Devil s Bargin Page 0,4

Borden out of a crowd from a description, wearing that stupid Harley ensemble.

Speaking of which, Borden wasn't going away. As she started walking again, he fell in behind her, her own personal black-leather shadow.

"Stop following me."

"I can't."

"Trust me, you can. Just quit putting one foot in front of the other."

He kept following. She walked faster. That wasn't an issue for him, considering the length of his legs. She rounded on him after another half a block, fists clenched, knuckles wincing at the pressure. "Are you deaf? Get lost, idiot! I know you speak English!"

His nose was still bleeding, but only a trickle. He wiped it absently and held out the envelope. "Take it."

"Oh, Jesus!" she yelled, out of patience, then grabbed it and waved him off. "Fine, whatever."

He didn't move.

"Oh, for God's sake - look, you've done your duty, I've got it, whatever the hell it is, now would you please just - "

"Open it," he said again, and this time he sounded like he meant it. "I'm not going anywhere until you do."

She eyed him for a few seconds. His gel-spiked hair really was stupid, but the leather might have looked halfway decent on somebody it suited; he'd probably bought it because he'd been spooked at the prospect of coming to the bad side of town and trolling tough streets. Leather had probably seemed like a smart choice. And hell, it had probably kept his ribs from breaking, so maybe he'd been right after all.

"Lose the jacket," she said, and turned and walked away. She heard the sound of metal zippers and jingling chains, and glanced over her shoulder to see that he'd taken off the jacket and had it draped over one shoulder. A black stretch shirt, black leather pants...yeah, that was all right. Maybe the leather pants were little more than just all right, not that she'd ever admit it.

"I mean it," she said. "Lose the jacket. Dump it, unless you want us both to get picked up for assault."

She pointed at an alley, where a homeless guy lay rolled up in newspaper.

Borden stared at her. "You're not serious."

"You want to talk to me, get rid of the thing. The cops will be all over us if you drag it around."

"Do you know how much this thing cost?"

"Don't care." She resorted to flattery. "You look better without it."

He hesitated, then walked over and handed it to the homeless guy, who clutched it in utter shock and hurried off into the shadows, probably intent on selling it, because he knew he'd never be able to hang on to it on the streets. Jazz wished him the best deal, a warm bed and the rest of the Irish whiskey she knew she wouldn't get to drink, at least tonight.

She wished Borden would move closer so that she could lose herself in that smell again, warm and cinnamon-soft. The tide of adrenaline was dropping, and it left her feeling weak and shaky.

The paper felt stiff and warm in her hand.

Borden silently trailed her as she took a right turn at the corner, up Commerce, and headed for a Starbucks half a block up. He'd look all right in a Starbucks, she wouldn't look wrong, and nobody looked for fugitives among the latte-and-mocha set.

The place was packed, full of chatting couples and groups of friends and a few dedicated, lonely laptop users looking pale and focused in the glow of their screens. She pointed Borden to a side table, near the corner, and ordered two plain coffees from the barista. He'd probably prefer a soy half-caff mocha-something, but that wasn't her problem, and she wasn't that committed to the conversation. Even the regular coffee cost an arm and a leg, and she hardly had a lot of money to burn, considering her state of unemployment didn't look likely to end soon.

Besides, since she couldn't go back to Sol's, she'd have to save her booze allowance for a more expensive bar.

Settled at the table, drinking hot strong coffee and feeling the whiskey start to retreat from the field, she turned the envelope over and over in her hands. Plain block printing on the outside read "Jasmine Callender." She didn't recognize the hand, and held it up to Borden. "You write this?"

He shook his head.

"You know what's in here?"

"Nothing that will blow up or infect you," he said. He sounded tired. Adrenaline fading. She knew the feeling. "Hey, by the way, thank you. But I could've - "

"Taken care of them? Yeah, I