Delinquents Turned Fugitives - Ann Denton Page 0,101
didn’t work. I walked over and used my light to trace the electrical connections inside of the machine, but they seemed to be working.
“Think they’re blocking the signal?” I asked Gray.
He shrugged a shoulder. “Guess it’s possible.”
“Wonder what they don’t want people to hear?”
“Maybe they don’t want them to hear how they’ve set up a perimeter around a certain funeral so they can catch suspected killers who come near,” Evan snarked.
I flipped him off for being mouthy. And possibly right.
Gray unlocked his new burner phone and downloaded a radio app. He opened it just in time for us to hear the following: “The Mars campaign has made a new pledge, in light of the recent tragedy in the tri-state area. Mr. Mars has stated that if he’s elected, he’ll ensure that vampiric institutes are relocated to an international space station. Here’s a clip of a speech he gave in New York City last night.”
We all listened with bated breath as Gray’s dad started to speak. “We shouldn’t have to fear for our children. We need a solution that’s both humane and safe for everyone involved.”
Gray growled and shook his head. “Asshole.” He turned his brown eyes to me and there was a fire in them that I rarely saw, the kind built out of years of resentment. “You know why my father loves space so much? No damn laws. He’ll get those vampires up there and use them for whatever he wants. You think that what we saw at the Pinnacle was bad?” He shook his head. “My dad’s worse.” He shoved his bench away from the table, stood up, and stomped off toward one of the other picnic spots.
It was the first time I’d ever heard Gray talk about his father in detail. I knew that there was bad blood because of Gray’s party boy persona. But now I realized that perhaps the party boy antics were Gray’s way of either distancing himself from his dad, or denying the man an heir.
I wasn’t exactly certain which it was. But Lysa’s comment from the night we’d brought Gray in came back to me. She’d said Gray had been scratched by vampires before. What exactly had Mr. Mars done with vampires?
I stood slowly, nodding at the others before I wandered closer to Gray. I stopped just under the awning of the other picnic area, not wanting to encroach too far if he wanted true privacy, but also wanting to be nearby, in case Gray decided he wanted to talk.
He glanced over at me after a minute. Then he sighed and sat down on one of the tables, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.
“Want to tell me what that’s about?” I asked softly, approaching him slowly, like I would an injured animal.
“My dad’s an asshole.”
“Welcome to the club,” I told him.
He lifted his head slightly to grin at me. “I hate that you’re in the club, but at the same time, I don’t.”
“Same. It’s nice to have someone who gets it.” I sat next to him and interlinked our fingers. “So, tell me stuff. Get it out.”
He laughed. “Dang. You should be a counselor.”
His comment made me think briefly of Potts and my chest gave a twinge. “No. You’d have to make good life decisions to do that.”
“I like your life decisions.”
“And I like that you’ve become a party boy in order to disgust the father who disgusts you. But I don’t know that thieves and party boys should be guiding other people through life.”
He squeezed my fingers. “Am I that transparent?”
“No. But I want you to be.”
He bumped my shoulder with his. “You’re always so demanding, nemesis.”
“Isn’t that what a nemesis does? Forces you to face your shit so you can defeat them?”
“Maybe I don’t want to defeat you.”
I nodded, untangling my hands. “Too bad. Because I’m about to win the world’s worst tickle war.” I shot darkness out of my hand and covered his eyes so he couldn’t see and then I ran my fingers across his ribs, digging in.
He laughed and blasted my hands away with wind before using his magic to rise up into the air out of reach.
“Come down here!” I pouted.
“Let me see!” he demanded.
With a huff, I released my shadows and he slowly descended. “Well, that was a disappointing and immediate draw.” I blew a raspberry at him.