Page 6 of Puck my Prey
"Do you know who did this?" I pushed the tabloid on top of the pile across the desk to him.
"Yes."
Alright. It was a one word answer, but we were getting somewhere. Because thatyeswas more than anyone else had given me all day.
I blew out a shallow breath. My heart began to pound. If this was my crux point, I had no idea how to approach it. Maybe Valentine was right. I was exhausted, after all. A ten minute nap would relife my batteries. My vision blurred. I shook my head, attempting to focus.
Valentine still watched me carefully, his breath slowing. "You should eat something."
My hands drifted towards the brown paper bag without my permission. I snatched them back. "Let's finish this first."
Wait, did I just give him a concession? Did I actually just agree to do what he said? This man was bad for me. He needed to get out of the office as soon as he could. But first I needed to finish this.
"Will you tell me who?" Shit. That was a close ended question.I'm better than this.
"No." His enigmatic smile was back again.
Damnit. I earned that. I offered him a faint smile of my own. That one was on me.
"Fair enough." I gestured to the seat opposite my borrowed desk, unsurprised when he didn't move or acknowledge me in any way.
No one had used that seat all day.
It was time for a different approach. "Did you get your jacket back?"
I knew he didn't. It was hanging in the cupboard Coach’s tiny bathroom off the side of the office.
At least he didn’t use the communal one.
Though the state of his desk chairdidmatch the size of his office en suite. I knew what I was getting Coach for Christmas.
That was, assuming we all still had jobs next week.
"Not yet," Valentine said softly, rolling his shoulders as though he missed the black leather that was splashed all over the front of every tabloid I picked up this morning.
I nodded. "Tell me about last night." I didn't make it a question. That one was open and he could take it as he liked. I needed to get his gauge fast.
My hands strayed towards the take away coffee. I picked it up without much thought, my palms sinking into its heat before my brain cussed me out for accepting his offering so freely.
"You need something, Cora, or you’ll end up with a headache."
I ignored the pain already blooming behind my eyes for exactly that reason.
“Are you open to a role as my conscience? Last night," I reminded him as I cradled the coffee and took a sip.
Pure black coffee, no sugar, no cream. The syrupy liquid slipped down my throat. My eyes shuttered and I swore I could count the shots in that steaming cup.
Hot enough to burn, but not scald. Only one place made coffee that perfect. Pity that I never made it halfway across town on my lunch break or before work to get there.
My eyes snapped open as the implications hit me. "That coffee shop is twenty minutes away. Did you drive out to get this?" Indignation burned the back of my throat, turning sweet syrup to bitter dregs.
His enigmatic smile returned. “I can jog."
That. Boy.
Puck me over, these chimeras were going to kill me.
I clutched my coffee to my chest. That drink wasmineand I refused to give it up, even if it meant handing over concessions to a Chimera I didn’t trust this early in.
