Balefully, I glared at TJ. “You’re the one who ordered the damn beer for me,” I pointed out.
“You’re the one who drank it.”
We grinned at each other for a minute. Then my water appeared and she went back to studying the picture. “He’s a nice looking kid,” she murmured as I guzzled my water. “If he’d been around, I would have heard.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“I haven’t heard.”
“Shit.” I finished off the water and then pinched my nose. “What were you talking about, trouble with the kids?”
She shrugged. “Just odd shit. I can’t pin it. But they disappear. Not the drift-on sort of shit. When they drift on, I hear where they go. This…it’s like they just…aren’t there.”
“Okay.” I reached for the picture and put it back in my pocket. As I stood up, I pulled a bill from my pocket.
TJ glared at me. “I ain’t needing that.”
“I didn’t say you did.” I left it on the table as I circled around the table. I’d like to hug her, but I knew she’d hurt me if I did. Instead, I rested a hand on her shoulder.
She covered my hand with hers. “Don’t stay gone so long next time, Kit.”
“I won’t.”
As I headed to the door, she said my name. I paused.
The two men at the bar pushed around me and I glared at them as they crashed into me.
TJ curled her lip in their direction and muttered something and then ignored them, focusing on me. “Maybe next time you can plan to crash for the night,” she said. “I’ll get you wasted and you can really can dance on the bar.”
“Oh, no.” I shook my head. “I did that one time.”
“And it was a fun time…”
Snorting, I headed on out the door. The pins and needles of her containment spell tore into my flesh, no less severe in its intensity on the exit. It was designed to drive people away. Odd, really. She ran a fucking bar. She should be drawing people in.
But she never lacked for business.
And nobody fucked with her.
Ever.
The spell spat us out in a rush and I stumbled out, groaning as the final slash of it dug into my skin.
A big hand caught me. “Easy, girl.”
I glanced up at Goliath. “How do you ever get used to that?”
“Hey…it’s keyed into me. Besides, a person can get used to most anything.” He grinned at me. “You know that better than anybody, don’t you?”
I might have answered that, but I heard a grunt from behind and Goliath’s massive hand jerked me out of the way just before Damon could crash into me. “Sheeet,” he muttered. “That cat ain’t got no grace to him.”
I snickered.
Damon just glared at us. But the look on his face was a little…off.
Nice. Magic unsettled him.
A quick look at my car told me it was still in one piece. “You going to be on the clock a while still?”
Goliath shrugged. “Done in thirty. But if you’re going to be around, I can hang.”
I smiled at him.
A dull flush rose on his cheeks. “Just don’t be such a stranger.”
“I won’t.” With a sigh, I turned around and studied the streets. They hadn’t changed, yet oddly enough, nothing was the same. People came and went like eddies in the sand around here. I hadn’t ever made an impact and that had been the entire point. I didn’t want to make an impact, didn’t want anybody to remember me, to think about me. Just another one of TJ’s strays.
“If you’re looking for news on a kid, try looking for Keeli,” Goliath rumbled.
I slanted a look up at him.
He shrugged. “Keeli…” He paused, glancing at the building at his back and then at me. “She doesn’t like TJ. TJ doesn’t like her. But the little witch hears things.”
“And where can I find Keeli?”
He curled his lip. “Getting high.” He waved his hand, gesturing down the street. “She likes Torque cut with coke—you can find her hiding in whatever hole-in-the-wall she can find. But you better be careful. She’s just as likely to talk to you as she is to stab you.”
“Wow. I can’t imagine why TJ doesn’t like her. She sounds charming.”
Goliath chuckled. He glanced at my car and then at me. “I’ll watch your ride. Can’t watch you if you’re off crawling the streets, but maybe that toy soldier has some use.”
I scowled and glanced behind me, realizing I’d mostly forgotten about Damon. At least for a few minutes.