Right Through Me (The Obsidian Files #1)(53)

“Be careful,” he said to her. “That’s all I’m asking.”

“I will,” she said. “I always am. Goodbye.”

Noah opened the door and propelled his body through it. The door clicked shut.

Freddie grinned up at him from halfway down the stairs between the sixth floor and the fifth. “Lucky boy,” he croaked. “Everybody’s been wanting what you just got.”

Rage he hadn’t allowed himself to feel roared up like jet fuel. He ran down the steps and fixed Freddie with his most terrifying stare.

“Just so you know,” he said. “Anyone who disrespects her gets his liver torn out. Then I feed it to him, piece by piece. Is that clear?”

Freddie’s smirk vanished. So did the leering gleam in his watery brown eyes. “Ah. Yeah. Clear. Got it.”

“Spread the word,” Noah said. “As a community service.”

Freddy nodded, blinking rapidly. Noah moved on down the staircase.

He stumbled out onto the street, and tried, out of force of habit, to do an analog dive. It didn’t work. His body still throbbed with the overload of sensations, emotions. He didn’t want to put them in the deep freeze. He did not want to chill, after all that heat. He’d changed radically. After one single goddamn night.

He was vaguely surprised to see that his car was still there. Seemed like a week had gone by since he left it.

Zade’s ring tone sounded. He fumbled in his pocket for his phone, but then Zade himself walked around the corner. Noah slid the phone back into his pocket.

“Well, well,” Zade said. “Imagine my surprise.”

Noah had nothing to say. His hard drive was wiped.

“I remember you saying to me yesterday that this was a mystery, to be unraveled carefully and discreetly,” Zade went on. “Guess I just didn’t hear the part when you said, ‘with my dick.’”

Noah’s breath hissed through his teeth. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“Oh yeah? That’s Olund’s ex! I told you to flirt with the girl, not f*ck her!”

“Not his ex,” he said. “She wasn’t his lover.”

“Yeah? Did she tell you that? What makes you so goddamn sure?”

He had no doubts at all. Mark was covered with scars just like his. If Caro had seen such a phenomenon before, it would have been visible in her sig.

But last night was none of Zade’s business. “Drop it.”

“Fuck no,” Zade said belligerently. “I sat around all night in this shitty neighborhood, fending off the creeps who wanted to feel my fine ass for free, or buy drugs from me, or whatever else was squirming around inside their pointy little heads so I could pick up this woman’s tail again, and you drive up with her loaded into your Porsche? What, you forgot? You’ve been boning this girl all night, but did you call and say, dude, I’ll pick up the tab for your tacos and beer and you wait while I take her home and f*ck her—whoa!”

Zade grunted, startled as Noah slammed him against the brick wall, his hand wound into the folded collar of Zade’s thick shearling jacket.

“Do not speak about her like that.” He barely recognized his own voice.

Zade made no move to defend himself, though he was supremely capable of doing so. He just stared at Noah, his dark gaze alive with suspicion. “Holy shit,” he said. “What the hell? Are you in love with this woman?”

“No!” He couldn’t seem to breathe. All the strength ran out of the arm that clamped the other man against the wall.

He let go, and just stood there swaying, fists clenched.

Zade looked almost scared. “I’ve never seen you like this. What the f*ck is wrong with you? Are you OK? Do I need to call—”

“No.” Noah waved his hand in negation. “I’m just . . .” He broke off, rubbed his mouth. “It’s the AVP. And stress hormones. The combat program is kicking my ass.”

“Oh.” Zade studied him intently. “So. What about the Ice Maiden?”

Noah frowned at him blankly. “Who?”

Zade rolled his eyes, disgusted. “Your fiancée? Simone? She doesn’t deserve this kind of shit, you two-timing pig.”

“We broke up,” Noah said.

Zade’s eyebrows shot up. “Say what? Did she cry?”

“No,” Noah said, uncomfortably. “She dumped me. Gave me back the ring. Told me I was a prick, not in those exact words. That was it.”

“Wow. And your rebound is Mark’s fugitive ex? You’re keeping it interesting, I’ll say that much for you.”

“Don’t call her that,” Noah snapped. “She’s not Mark’s ex.”

Zade’s own unique design of augmented sensory processing, with different brain stim and implants, made him as good at reading people as Noah, in his own way. It felt strange, being observed so intently. Not that he had any goddamn right to complain.

“So what now?” Zade said finally.

“You’d better up your game, for one,” Noah said. “She saw you twice and remembered every detail. She thinks you’re a hit man for Mark, with good reason. She’s skipping town because of you. Mark’s trying to destroy her, but she wouldn’t tell me a goddamn thing.”