Page 14 of Power of the Mind
“Fine. Give me a couple of days to see what I can find.”
“What about me? Can’t I help?”
“With what? A background check? You’ve done your research. Let me do mine. Alone.”
“And if you think it’s worth investigating?”
“Then I’ll call you.”
Tallus softly laughed. “Guns, the day youcall meis the day pigs fly outta my ass.”
“I said I’ll call, so I’ll call.”
“And if there’s anything suspicious, you’ll let me help?”
“There won’t be.”
“If there is?”
“Then I’ll let you help.”
“Promise?”
“For fuck’s sake.” I scrubbed my face and glared. “I promise.”
Unaffected, Tallus smiled and pushed the laptop aside before shifting to face me. He balanced an elbow on the desk and rested his chin in an upturned palm. “Now that we’ve settled that, how’s it going, Guns?”
I didn’t know what he meant, so I worked my jaw and tried not to look like I was crawling out of my skin with our proximity and his undivided attention. I could smell Tallus’s cologne—it had worked its way through the entire room. Underneath the spicy aroma was a hint of something unique to Tallus. Something I craved.
“Is life going okay?”
“Peachy.”
“I saw you last night… outside my apartment… parked on the street.”
I looked away, feigning interest in a long-dried ink spill staining the desktop. I wasn’t naïve. I knew Tallus was aware of my presence whenever I ventured to his house or work or followed him around the city. It wasn’t like I was hiding, but it didn’t mean I wasn’t ashamed of my behavior.
“Why didn’t you come up?”
“You had company.”
“We were watching bad reality TV. You could have joined us.”
“Not my thing.”
“What is your thing, D?”
I remained quiet, unsure how to answer sincemy thingwas reclusiveness, isolation… and apparently stalking hot-as-fuck records clerks from the Toronto Police Department. My thing used to be Spark and nameless men in dark alleys until Tallus fucking Domingo invaded my life ten months ago and ruined me.
“Are you busy today?”
“No.”
“Wanna catch a matinee?”
“What? No.”
“Take a drive?”