Page 11 of Oath
“You should get some sleep too,” she was saying as I got the coffee going to make myself another cup.
“Yeah,” Voodoo said with a sigh. “Be good today, Firecracker?”
“I’ll think about it.”
His light groan only made me smile. Grace had been enormously patient with all of us. It wasn’t like we were here to vacation and she seemed to know that.
“Wait…” At the sudden sharpening of her voice, I glanced over at her and found Voodoo in the doorway to the kitchen. “Where’s Legend?”
I didnotroll my eyes. Ever since he told her his name, that was what she used. Just reinforced my determination toneveradmit mine. I didnotneed her using it. Though she didn’t call Voodoo Bryant, so maybe there was something there.
“He took over at the warehouse,” Voodoo said easily. “He’ll be back later, when we spell him.”
Her shoulders went so rigid, I had to swallow a sigh. Well, Voodoo just drove that bus right over Lunchbox. I told him cutting out before she woke up was a bad idea.
“Almost wish you were still asleep so I could go in and wake you up,” Voodoo continued, then he blew her a kiss before he strolled out.
She didn’t say anything, just stood there staring after where they went. Once I’d finished steaming more milk, I stopped avoiding the topic. “He has a job to do, Gracie.”
“He also said I could go with him today.”
“Point of order,” I said with a wince. “He said if you were up for it when he left, we could work it out for you to go for an hour or two.”
The icy blast in her eyes threatened to give me blue balls. “So, he just left extra early so I would still be asleep?”
When my second cup of coffee was ready, I faced her. “Yes.” No point in sugar coating it. I could be diplomatic. “We’re tired of telling you no, Gracie. Right now, none of us want you in the middle of this. We’ve explained why. You’re not stupid and you’re not this much of a diva, so what’s up?”
Okay, so I could be mostly diplomatic. “I feel useless here.” The confession didn’t surprise me, not once she said it. Maybe I should have gotten that sooner, but the frustration edging each word dragged at my nerves. “All I’m doing is sitting around, watching movies, or reading, or staring out the window while you guys do the hard stuff.”
“Sweetheart, I promise you, guard duty is boring as fuck. You’re usually alone, you have to stay awake, you can’t relax, and then you get to do it all over again.”
The mutiny in her fierce expression masked something more. Hurt.
“Gracie… If you go, you’re a distraction. It also could end up with you in the line of fire.”
“You just said it was tedious and boring as fuck.”
“It is, until the moment it isn’t.”
Head tilted, she glared upward for a long moment. “Accepted.” It took her a minute, but she got there. “However, I would like you take me there today, not right away, but when you have a minute.”
Oh, there was a warning sign if I’d ever seen one. “For?”
“To see Legend,” she told me. “Also, I want to check on that girl. She looked like hell the last time I saw her. Maybe I can’t do anything else, but making her feel better is a way of helping.”
She wasn’t wrong. “I’ll think about it. Now, are you done with your coffee?”
It was her turn to grow suspicious. “Why?”
“Because,” I said after downing half of mine. “I want to take Goblin for a walk and I think you could use one too. There’s probably somewhere we can grab something to eat—outside of the apartment. That will help with some of the restlessness.”
The guys wouldn’t like it, but I could hardly blame Grace for being on edge. I had my phone and she had hers. They could track us if they needed us.
“Really?” She brightened up and I knew I’d made the right call. Yes, she was pushing to get out of here, and to help, but it was also because she had literally nothing to do. We needed to fix that.
“Yep, and you can fill me in on how you’d like to approach your sister’s boss. I want to work out all the kinks before we do it. We have time now.”
She drained the last of her coffee, then hurried over to brush another kiss to my jaw. “I know I’m a pain in the ass, but thank you for putting up with me.”
