Me: I love her so much I could die… Stop with the sweet talk. I’m going to disintegrate in front of Cin and she’s not the kind of chick you disintegrate in front of.
Conor: Lol. True. :P
“You know I’m cranky when I first get up,” was my easy retort as I dropped my cell on the table and picked up the hot chocolate I knew she was responsible for.
“Is that what that noise was? You getting a splinter out of your hand?”
I flipped her the bird, then I watched as Conor rested his elbow on the table separating us and muttered, “Are you two always like this?”
“Pretty much,” she chirped.
He huffed then, head bowed, hid his grin in the coffee mug he was holding.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Can you imagine her and Kat locked together in an argument?”
The imagery had me cackling. “Dead To Me doesn’t like kids.”
“You’re not offended?” Conor queried, his surprise clear.
“Nah. I don’t like kids either. Just mine.”
Chuckling, he shook his head. “Have you met her, Cin?”
“Nope. But she’s getting to that interesting age, isn’t she? She doesn’t need any help eating or things like that.”
“How old do you think she is?” I grumbled. “She’s tenyearsold, not months.”
Cin wafted a disinterested hand. “Okay, less of the kid talk.” She shuddered with revulsion. “Let’s come up with a game plan. You two have already wasted an hour—”
“Jesus, we were in there an hour?”
“Yeah. The noises coming out of there sounded good or I’d have barged in and told you to hurry it the fuck up.”
Conor choked on his coffee, but me, I was just thinking about how long it had taken me to come.
Fuck, Conor waspatient.
I mean, I’d known that, but a freakin’ hour?
Conor, unaware of my thoughts, retorted, “Whatisthe game plan?”
Sucking in a breath, I stated, “Uncover any info we can from Troy about the girl. Then, we need to figure out how to keep her safe from my grandfather.”
Cin waved a hand. “I’ve got that under control.”
“We’re all ears.”
“You blame it on Reinier. Ovianar said the four Sparrows were behind the crash, that it was a power grab,buthe was the one with all the connections. He was the one who’d have been able to get Jorgmundgander to cooperate.”
“She’s right,” Conor agreed. “So we blame him?”
Liking the symmetry, I nodded. “And he’s still in that shipping container in the Catskills, isn’t he?”
“As far as I know—”
Cin interrupted him. “He is. I asked for confirmation from Temper. She’s requested that you don’t kill her just yet, Star, because America still needs her.”