Toxic (Denazen #2)(8)

He peeked around the side of the building. When he pulled back, his eyes were wide. “Are you asking me if I’m trying to snap you up for Daddy? Are you high? I’d never hurt—”

Fists curled tight, I decked him. My knuckles clipped the edge of his bony jaw, sending a thousand prickles of pain shooting through each finger, but it was worth it. He’d been about to say he’d never hurt me. So he thought watching him gut Kale wouldn’t hurt? Still, after all that, the possibility that he was working with Dad—for Dad—made me sick. We’d had our differences, an even mix of lies and misunderstandings, but we’d meant something to each other once.

Then he had to go and try to kill my boyfriend.

He shook his head in surprise and touched his face. “Fine. I deserve that. But right now—”

“Screw you.” Now wasn’t the time to lay into him, but my mind kept coming back to what happened at Sumrun. The image of Alex standing over Kale was burned into my brain, and no amount of time would wipe it away. Plus him showing up the exact moment I fell from the crane? Way too convenient. A small, logical part of my brain told me it’d be impossible for him to have known I’d lose my immunity to Kale—much less the moment it would happen, but I didn’t trust him. There was more to this. Had to be.

“This part of the plan? Steer me into a dark alley and wait for them to come along and scoop me up?”

He threw his hands in the air and kicked the side of the building. “You pulled me into the alley.”

I glared at him but said nothing.

“I’m trying to help you.” He looked like he might explode. I’d seen Alex lose his cool several times, and it wasn’t pretty, but this screamed borderline unhinged. His face turned scarlet, and each fist, balled tight to the point his knuckles almost glowed in the dark, shook in frustration. “Ginger told me to go to the construction site, okay? She said you needed me.”

“Bullshit,” I snapped. “Why would she ask you for anything? You tried to kill her grandson.”

“For fu—that wasn’t—”

Something moved at the other end of the alley, followed by a duet of dark chuckles. Alex didn’t wait. Without apology, he shoved me toward the street. No need to tell me twice. I might not have wanted him within forty feet of me, but if it was a choice between that and visiting with Dad—he won hands down.

“Head for Parker Avenue—the business district,” I huffed. “We can lose them there.”

We raced across Mill Street and cut through the Food Smart parking lot to Parker as the sky opened up again.

“Move!” Alex snapped in between gasps. “Faster!”

Because I wasn’t already moving as fast as I could? Moron!

I hadn’t been to the heart of the business district all summer. A bunch of the old crew used to come down on weekends and jump the buildings. The ones on the edge of the district—the few remaining low-rent apartment complexes and office buildings—were right on top of each other. Easy to jump. Starter flys, we’d called them. The ones in the center—the factories and warehouse distributors—were slightly farther apart. More of a challenge. Last time we’d all been out here, Gillman swore he was going to jump one of the buildings in the center. I wondered if he ever actually went through with it.

I stopped at the edge of the Janseck factory to catch my breath, but Alex wasn’t having it. He yanked on my arm and shoved me in the direction of the tall, familiar building across the street. “Come on. My old apartment building usually keeps the door on the roof open. We can slip in and hide.”

After dark, the traffic was minimal—not that the business district made the top ten hot spots of Parkview any time of day. We raced across the road and around to the back of Alex’s old apartment complex.

The ladder for the fire escape wasn’t down, and we couldn’t reach it, but that was easy enough to fix. A simple wave of Alex’s hand, and it came crashing toward us—complete with clanking metal and an echoing scream.

Why not just send up a flare or use a megaphone to announce our presence? Starting up the ladder, I hissed, “Be a little less stealthy, why don’t ya?”

I pulled myself over the edge and climbed onto the roof. The wind whipping across my shoulders sent an icy chill down my spine, making me sorry I’d tossed my hoodie on the way up the crane.

“There.” Alex flew across the roof and pulled up on the door handle. “Um…”

“‘Um’ doesn’t sound good. Why are you ‘um’-ing?” I took a step forward. “Don’t ‘um’!”

Someone had pissed in karma’s cereal and blamed it on me. Tonight nothing seemed to be going right.

Alex gave one last, violent yank on the handle. “It’s locked.”

A metallic clatter behind us caught my attention. I didn’t dare peek over the edge. “Gotta go.” I took off across the rooftop, Alex on my heels, as Able’s voice rang out.

“Hide and go seek, yeah?”

“Woo-hoo!” His brother let out a chilling cry as footsteps thundered behind us.

“Jump!” Alex screamed as he sprinted ahead and leapt from the ledge.

I stopped short—just in time to watch him sail through the air, over the gap between the two buildings, and slam against the edge of the one next door. But he caught the rim of the ledge and managed to haul himself over the side.