Page 9 (1/2)

"Where you going, John?"

Down in the mudroom at the back of the mansion, John froze with his hand on one of the doors that led into the garage Godda, you&039;d think you could leave without an audience But no eyes everywhere Opinions everywhere

It was like the orphanage in that respect

He turned and faced Zsadist The Brother had a napkin in one hand and a baby bottle in the other, having obviously just gotten up froee, guess what next person through the door was Qhuinn, and he had a half-eaten turkey leg with him as if it were his last hope of food for, like, the next ten hours

Blay&039;s arrival turned it into a fucking convention

Z nodded at the grip John&039;s hand had on the knob, so to look like a serial killer in spite of the baby paraphernalia Probably the facial scar More likely the eyes that were flashing black

"I asked you a question, boy"

I&039;e out

"So where&039;s your Rubbermaid"

Qhuinn polished off his dinner and then deliberately walked over to the trash bins to toss the cleaned-off bone "Yeah, John You wanna answer that"

No, he fucking didn&039;t

I&039;ned

Z leaned forward and planted a pal "You&039;ve been taking off a little earlier and a little earlier every night, but you&039;ve reached the cutoff I&039;o this early You&039;ll be burned to a crisp And PS, if you ever think of leaving without your private guard again, Wrath&039;s going use your face as a ha Christ, John" Qhuinn&039;s voice was a growl of disgust and he had an expression on his puss like someone had cleaned a bathroom with his bedsheets "I&039;ve never stopped you Ever But you fuck me like this?"

John stared at a place son that he&039;d heard when the Brother had been looking for Bella, he&039;d gone shit wild and done all kinds of crazy things Except bringing up that shellan &039;s abduction was a red cape in front of a bull and John was already doing the cloven-hoof thing about a female Tould be overkill

Z&039;s voice dropped "What&039;s doing, John?"

He stayed quiet

"John" Z leaned in further "I will beat an answer out of you if I have to"

Just got the ti The lie sucked ass, because if that were true, he&039;d have o out the front door and not covered his tracks with the trash story But he honestly didn&039;t care whether the bucket that carried his bullshit had a hole in the bottohtened and checked his watch "And you&039;re not leaving for another ten minutes"

John crossed his ar on the lockdown, and as the Jeopardy! the to explode

Z&039;s hard stare sure as hell didn&039;t help

Tenall around the mansion broke up the standoff and Z nodded at the door "Okay, go now if you want At least you won&039;t fry out" John turned away "I catch you without your ahstrux nohtru you in"

Qhuinn cursed "Yeah, and then I&039;ll get fired Which er You&039;re welcoripped the knob and yanked his way out of the house, his skin feeling too tight He didn&039;t want trouble with Z because he respected the guy, but he was pretty daeta louie and headed for the outside door that was on the back wall As he went along, he refused to look at the coffins that were stacked across the way Nope Didn&039;t need the iht now Sixteen? Whatever

Opening the steel door, he stepped onto the long rolling lawn that stretched out around the drained swi wall He knew that Qhuinn was right on his ass because the scent of disapproval contaminated the fresh air sure asby the cologne

Just as he was about to derabbed hard As he wheeled around to tell Qhuinn to fuck hi the holding and the redhead&039;s blue eyes were burning

The guy signed as opposed to spoke, probably because it forced John to pay attention

You want to get yourself killed, fine At this point, I&039; er others I won&039;t stand for that Don&039;t leave without telling Qhuinn again

John glanced over the guy&039;s shoulder at Qhuinn, as looking as if he wanted to hit so he was so frustrated Ah, so that hy Blay was doing the signing thing Didn&039;t want the third wheel in this dysfunctional triu said

We clear? Blay signed

It was a rarity that Blay ever punched a hole in the wall of opinion And that made John explain himself

I can&039;t proned Just can&039;t do it But I will swear that I will tell hiet out of the house

John--

He shook his head and squeezed Blay&039;s arm I just can&039;t promise anyone that Not herehi or when I&039;ll be back

Blay&039;s jaorked, clenching and releasing He wasn&039;t stupid, however He knehen there was a nonnegotiable on the table Okay I can live with that

"You tant to share some love?" Qhuinn dened, We&039;re going to the Xtreo to St Francis Avenue Trez textedsouth and west, taking forht before As his crew appeared behind hihted down the air

Staring across the concrete, he traced the various players That young gun with the busy pockets was still sainst one of the rahter so that it sparked but didn&039;t catch There were about a half dozen skaters riding the hard stone and another dozen talking and spinning the wheels on their boards Seven cars of various meh description were parked in the lot, and as the police rolled by slowly and kept going, John was feeling like this was a colossal waste of time

Maybe if they headed deeper into don and trolled the alleys they&039;d have more--

The Lexus that wheeled up into the lot didn&039;t park in one of the spaces It stopped perpendicular to those seven rear buot out froh school kid, ith the baggy jeans and the cowboy hat

But the breeze that floated over sue with no central AC

And also of Old Spice?

John straightened, his heart going all hi-how&039;re-ya His first thought was to lunge out and tackle the bastard, but Qhuinn caught hiuy said "Better to find out the whys"

John knew his buddy was right, so he pulled the parking brake on his body and got busythe license plate on the chromed-out LS 600h

The sedan&039;s other doors opened and three guys got out They were not as pale as really old lessers got, but they were a fair shade of white boy, for sure, and they stank to high heaven

Man, that baby-powder shit was straight-up nasty in the nose

With one slayer staying behind to watch the ride, the other two fell into formation with the little cowboy in front As they walked onto the concrete, all the eyes in the park went to thehtened and put his lighter in his pocket

"Shit, I e had h Unless there was a skyscraper nearby where they could get a roof&039;s-eye view, there would be no way of tracking the Lexus

The dealer didn&039;t move as he was approached and didn&039;t seeed , the slayers surrounded the guy and the bunch walked back over to the sedan

All but one lesser got in the car

Decision time Did they bust into a vehicle, hot-wire it, and take off in pursuit? Did theyLexus and thron? Trouble was, both of those solutions ran the risk of a serious disturbance of the peace--and there was only so roup of twenty hu behind," Qhuinnleft in the lot as the Lexus K-turned and started to head out

Letting the car go was the hardest thing John had ever done But the reality was, that bunch of bastards had just picked up one of the pri to be back And they&039;d left a lesser behind

So there were things to keep him and his boys busy

John watched the slayer walk into the park Unlike the guy he was taking the place of, he was a roa all of the eyes that were on him He clearly made the skaters anxious and a couple of theht before left But not everyone ary or sober enough to be concerned