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"Well, Dekes thinks that it is definitely worth your life," I said "And I’ someone Everyone else is just an innocent bystander"
"I’d go with cheerleaders myself," Finn said in a helpful voice
This time, Bria shoved her elbow into his side Finn winced and shuffled a little closer to Oho gave him an amused look
"I can’t let you do that, Gin," Donovan said in a low voice "I can’t let you go after Dekes You know that"
The anger that had been silared at hi, Detective Not one dairl, and I maketo crash Dekes’s press conference this afternoon That’s all there is to it"
"If you go after him, I’ll arrest you," Donovan snapped "I won’t be part of your ain Not here This is my town, Gin Not yours You can either play by et the hell off my island"
I opened myarrest ot to her feet and held up her hands
"Please, enough, stop Both of you Iappreciate what you’re trying to do, Gin," she said "What you’re offering to do for me But I’m not any more comfortable with this than Donovan is, especially since you’re talking aboutcasual that you do every day of the week"
Callie’s stateiven how s I’d taken out in Ashland over the past feeeks and all the others that would be waiting for s in the Ashland underworld were by noabout how ot the e to leave me the hell alone - if they ever did
But more than that, I sensed that sahting Dekes for le had taken its toll on her Oh, she see in her restaurant, laughing and joking with her staff and custo from a storm cloud Even now, in the privacy of her own office, her petite body was ra toward the door, as if she expected e in at any second just because ere talking about the va to bet that today wasn’t the first es under her eyes and knots in her stomach - but it could be the very last, if I had my ith Dekes this afternoon
"I understand," I said in a gentler voice "So how about we coly suggest that Dekes leave you alone We’ll leave it up to the vampire what happens from there What he does from then on and all the consequences are on him, okay? Can you live with that?"
Callie nodded with obvious relief, but the tension didn’t leave Donovan’s rough features The detective knew me far better than his fiancee did He knew exactly what I’d do if the vampire failed to heed my advice: that I’d stick my knives in Dekes and walk away before the vamp’s body even hit the floor And the worst part for Donovan was that he also realized there wasn’t a dained he could warn Dekes, but all that would do was et to the vampire and delay the inevitable And really, all Donovan’s talk about stopping me was just that - talk Just like it had been back in Ashland The detective wanted Callie to be safe, and deep down he was happy to let etin theelse to say, so Owen, Finn, Bria, and I left Callie and Donovan in the office The four of us walked back through the kitchen and the front of the restaurant before stepping outside into the afternoon sun The day was even hotter and more humid than the previous one had been
"I think that went rather well," Finn said in a cheery voice "All things considered"
I looked at Bria "Do you want to slap hio-ahead motion "The pleasure is all yours"
Finn winced and ducked behind Owen "Quick! Let’s hed "You’re on your own, buddy Let me kno that turns out for you"
Finn huffed, but he didn’t step out froone, leaving only a few cars parked in front of the restaurant - including Finn’s smashed-up convertible He walked over to his beloved Aston Martin and exale before he turned to look at lad you killed those black-hearted sons of bitches," he muttered "Look what they did to my car, my beautiful, beautiful car If they were here, I’d shoot out their kneecaps myself"
I rolled my eyes "It’s just a car, Finn It’s not like you don’t have a dozen others back ho"
He sniffed "Yes, but those are back home, and we’re here And this model was destined to be a classic Now it’s just another piece of junk"
He stuck out his lip, pouted, and then kicked the tire the way that a little boy would
I looked at Bria "How do you put up with him?"
Bria started to open her mouth, but Finn piped up instead