She nods at me, her shoulders relaxing. “Same.”
We may not know everything about each other, but we know enough. We both care about Avet, which is enough to glue us together so we can hunt the thing that broke his family and his heart.
15
FIRM MATTRESS, SOLID RESEARCH
I haven’t slept on a mattress that firm or underneath a comforter that fluffy in my entire thirty years. Add Avet’s sleepless dreams draught to that? I am fairly certain nothing could dampen my mood today.
“You’re whistling,” Avet comments, amusement toying with his tone.
“Am I?” I realize he’s right. “I guess I am. Remind me why we always slept in motels that use sandpaper as bedding?”
Avet chuckles as he packs up his things. His hair is still dripping from his shower. “Because when there’s blowback from the things we’re hunting, we would rather cause damage to a place that’s already two breaths away from falling over. They barely notice the damage and the cops don’t conduct a wholehearted investigation. At a place like this?” He motions to the nice television, the furniture that doesn’t smell like feet and corn chips, and the lamps that look like purposefully selected décor. The lamps here actually work, amazingly enough. “The owners here would notice if a werewolf comes in and bangs a few holes in the wall.”
“Fair point. Still. This was nice.”
“See? I knew you would like traveling with Sevan. It’s not so bad, having her around.”
I still, taking in the prodding he usually leaves out. I turn slowly toward my best friend, taking in the look of faux innocence on his face. “Why her? Is there a reason you want us all traveling together?”
The more Avet tries to appear innocent, the guiltier he looks. When he runs his thumb over each of his fingers, I know he’s up to something. “The obvious reasons? She’s a good trapper, and we actually need all the help we can get with this job.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Why do I get the feeling that’s not the only reason?” I square my gait as my lips purse. “Do you remember what happened the last time you tried to set me up with a woman?”
Avet presses his hips against the wall across from me, leaning his head back so he can stare up at the ceiling. “She turned out to be married. I didn’t know that at the time.”
“And the girl before that?”
He sighs with all the attitude of a teenager, as if I am the one being incorrigible. “She stole from us.”
“So you thought Sevan—a known thief—would be a good choice for me?”
Avet shoves his hands in his pockets. “I thought she would be helpful in finding my sister. Our sister.” Avet pauses because even though he’s trying to leave it at that, we both know how he gets when he’s got something up his sleeve. “And sure, if the two of you hit it off, then maybe you would come out of retirement and we could go back on the road again.”
I shoot him a wry look. “Not that you’ve thought this through.”
“Zero thought whatsoever.”
I stare Avet down until his gaze lowers from the ceiling to my face. “Put it out of your mind. I like getting set up just about as much as you do.”
He casts me a sheepish look. “Is this the part where I apologize and swear I’ll never do it again?”
“Only if you mean it.”
“Then we can skip it.” He grabs up his backpack. “Shall we?”
I grumble as I follow him out into the hallway, banging my fist on the door of the room beside ours. I shouldn’t hit so hard, but I’m irritated that Avet sees my love life as something that needs fixing. If I want a girlfriend, I’ll go out and start dating. Simple as that.
Well, I say it’s simple, but if it actually was, I would have done it already.
I’m no good at small talk. Whenever I think of signing up for a dating app or anything like that, the temptation fades as quickly as it comes. I only know trapping life, and I don’t exactly want to scare a woman who knows nothing of our world with talk of that stuff. And the women who know about the supernatural are usually either married and off trapping with their partner, or like Cher—too put off by the loss that comes from a trapper’s life, so they want nothing to do with someone like me.
Can’t say I blame them. I wouldn’t want Cher to settle down with a trapper, either.
When Sevan emerges smelling like a citrus and vanilla haven, I can see why Avet thought we would hit it off. Sevan is a unicorn—one in a million of single women who actually prefers this life over anything resembling stability.
Plus, she’s beautiful, confident, and tall. Maybe that last one isn’t all that important to most, but I get all awkward when I’m on a date with a woman who only comes up to my chest.