Talon laughed at the thought. Yeah, right. But he at least wanted a few hours of rest before they had another marathon.
He was still breathing heavily as Sunshine finally drifted off to sleep, lying by his side with her hand tangled in his hair and her leg draped over his bare thighs.
Jeez, Ash hadn't been kidding about her appetite. She had contorted his body into positions he hadn't known he was capable of. Right now, he had no energy whatsoever. In fact, he never wanted to leave this bed again, and if she had rolled over one more time and grabbed him, he might even have whimpered.
Groaning at the thought, he reached over to his night-stand, grabbed his phone, and called Acheron to check in. He only hoped that this time the phone actually worked.
It did.
As always, Acheron answered on the first ring.
"Hey, is it the good Ash or the bad Ash?"
"Good, bad, I'm the one with the gun."
Talon snorted at the answer. It was a quote from the campy movie Army of Darkness that Acheron adored. "Only the real Ash would be weird enough to pull that quote."
"Gee, thanks, Celt. So what's up? Has Sunshine come awake yet?"
"Yes, she did."
"And you're still able to walk and move?"
"Let's not go there."
Ash gave a short half-laugh. "Yeah, okay. So what do you need?"
"I got a call from the imposter not long after I got back here with Sunshine."
Total silence answered him. He couldn't even hear static on the cell line.
"Hey, T-Rex, you there?"
"I'm here. What did he say?"
"Mostly that he hates you. At first I thought it was you, but he said a couple of things I knew didn't sound right."
"Such as?"
"He said he-meaning you-had been addicted to this drug he fed Sunshine. Getting anything that personal out of you is like removing a tooth from a lion without a tranquilizer."
Again Acheron was totally silent.
"Hey, bud, you still with me?" Talon asked.
"Did he say anything else?"
"Yeah, he said you had a sister you let die. I called him a liar and we passed a few insults, then he hung up on me."
Talon heard Nick in the background calling for Ash while Zarek growled for Nick to let go of him. "Something wrong?"
"Nick just brought Zarek in. He's hurt. Let me let you go."
"Okay, but call back and let me know what's going on."
"Will do." The phone went dead.
Now that was weird too. Frowning, Talon set his phone down and returned to Sunshine.