“Nah, you’ve got it wrong. She’s passing through,” I dismissed, knowing I wasn’t enough to keep her in this tiny town. “She’s not staying.”
“Huh,” Johnny muttered, eyeing me. “Guess you better figure out what it’ll take to make her stay then.” He must have seen my confusion because he snorted. “You like her.”
“Yeah,” I answered automatically even though he wasn’t asking. Cadence had gotten under my skin in a way no other woman had managed and I’d known her for a grand total of forty-eight hours.
“Regret makes a cold bed,” Johnny said cryptically and I shook my head.
“You’re full of sage wisdom today,” I muttered with a frown. “Or full of shit.”
“Both,” Johnny replied, a quick flash of his teeth momentarily lifting the exhaustion that seemed to surround him. “Bring her by so the boys can meet her.”
I grimaced at the idea and he laughed. “I thought the point was to keep her here not run her off faster,” I grumbled as I headed for the door, getting antsy at having left her as long as I had with Crew. No telling what crap he was filling her head with, I didn’t think he could top what she’d learned at the salon but Crew was the imaginative one in the bunch.
“You gotta take a risk every once in a while, Noah,” Johnny’s voice followed me out the room. “Otherwise it gets boring.”
***
“It’s alive,” Nico croaked, flapping his wings loudly as he flew into the kitchen where I was making a sandwich. “It’s alive.”
I glanced at him, “You watch way too much TV.”
He tilted his head, eying my chips. “Cracker?”
“Go ahead,” I muttered, reaching into the cabinet for the pain reliever and grabbing a bottle of water. “I’m going to tell her what you said,” I warned him and he let out an indignant squawk.
Cadence was just sitting up when I walked into the living room, and winced when I rattled the pills in my hand. “This should help,” I told her and she squinted at me. I handed her three pills and the water and she stared at them doubtfully. “It can’t hurt,” I said and her lip curled. I sat on the coffee table in front of her, then revealed my secret weapon. “Drink all your water and you can have it.” I dangled the Thermos in front of her and she perked up, reaching for it. “Nope,” I said, pulling it out of reach. “Water.”
“Jerk,” she muttered, but took a swig from the water bottle. “Happy?”
“When it’s all gone,” I replied, holding the coffee hostage. “Sleep well?”
Her forehead wrinkled and she answered, “I had the strangest dream. You know Hagrid, from the Harry Potter books? He was in it.”
I laughed. “Hank.”
“Huh?”
“Hank. You mean Hank.”
“He was real?” She asked, looking stunned. “Did I drink his whiskey?”
I nodded, “You did. And you didn’t die. Hank was impressed.”
“It was horrible,” Cadence murmured. “I didn’t want him to drink it.”
“Yeah, I’m sure the entire club has heard about it by now.” She gave me a puzzled look. “The only other person I know who drank Hank’s whisky and didn’t wind up in the hospital is Johnny. That makes you legendary.”
“My life is complete now,” she mumbled, crumpling the water bottle after downing the last of the water. “Hand it over.” She held out her hand, wiggling her fingers in a ‘gimme’ motion. I handed the coffee over and she sighed with contentment as the aroma wafted from the Thermos. “Even dead, I think this could bring me back.”
“Noted.”
She took a careful sip, then leaned back against the couch. “I’m going to pretend the rest of what I remember was a dream.” I nodded, rubbing my hand over my mouth to hide the smile that threatened. She pointed at me. “So will you.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She took another sip, growing more alert. “What did Johnny want?”
“He had a lead for me. Guy outside of town had a car stolen,” I reported, not at all surprised at how quickly she’d recovered from the whiskey. “I was about to head out there. You wanna come?”
She contemplated for a second before asking, “Can I bring the coffee?”
“I’m not suicidal,” I quipped.
After a split second deliberation, she announced, “Okay.” I stood up, offering her a hand. She took it and I hauled her to her feet. She glanced down at my jeans. “Don’t you need to change?”
“It’s not exactly an official visit,” I hedged, going to the kitchen to grab my sandwich. “Want the other half?”
She accepted it warily. “If a car is stolen, don’t you normally call the cops?”
“You do, but in this instance, the car that was stolen had been previously stolen,” I explained.
She held up a finger. “Wait. You’re telling me a car thief reported a car he’d stolen had been stolen from him?”
“Yeah.” I took a bite of my sandwich. “Well, to be clear, word got to Johnny and since Rob used to do business with this guy, we think there’s a chance he took the car.”