“I call out for him because I’m murdering him in my dreams. I hate him.” I put some poison behind my words, hoping to deflect their attention from the real reason.
The server shows up then with our meals. After the food is handed out, we all dig in. A couple of moments go by before Izzy speaks up.
“I have a shovel. If you ever want to do it for real.” She says it as if she’s talking about how nice it is outside. Then she pops a strawberry into her mouth as if she didn’t just offer to help me bury a body.
“I might take you up on that, Iz.”
Matt and Angelo’s eyes bug out of their head, but they keep their mouths shut.
“Anyway, how are things for you, Sof?” Matt changes the subject.
The rest of brunch goes by quickly and with a lot of laughter. It’s the first time in a while I’ve felt this happy. As we walk out, I get the feeling of being watched. I look around discreetly and see a man across the street who looks familiar. Someone I might have worked on before at the clinic. I narrow my eyes as I try to make him out, but a large truck comes by, obstructing my view.
“What is it?” Angelo is immediately at attention.
“What?” I turn, not realizing he was paying attention.
“You were looking for something. What did you see?”
“Oh, just someone I thought I knew. It wasn’t who I thought it was though.”
“Mia, are you sure?” He grabs my arms and forces me to look at him.
“I’m sure.”
“Okay. You need to tell me these things. I’m here to protect you. I can’t do that if you keep things from me.”
I see where he’s coming from, but I don’t see a reason to worry them when I’m not even sure what I was looking at. It could have been anyone really.
“I will, Angelo. I promise.”
He lets me go, and I join the girls in the back of Matt’s SUV.
“What was that about?” Sofia asks.
“He was just making sure I knew to tell him if I see anything out of place. I told himobviouslyI would call him. I’m not stupid.”
They chuckle.
“These guards do get a kick out of treating us like children, don’t they?” Izzy asks.
“Hey! I thought we were more than that, Isa.” Matt doesn’t hide the hurt in his tone.
I watch Isabel’s face light up at the use of this new nickname. I don’t know where it came from, but it makes her smile.
“I wasn’t talking about you, Matty. You’re one of us girls.”
He groans. “I think that might be worse. I’d rather be just a guard.”
“Too late, Matty. You have been accepted as one of our own. No way out now. Unless….” She trails off and winks at me and Sofia.
“Unless? Don’t leave me hanging.”
And he walked right into it.
“Unless you like body bags, Matty boy.”
“There’s only one way out of this exclusive club, Matt. Once you join, the only way out is through death. Sorry, babe.” I chuckle as I watch his face fall in the rearview mirror at my words.
