the look of it, I have two choices. End up raped in some alley or join up with a group. The other Siders I’ve found…” She dropped her gaze, seemed to force herself to raise it again. “I ended up in Manhattan because I was told you didn’t bother Siders here too much. But crashing under a bridge is not my idea of ‘safe.’ And I’m out of money.”
“I am not a bank.”
“I stand by my death wish statement,” Adam laughed. This time, he didn’t need any prodding. He drained the last of his coffee and slid from the booth.
“Thanks for the coffee.” Reaching back automatically, Adam took Eden’s hand. She let him help her up, his fingers wrapping around hers. Neither of their glamours so much as flickered. They’d long since grown immune to each other. Jarrod glanced over, saw them standing, and tapped James on the shoulder. They crossed the room to her.
“Wait. Where are you going?” Trailing behind, the girl followed to the door, but Jarrod pulled it shut behind him, leaving her inside.
The streets glistened with nighttime city shine, brought to life by the drizzle that had started while they’d been inside. Eden wasn’t surprised to see her breath. A few degrees colder and the discarded cigarette butts and straw wrappers would be frozen to the curb. Already the air smelled of snow under the exhaust fumes.
She led them past a seedy cabaret, ignoring the heroin eyes near the entrance. Turning down the alley that separated them from home, Jarrod’s steps faltered.
“Eden! Stop.”
She turned to him.
“Why’d you leave?”
“Because we don’t need another mouth to feed, Jarrod.”
Jarrod threw his hands in the air. “Oh, come on. You’ve been after Zach to join us for weeks now. Why not her?”
“Zach can take care of himself. That girl’s looking for a handout.”
“Are you kidding me? She needs a place to stay, and you need someone besides me and Adam to dose. Sounds like a fair trade to me.”
“I also need someone I can depend on and trust.” Footsteps echoed off the walls, cutting her short. “Great,” Eden whispered.
The girl caught up, her attention focused on Eden.
“I wasn’t finished!” Her defiant voice shattered against the brick buildings towering over them. Eden swiveled to face her, but Adam had already moved between the two.
“Whoa,” he said, shielding Eden behind him. “Ease up on the attitude…girl.”
“Libby,” she spat. Her jaw tightened, a wave of determination cresting over her perfectly rouged cheekbones. “Will you at least think about it? At least give me that much.”
Eden rolled her eyes, walking again. “I’ll make you a deal, Libby. I’ll think about it while you go get your money’s worth out of that hotel room,” she said as she rounded the corner.
She was letting her annoyance get the better of her. They were almost to the apartment, but Libby seemed satisfied enough to back off.
“Are you really gonna think about it?” Jarrod asked.
Eden smirked. “Any chance you’ll let it go?” Jarrod let out an exasperated sigh. “Didn’t think so,” she said, climbing the stairs.
CHAPTER 22
First it had been a car alarm; that had been easy enough to laugh off. But after jumping at the sound of the toaster, a blush colored Gabe’s cheeks.
Transferring from Upstairs never got any easier. It didn’t take any physical effort, just a pure thought of home was enough to get him there, but the New York tension, millions of tightly wound mortal coils, always seemed worse when he returned.
To top it off, on this trip there’d been an agenda. Most of his time Upstairs had been spent scouring through the record room, checking and double-checking. Tedious research on the dozen names Kristen had given him.
But he’d found what he was looking for.
Az shot him a sidelong gaze while he scraped butter onto his toast. “You’re edgy….”
A glob of butter melted off the knife, slopping onto the dish’s daisy chain border. Gabe sighed, long and harder than he’d intended. “Nnnn…” His voice strained on the first letter. He couldn’t finish the word.
Az dropped the blade onto the plate next to it, watching Gabe stifle a gag.
“No? You sure?” Az reached behind, opening the refrigerator. He groped the top shelf and handed Gabe a can of soda. “For the sulfur,” he added.
Gabe cracked the pull tab, took a long swig. Az shoved a piece of toast into his mouth. He chewed slowly, his elbows cocked behind him, leaning on the counter.
The straight inky hair didn’t look right on him. Gabe still hadn’t grown