“I didn’t. I wouldn’t—”

“Then Tristan tried to make you do it. You didn’t hesitate then—you wouldn’t kill me for him. But the first time? Yeah, the first time, it took you a few extra seconds to decide to pull me up.”

“I would never—”

“Right.” Ricky turned around then. “You wouldn’t. But that one moment where you considered it is driving you crazy. You can’t forget that you imagined what it would be like. Kill me. Get me out of the way. Have Liv for yourself.” Ricky lifted his hands over his head. “Go ahead and shoot.”

Gabriel glowered at him. Then he bent, put the gun on the ground, straightened, and crossed his arms.

“So you won’t kill me?” Ricky said.

“Never.”

“Mmm, I wouldn’t say never. If I lost my mind and threatened Liv, you’d kill me. I’d expect you to. But not for this. You would never kill me …” Ricky picked up the gun. “And I would never take her away from you.”

Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.

“Yeah,” Ricky said. “I was just riling you up. Liv told me about the vision of those kids. The boys from the fifties. She was freaked out because she’d wanted you to see a good side of Gwynn, and instead you got that. I decided that you and I need to move past this. Prove that you aren’t going to shoot me in the back or push me off a balcony. I’d say it’s proving you aren’t Gwynn, but that’s bullshit. Gwynn wouldn’t have killed Arawn. If he could have, that might have solved a whole lotta problems. But he wasn’t that guy. Neither are you.”

Ricky looked at Gabriel. “And yeah, you’re probably thinking this really wasn’t the time for this crap, but notice that I didn’t stop moving until now. And I needed you distracted enough, worrying about Liv, not to question my acting. Now we need to find Liv. But before we do, I’m going to make you a promise, Gabriel, and I need you to make the same back. I will never interfere with your friendship with Liv. Ever. Now, your turn.”

Gabriel’s brow furrowed.

“Promise me that you’ll never interfere with my friendship with Liv.”

“With your relationship?”

“No, my friendship. Whatever happens with our relationship, you will not interfere with our friendship. I want your vow.”

Gabriel gave it.

Ricky handed him back the gun. Then he took the cartridge from his pocket and passed it over.

“You’ll need this,” he said.

“The gun wasn’t loaded?”

Ricky snorted and continued down the corridor. “I trust you, Gabriel. But I’m not crazy.”

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

The knife at my throat wasn’t nearly as heart-stopping as it should have been. Okay, maybe my heart did skip a beat, but my body moved straight into survival mode, thanks again to Ricky’s training. Also thanks to the fact that Melanie wasn’t exactly skilled with a blade.

I grabbed her arm and wrenched it from my neck before she could do more than gasp. This time, though, she didn’t release the knife. Her wrist flicked, the tip of the blade catching me. The bullet wound in my side blazed as I twisted, and blood from the knife slice welled up along my forearm, but I kept pulling her down, my other hand going to grab hers, both of us gripping the knife, her trying to slash, me madly struggling to break her hold in any way—

Bone snapped. Her wrist. She let out a howl of pain, and from somewhere through the next doorway I heard an answering cry. But we were already grappling on the floor, the knife knocked aside, the two of us locked in a hold, Melanie grabbing my hair with her good hand, me kneeing her as I gripped her broken wrist, squeezing until she yowled in pain and—

“Gods, Pepper,” Melanie’s voice said from some distant place. “Stop being such a baby. We all need to pull our weight.”

I was standing in a room. Sunset glowed through the window. Melanie was getting dressed for the hunt, wriggling into a miniskirt, while Pepper watched and nibbled at her lip.

“I don’t like him,” Pepper said. “I’m sorry, Mel. I can’t. Not him. Can’t I go with you? I like that better. It’s easier.”

“This isn’t about what you like,” Melanie snapped. “It’s survival. When you come with me, I do the work and you get to share the reward. That’s not fair.”

“Can we go back to how we did it before? I’m good at picking pockets. I bring in more money than anyone else. I do more chores, too. That’s fair, isn’t it?”

Melanie turned, sighing, and put her arm around Pepper. “I know, ee mikri mou. That is fair. But after nearly getting shot in that drive-by last month, I realized if I’m gone, you need to be able to take care of yourself—to feed yourself. We’ll still mostly do it the old way. You bring in the money and do extra chores, and you can share my feedings. But now and then, you need to feed yourself. Show me you can do it.”

Pepper nodded, her gaze dropping. “Okay.”

Melanie hugged her. “I’m only trying to protect you. You understand that, right, Pep?”

Another nod.

“This guy is a creep, but he’s an easy mark. Let him take you to his cabin for the weekend, and you’ll get plenty of food with little effort.” She winked and nudged Pepper. “Believe me, very little effort. Five seconds and he’s done. Now get yourself dolled up and I’ll see you on Monday.”