The Same Place (The Lamb and the Lion #2) - Gregory Ashe Page 0,37
didn’t forget; I was just teasing.”
“Please?” Tean said. “So I can sleep at night. Until you’ve got everything set up at your new place, I mean.”
“I’m really fine.”
“I know.”
Jem scratched his beard. “If it’ll help you sleep, I guess.”
“Yeah, it will. Thanks.”
“God, you’re adorable when you think you’re manipulating me.”
“What? I wasn’t—”
Tean’s denial was cut off by a sound from his phone: a roar. He had no idea what it was.
Apparently, Jem did because his eyes got huge and he said, “You’re on Prowler?”
“Hannah made me!” The words burst out before Tean could stop them.
“Holy shit,” Jem said, a grin slowly growing.
“You don’t have to look so happy about it.”
“I am happy about it. This might be the best thing of my entire life. Let me see your profile. Did you say anything about philosophy or existentialism or the universe spinning farther and farther out into nothingness until all life is inevitably extinguished?”
Tean just stared and finally managed, “No. Of course not.”
“This is the best thing of my entire life,” Jem mumbled as he took out his phone.
“Come on,” Tean said. “We don’t have time for that. Let’s start looking for Joy tonight; the faster we get this resolved, the faster Hannah will get back to normal.”
“Ok,” Jem said, laughing as he let Tean wrangle him toward the door. “Just one teeny, tiny question.”
“No. If it’s about Prowler or dating or the increasing likelihood of an asteroid hitting the Earth and wiping out humanity, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Right, got it. But can we just swing by McDonald’s?”
14
They drove north on 700 East, heading toward a wealthy part of the city known as The Avenues: multimillion-dollar homes sitting in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains. The streets were wide here—avenues, Jem thought as he pounded down the first Big Mac—and patched with tar, showing their age. This part of the city wore the years well. Most of the homes sat on huge lots that were no longer the norm in most of Utah, and where tear-downs and new construction hadn’t replaced the original structures with stucco McMansions, the original buildings were red brick with midcentury elements that were still appealing. And beautiful lawns, of course. It wouldn’t be the perfect, pristine Salt Lake Valley if the Mormons didn’t coax lush lawns out of the mountain steppes.
Holding out a really stellar fry specimen—long, with lots of salt and oil—Jem waved the fry at Tean until the doc took it and ate it. He didn’t even seem to think about it, which was a good thing. For the most part, Tean seemed to subsist on air and some sort of grass tea that he brewed himself. Jem was determined to fix that, so he held out another of the really prime fries. Tean took that one too.
“Has anybody stalked you on Prowler yet?”
“We’re not talking about this. End of conversation.”
“What about clawing you? Has anybody clawed you?”
Tean was silent, pretending to focus on the road.
“That’s one of the features,” Jem said. “It’s an invitation for you to send them a pic with one piece of clothing removed. You know, like they clawed it off you.”
“You’re making that up,” Tean said. Then, shifting in his seat, he glanced over and asked, “Aren’t you?”
Jem knew his grin probably looked insane, so he shoved fries into his mouth.
“I hate you,” Tean said as he slumped forward onto the steering wheel.
Tean stopped the truck in front of a brick condominium building. It was clearly an expensive place to live: the lawn and the building itself were well maintained, flower beds exploding with color, the windows large with freshly painted trim, large balconies attached to each unit with privacy screens. At the main entrance, a porte cochere offered a safe loading/unloading zone for Utah’s occasional rain and much more frequent snow. Jem pointed through the windshield at the valet.
“I see him,” Tean said.
“Let me guess: we don’t have an invitation.”
“Well, Joy isn’t answering her phone. And neither is her wife, Zalie.”
“So why are we here?”
“Because what if something happened to her? What if Joy was here and fell or had an accident?”
“You don’t think that Ammon already checked her condo?”
“I think I want to check for myself.”
“So we’re breaking and entering?”
“For a good cause.”
Jem considered this and said, “Ok. I like lesbians. Let’s do it.”
Tean blinked. “I like lesbians too. I mean. I guess.”
“And lesbians like me. Because I’m butch.”
Suddenly Tean had to scratch his nose, his whole hand covering his mouth.