she was, that was still better than her putting herself in danger. The last thing Charlie’s current terrible situation needed was another person caught up in it.
Once she left the bathroom, the Cabal goons were waiting for her.
“Come on.” The goatee guy led her by the arm.
Outside, the air had gotten even icier. Dawn was still at least an hour off. Charlie’s breath clouded in front of her face as the Cabal enforcers brought her to a black Jeep with a pair of fuzzy white dice hanging from the rearview mirror.
She got in the back, receiving a smirk in the mirror from the redhead. The guy with the goatee fussed with his phone and started playing a podcast through the car speakers as they pulled out of the driveway. Some motivational bro was giving a lecture:
Women are attracted to success, but look closer, everyone is attracted to success. If you weren’t attracted to success, you wouldn’t be listening to me. You wouldn’t care what I had to say if you didn’t want what I have—money, respect, and, sure, ladies, but let’s be real, if you get the money and the respect, the bitches are going to show up. And to get that, you’re going to have to have discipline. You’re going to have to work hard, and smart. You’re going to have to see yourself as the kind of man who is welcome in any room.
“Why do we always have to listen to this bullshit?” the redhead asked.
