Forget About Midnight (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #9)(47)

“Are you?” I retorted. “Don’t try to change the subject. Go ahead. Repeat your deal.”

I opened up the voice memo on my phone and hit record, motioning for him to repeat what he’d said. At first he simply stared at me. When I continued to stare right back, he began to speak. Once he was finished I saved the recording and smiled, satisfied.

I stuck my hand out, pretending not to notice how good he smelled. So human. Being in such a heavily human-populated place was starting to get to me.

“Looks like we have a deal,” I said. “Please don’t give me another reason to kill you. I don’t want to hurt Juliet that way, but I’m done with being f*cked around by you.”

The handshake was brief, as if Briggs knew better than to let me touch him for too long. His hand was warm in mine, strong but human. Fragile. The urge to drag his arm close and bite into his wrist flitted through me. I managed to resist.

“The sooner you turn yourself in, the better. I can take you in right now.”

“Slow down there, pal.” I held both hands up and shook my head. “There are other things I need to take care of. Tonight is no good.”

The unhappy expression he wore grew pinched. “We don’t have the luxury of time here, O’Brien. I’m not sure you understand how bad things are for Juliet. She was caught covering up your kills. That’s a career killer for most agents.”

“Not to mention the fact that you need me to come in to win yourself back some points for all of those agents that were killed on your watch in the last week or so, huh?” The more I interacted with Agent Briggs, the more transparent he became. “I warned you guys about Shya. The dragon thing was a shock to me too, but you should’ve listened.”

The buzz of frustration seeped from him to tantalize me. He seemed to be trying extra hard to show no emotion. “So you stopped him from claiming Lilah’s throne. Don’t think I’m not grateful for that, but he’s still out there. Don’t expect any awards or gift baskets any time soon.”

“Of course not. It doesn’t matter what good I do, even when I die in the process. I’ll only be known for the bad. Sounds about right.” I had no excuse for the bodies I’d left in my wake, but a little recognition for sacrificing my mortality to stop the demon would’ve been nice.

Briggs stood up to leave, indicating that he could end the conversation but I could not. It was difficult to keep my head on straight when I wanted to slam him down in his chair and make him listen to my side of things.

“Don’t think that I haven’t tried to see things your way. I have. I do understand that you made a tough choice that was for the good of this city. Maybe there is some humanity in you somewhere, but where you go mayhem follows. And that I can’t ignore.” He nodded, satisfied with his explanation. “Can I count on you tomorrow night?”

Once again I cursed my sister’s stupid decision to work for the government. Putting it off would only make things worse for her. As much of a pain in the ass as she’d been, she had put her life on the line for me.

“I’ll be there when I get there. Don’t push me.”

“Alone,” Briggs said. “Don’t bring anyone else. I can’t break out more than one of you. It would be too suspicious. It’s already suspicious enough.”

I rose too, following him to the exit. “You know that if I don’t get out, Arys will come in there for me. He’ll tear that place apart.”

Briggs’s hand slid down to rest on his gun. It seemed like a habitual action. “I’ll get you out.”

I stood outside the door, watching him make his way through the parking lot to a dark sedan. After he’d driven away, I returned to my car to find Jenner right where I’d left him.

“See?” He grinned when I got into the car. “Told you that I wouldn’t be seen.”

“Good for you. Would you like an encouraging pat on the head?” I stared at the green lights on the dash, lost in thought. What had I just agreed to? It could be suicide.

“I wouldn’t say no to a blowjob.” When I didn’t reply, he frowned. “What? No witty comeback? That’s no fun. What happened in there?”

It had taken me a moment to realize what he’d said. Now my opportunity to insult him had passed. Bummer.

“I agreed to turn myself in so they would release my sister.”

“Damn. That was stupid.”

I couldn’t disagree. “I know. But she’s in trouble, and it’s because of me. I have to do this.”

Jenner grew serious, and I knew what he was going to say before he said it. “Alexa, you have to tell Arys.”

Chapter Thirteen

“I know that, Jez, but I don’t have a choice. Look, I need you to get Kale out of there for the rest of the night. Shaz and Arys are coming by, and I don’t want to have a fight on my hands.”

I listened as Jez told me once again how crazy I was for even considering turning myself in. Finally she accepted that it wasn’t open to debate and agreed to get Kale out of The Wicked Kiss. At my request Jenner had called Arys and told him to meet us at the vampire bar. I was a mess of nerves. Not only was I not ready to see Arys again, but I didn’t trust myself to be around Shaz yet.

“Chill out, girl. You’re buzzing so f*cking hard I can feel my teeth rattling.” Jenner lounged in the passenger seat, waiting for me to work up the courage to drive back to The Wicked Kiss. “Want me to drive? I’m pretty good for someone who doesn’t do it often. I drove the shit out of your Jag and didn’t get a scratch on it.”