Just Bob (Assassins Inc. #1)(22)

That might be my biggest question.

“That, I’m not sure of. Councilman James wants something from you.”

Huh.

“Do you know what he wants?”

“No, unfortunately, I don’t, but I suspect it has something to do with the contract put out on you.”

Yeah, I kind of thought that was a given. Kidnapping and killing seemed to go hand in hand in every movie I had ever seen. Granted this wasn’t a movie, but it was so surreal that it came close to fantasy.

“I’m just a junior accountant. Why would anyone want to kill me?”

“Have you seen anything lately that you shouldn’t have?”

“Like a wrong place, wrong time sort of thing?”

Sinclair glanced up at me with raised eyebrows, almost as if he hadn’t thought I’d put that clue together. “Yeah.”

“No. Nothing.”

My life was boring and mundane. As often as I wished for a little excitement, now that I was getting it, I kind of wished for mundane again.

I guess hindsight was twenty-twenty.

“Maybe you saw something and don’t know you saw something.”

“I guess that is always possible.” It just didn’t seem like it. “This feels personal, though. I mean, the price keeps going up. Someone seriously wants me dead.”

“Can you think of anyone that hates you?”

“No.” I just didn’t know that many people.

“What about past lovers. Any trouble there?”

I snorted. “What past lovers?”

The guy in college didn’t count.

Sinclair lifted an eyebrow. “Current lovers?”

“Shade.”

“I mean besides him.”

“No.” I shook my head. “Just Shade.”

Sinclair grimaced and went back to wheeling himself down the hallway. “Yeah, I know what that is like.”

Wait. What?

“You’ve slept with Shade?” Why did that make me so angry? Shade had a life before me. I knew that. I didn’t exactly have a right to get upset over it. Maybe it was meeting someone he slept with in person that pissed me off so much. I clenched my hands to keep from ripping Sinclair’s head off.

Sinclair swung back around so fast, his chair bumped into the wall. “No!”

“Then why did you—”

The flush that brightened Sinclair’s cheeks was interesting. “I meant I know all about dry spells.”

“Oh.” I frowned as I mulled that bit of news around in my head. “Is it because of the chair?”

“That’s part of it.” I caught just a glimpse of sadness in Sinclair’s eyes before he turned his head away. “It’s complicated.”

Apparently, a lot of things were complicated.

My life being at the top of the list.

I skidded to a stop before I plowed into the back of Sinclair’s wheelchair when he stopped suddenly. “What’s wrong?” I asked when he stilled.

“Quiet.”

I pressed my lips together.

I didn’t hear anything, but then, I was human. Sinclair must be some sort of shifter with really good hearing. I expected to see pointy ears grow out of the top of his head at any moment.

“Get down behind my chair,” Sinclair whispered. “Don’t move a muscle until I say so.”

Easily done.

I dropped to a crouch behind Sinclair’s wheelchair, trying to curl myself into the smallest ball possible. I didn’t know what was coming—or who—but apparently, I needed to hide.

I was all for hiding, especially when I started to hear footsteps coming in our direction. I squeezed my eyes shut when my fear threatened to spill out. I couldn’t remember ever being this scared, not even when I realized Shade was a shifter and I thought he was going to eat me.

“Hey, Simon, have you seen James?” Sinclair asked when the footsteps reached us.

“I’m not his babysitter,” Simon replied.

“Don’t give me any shit, Simon. James told me to find him when the prisoner started to wake up.”

“The little human is waking up?”

Little human?

Yeah, I didn’t like that.

“He’s starting to stir. I think he’ll be awake pretty soon.”

“He’s awake?” Simon asked, sounding surprised. I didn’t understand why. Sinclair had just told him I was starting to wake up.

Just how dumb was this guy?

“Not yet, you idiot,” Sinclair snapped. “That’s what starting to stir means.”

“But he’ll be awake soon?”

Sinclair’s voice got very low when he replied. “Why?”

“He’s human.” There was a duh tone there. I wondered if Sinclair heard it and agreed.

“And?” Sinclair asked. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“I’ve never seen a human up close.”

“Never?” There was pure doubt in Sinclair’s voice.

“No. I’ve always served Councilman James. He doesn’t like us to mingle with humans because they are weak.”

I wanted to disagree with the guy, but he was right. Compared to shifters, humans were weak. We didn’t have the strength, the speed, or the stamina. That did not mean we were less intelligent.