Page 93 of Outlaw Witch

“Huh, you’re the good-looking bro and the intelligent one, too?” I tease, ruffling his hair until he bats me away.

“I dunno if she’ll help you, though,” Seb says. “You were kind of an ass to her right now.”

I grin at him and then turn to Z, raising an eyebrow. “You know what that means, bud? Guess you’ve got some groveling to do. She likes coffee sweet enough to make your teeth ache and melted cheese more than is healthy.”

Z gets to his feet, letting out a slow breath like he’s gearing up for battle. “You think she’s done crying yet? I guess I’ve got an apology to make and then we’ve got a weapon to wield.”

I shoot him an exasperated look, one that I’m sure would be mimicked on Fabian’s face if he was conscious right now. “Seriously, dude. I like her and if the gooey eyed stare is anything to go by, Fab does too. Tone the assholishness down, even if it’s for his sake only.”

He rolls his eyes at me. “I’ll do my best.”

Well then, I’m not going to hold my breath. Even though the more time I spend around her, the more I want to keep her when this is all over and Fabian’s back in fighting form.

27

About a week later, I find myself in a basement that’s dingy as hell, staring at a handful of creepy-looking dudes. The Nexus mages’ scouts have found out the stem of the Rapture trade, or at least the people that seem to be controlling the supply into the city.

So we’ve come to have a littlechatwith some of their guys and see if we can persuade them to quit peddling that poisonous shit.

And apparently since Fabian’s not able to scare everyone into submission, they have roped me in as his stand-in.

Lucky me. Although, if it’s a way for me to show them I’m indispensable, even once Fabian’s recovered, I’m happy going along with their plan.

I’ve no idea what they want me to do here. We didn’t exactly get a lot of time to talk much before they dragged me off and I’ve never played much with my blood magic, especially not in front of an audience.

Supposedly, they’re here to talk things out. But from the raw rage that’s pumping off Zeph, I don’t think a lot of talking is going to be happening.

Right now, we’re creeping around the corner before any of the shady fuckers have spotted us. They’re in the middle of counting out bags of pills with an enormous stack of cash beside them.

Seems like peddling poison is pretty lucrative, which shouldn’t come as a surprise.

“Damn,” Roscoe hisses under his breath. “I recognize at least three of these guys. That’s Lance—he’s a bouncer at one of the clubs, and that one works in The Spire as one of our information brokerage guys. They’ve been peddling this shit for months, apparently. I guess we know how they managed to get away with it for so long without us finding out.”

His face is drawn, and he’s a million miles from the usual bright and over-the-top Roscoe I’ve grown to know. He clearly wasn’t expecting for it to be their own people—other Nexus mages—to be the ones behind all the shady shit undercutting their business.

“So, uh, what are you expecting to happen here?” I whisper.

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