Claire shifted her backpack nervously and looked around. Nobody had paid attention, of course. It didnt pay, in Morganville, to get into anybody elses business.
She was on her own out here. Eve worked on campus, but Claire didnt want to drag her friends into this. They had enough problems already, and Monica was all her own.
Like it or not.
But as she passed the recessed doorway of a boarded-up shop, she sensed someone watching her.
She tried to dismiss it as imagination, but there really was someone watching her. She couldnt make him out for a few seconds,and then she did, with another unpleasant shock. Heroin-addict-skinny, pale, stringy hair. Wearing black. Eves brother.
Jason, she said, and involuntarily looked around for help. Nobody there, nobody she could turn to. Not even a passing police carand the police definitely wanted to talk to Jason, after his run-in with Shane.
It hit her again: Hed stabbed her boyfriend. Tried to kill him. The cops said it was self-defense, but she knew better.
Jason took his hands out of his coat pockets and held them up. Dont scream, he said. Unless you really feel like it. Im not going to hurt you. Not in broad daylight on a busy street, anyway.
He sounded . . . Different. Odder than usual, and that was a pretty high standard of odd.
What do you want? She clutched the strap of her backpack in a white-knuckled fist. In an emergency, it would make a respectable blunt object. She might knock him down with it, or at least trip him. It was only about a block to Common GroundsOliver owed her Protection once she was inside the building, even from human enemies.
Stop freaking, genius. Im not here to hurt you. He put his hands back in his jacket pockets. Hows Shane?
Why do you care?
Because He frowned and shrugged. Look, that was self-defense, okay?
You baited him. You threatened me and Eve. You wanted him to come after you.
Yeah, well, granted, I was tweaking, but the guy took a home-run swing at my head, in case you missed it.