“That is an excellent question. I’m not ready to reveal why I need you just yet, but I promise to tell you if you agree.”
“Didn’t you just say you don’t need me to agree?”
I tried not to focus on his lips as he spoke. It had to be the glamour, and not the year and a half since I’d been properly laid.
“You are correct. But things will be a lot easier if you agree to help me and we worked together, as a team.”
Hot anger slithered through me. Finally something I could latch onto and feed. “Do team members force each other into submission with their magic? Ambush each other in shady alleyways? Stalk each other from their places of employment. No. I don’t think they do. You want a lackey...or maybe a pretty zombie...I don’t know. Just keep that freak flag flapping away from me.”
He chuckled and it zipped through me in a way that only added to my anger. “Why don’t we go to my house and discuss this further?”
“Oh, hell no. One of us would end up killing the other.”
It would totally be him murdering me. But I’d put up a fight if he didn’t lock my body down with his weird voodoo powers.
Like he hadn’t heard a word I said, he tipped back the rest of his mug, sat it on the table, stood up, and slipped his hoodie back on. The
n he held his hand out for me to take.
I grimaced and tried not to do it, but I put my hand in his and let him walk me out of the café. The bastard didn’t even leave a tip on the table. It was reason enough for me to hate him.
We walked down the sidewalk toward the corner. My own building was only a few blocks away. I tried to force myself to head that way, to run fast and far. But it didn’t work. I would strip down and do the macarena right now if he wanted me to.
“It’s a lovely morning, don’t you think?”
I gritted my teeth. “Sure, Mary Poppins, lovely morning to be kidnapped by a psychopath.”
“Oh, Zoey, I’m not crazy. I’m just determined.”
“I’m sure Hitler said the same thing.”
He froze, mid-step, and turned to face me. I swallowed hard as he gripped my upper arms in his hands.
“Let’s get one thing clear here. I’m not a bad guy. Right now, you might be thinking I am, and that’s fine, think what you like, but please know this is all for a good reason.”
The hard look in his eyes told me he wouldn’t be gentle about snapping my bones, so I kept my mouth shut.
He took my arm in his again and marched me alongside him. My bag bounced on my hip and after a moment he took it from my shoulder and slung it over his own.
Shit. Now he had my notes and I couldn’t make a run for it.
We continued until we reached a black SUV idling on a curb. He opened the back door for me and for the first time since I had met the man, I did what he wanted without his prompting.
“That’s a good girl,” he said, as he climbed in after me.
I crossed my arms and glared. “You can fuck right off with that. I’m not a dog.”
He chuckled and buckled his seat belt. I followed suit and settled my pounding forehead against the chilled window as the driver turned the car on and we began our drive.
Fin had released his hold on me and apparently, I’d put up more of a fight mentally than I thought. My entire head was pounding like it had just been released from vice.
“And what happens after I finish this job of yours? Are you going to kill me?” I asked him.
The chief and I had a tense relationship. We’d always been that way, since the day he found me standing over my parents’ corpses and took me home. The man wasn’t the affectionate type, but I liked to think he’d be a little upset at my untimely demise. If he would come after this guy...
I didn’t even know his name. It hit me; he’d never introduced himself.
“By the way, who the hell are you? You never told me who or what you are.”