A shadow crossed my path. It was the only warning I had before I collided with someone.
“I’m so sorr—”
The words died as I lifted my head and looked at Merdon.
“You did that on purpose,” I said, jerking back a few steps.
I could see in his gaze that I was right and that he didn’t care if I knew it.
“Stop following me around.”
He tilted his head, studying me.
“Or what?” he asked.
My mouth fell open, and he prowled forward, closing the space between us.
“You don’t have the balls to do anything about it,” he said, close to my ear.
My eyes went wide, and I remembered I’d said those words just the day before. Obviously, Merdon had been doing more than just following me around. He’d been listening to my conversations, too.
Before I could respond, he walked away.
I stood there, seething for a moment, then hurried home. Safely inside with the curtains pulled shut, I slammed half the bottle down, not giving a damn if Emily found out or not. I just couldn’t deal with the level of crazy in this world anymore.
Thankfully, Emily stayed at Mary and James’s place most of the day and didn’t question my position on the couch when she came home well after dinner. Honestly, for the first few minutes, I wasn’t even sure she was aware I was really there. She talked non-stop about how she and Mary had the logistics figured out. The fey were already bringing supplies to Mary’s place, and Emily had already found a fey to take her over to Tenacity. On and on it went, with no conversational response necessary from me.
When the enthusiastic retelling of her day halted abruptly, I sat up and gave her a questioning look. There was no excitement in her expression, only worry.
“A little birdy told me you went to Cassie’s today. Everything okay?” she asked.
“Seriously, when are you going to stop asking that?” I asked, feigning my best bored tone. “No, shit’s not okay. You hear me scream at night. Since you don’t like me drinking, I went to see if she had something to help me sleep.”
“Did she?”
“No. Nothing she’s comfortable administering, anyway. And if you’re behind the reason why Merdon was following me around today, I’m not sure we can be friends anymore.”
“I didn’t ask him to follow you around. I think he’s just worried about you. Besides, you know he’s harmless.”
“Do I? When I told him to stop, he told me I didn’t have the balls to do anything about it. He’s following me around and listening to our conversations.”
Emily cringed, and I flopped back onto the couch.
“I told you it was a mistake to let him sleep here.”
She didn’t answer. It wasn’t like her to not answer. It also wasn’t like her to be hedgy, but that was exactly the expression on her face when I sat up to look at her again.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. I’m going to go draw up a schedule for you to use tomorrow then go to bed.” She hurried from the room before I could press her for a real answer.
Had I cared enough, I would have chased after her. But I was pleasantly buzzed, and the only fuck I had left to give was that I’d sufficiently reassured Emily enough for her to leave tomorrow so I could bathe in the booze the fey were about to bring me.
Chapter Seven
Since sleep was a hard-won commodity, mornings usually didn’t do much for me. Especially when I’d gone to bed drunk. Today was different, though. Today was my b-day. Booze Day. I hurriedly tugged on a new-to-me dress from my closet and shuffled downstairs.
As I’d hoped, Emily was already gone. A note waited for me on the counter of the tidied kitchen.
I set up the living room for you and left the schedule. First come, first served, to keep it fair! See you around dinner. Breakfast is in the oven.
Glancing at the living room, I saw that she’d pushed everything aside and had a table in the middle of the space, like when we hosted the gatherings. A chair waited at each side of the table, the setup reminiscent of an interview. On the table, a huge board had “Dating Schedule” written on the top and blank spots where I was supposed to add fey names.
Ignoring that responsibility for the moment, I checked the oven. More eggs waited for me. I made a face and put the plate on the table, planning on offering it to the