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"Lucky her," I said "So who&039;s trying to kill me?"

"Wish it were that simple," he said, and shifted uncomfortably "Jesus, would it kill you to do a little reupholstering here? It&039;sfat ass is just used to that luxurious Ger his in the seat "Come on, Paul, you have to have some idea"

"There&039;s a lot of folks that loved Bad Bob Personally, I thought he was a gigantic pain in the ass, but that&039;s just ed, looked down at his large, strong hands "I know you two didn&039;t get along"

There was a lot I could say about that-a lot I wanted, desperately, to say-but it wasn&039;t the right time or place, and I wasn&039;t sure Paul could ever really understand anyway Things were simpler in Paul&039;s world I wish I lived in it

"You need to tell me what happened that day," he said when I didn&039;t start talking "It&039;s iuilty, you need to think aboutsome kind of defense I can help you I want to help you"

"I can&039;t"

"Jo" He twisted in the seat with a creak of springs and looked directly atbut direct, un this as your friend, I&039;ive yourself up and start telling your side of the story, you know they&039;re co after you You can&039;t run around loose like this One of theto call the Power Rangers?" That was our own private jokeMarion Bearheart&039;s division of the Association had no official name, but they were the justice system of our screwed-up little world Quietly took care of the problems Calmly dispensed justice when required No arrest, no jury, just the gentle, final judgment of the executioner

He held my eyes "I don&039;t have to, and you know it They&039;ll find you They&039;re already on your trail"

I had a very cold, cold thought "You think the lightning bolt-"

"I think it&039;s a warning, Jo, whether it ca you&039;re into You don&039;t want to laugh it off Not this tientle touch I knew he had enough physical strength to crush my hand like paper If Paul wanted to restrain e-unless I wanted to fight on the aetheric Which made me think of Bad Bob, and I felt a wave of sickness break over

"Stay," he said Still a request

"Thought you had a lunch date"

"It can wait" He was looking atme in that half-lidded, intense way that carbonatedto get myself in trouble, one way or another "I don&039;t believe you did anything wrong I think Bad Bob lived up to his reputation, things got out of hand-is that hoas?"

"I can&039;t do this," I said, and pulledbrown eyes His eyebrows pulled together The smell of aftershave reminded me that I wanted to kiss hiive in to teht slid warold God, I wanted cobetter

I knew better than to believe I could find it anywhere except inside myself

"You needbolt would have torn his carefulthe weather into chaos even if it wasn&039;t yet visible to the naked eye He shook his head

"I&039;ve got three people on it already The less work you do in the aetheric, the better," he said "And stay the fuck out of Oversight Especially if you&039;re deterlow like a heat laot to keep on with it"

"I could stop you, you know"

"I know" I leaned forward and kissed hiht him by surprise After a few seconds, those sensual full lips warood; the reality was better When I pulled back, he had a glazed look in his brown eyes, but he blinked and it cleared up So much for my ability to cloud men&039;s ood," I protested But he wasn&039;t kidding He was looking at

"There&039;s so with you," he said "I can&039;t see it, but your aura&039;s turned red Blood colors, Jo You knohat it means-"

When I looked down atform of the De its way down I focused hard and halted its progress, but I couldn&039;t hold it for long When I looked up, Paul was in Oversight, right in front of old and blue, perfect in their intensity He&039;d see it He had to see it in me

Back in the real world, he only said, "Are you sick?"

I wanted to tell him I didn&039;t knohy he couldn&039;t see it inout ofall over with the desire to tell hi he wouldn&039;t let slide

"Sick," I finally agreed

"Let et Marion She can help you-"

"No!" The protest ripped out of me with so much force, I felt it slaet my voice under control "No, she can&039;t Nobody can Understand?"

He kept looking at h to the black shadow of the o," I said "Are you going to turn me in?"

It was so quiet in the car that I could hear the ticks and pops of Delilah&039;s engine cooling, hear my own fast heartbeat Somewhere off in the distance, thunder ruer, caressed the line of my cheekbone, and then sat back like he wished he hadn&039;t touched et on the hot line just yet I&039;ll give you that much But we both know Marion&039;s people will find you And if they don&039;t, when the Council calls me to join the hunt, I&039;ll come at you, sweetheart You knoill I have no choice" He let out a long breath "Maybe that&039;s for the best Because if you&039;re really sick-"

"I know" I was no longer looking at hiernails were ragged and torn I picked at one and focused on a shiny red bead that appeared at the corner of one cuticle, lifted the hand toof blood

"You have five hours to get out of my sector," he said "Try to come back, and my Djinn will stop you You don&039;t set foot in my territory, Joanne Not until this is over Understand?"

"Yes" One-word ansere possible, but just barely God, this hurt I&039;d anticipated everything but how much it would hurt

Paul reached over and took ly, very rough He worked with his hands, I remembered On his car

"TellI swear, it won&039;t go anywhere else I just want to know"

"I can&039;t" And I didn&039;t dare Finally, I pulled in a deep breath and said, "I&039; after Lewis"

He looked confused Bothered, even "Lewis?"

"Lewis Orwell"

"I knoho the fuck Lewis is Everybody knows Why Lewis?"

"Because he has three Djinn I met one at his house, so he still has two ive uy as surprised often, but his eyebrows shot skyward "What do you mean, at his house? How can you knohere he is?"

"He toldwhen I said it, but there, I&039;d kept the secret a long time I deserved a little round of I&039;m-cooler-than-you, especially with Paul, as rarely out of the loop "Long tilare "I&039;et it"