Page 87 of Zone
Knox
Are you wet for me?
Melody
Knox…
Knox
I’ll take that as a yes.
Grinning, I lean my head back against the chair. I turn my face to look out at the dark night. Far below, the streets are awash in orange, purple, black, and gold. Music drifts up to where I sit, and I shift the baby, moving her onto my shoulder as I slowly carry her to her new portable crib beside my bed.
I put her inside on her back, then I shoot Edward a quick text that I’m going out for a little while. I have one thing on my mind, and I’m not getting any sleep without it.
* * *
The streetcar stopsat every other corner it seems, and not even the cool night tamps the heat surging in my veins.
A group of women hop on wearing black lace dresses with ragged-edges on the arms and the hems. They’re all in long, black wigs and pointy hats. It looks like a fun group, and I accidentally catch the eye of the tall one before turning to face the open window.
“Do I know you?” She sits on the wooden bench beside me, and I turn back, judging from the tiny laugh lines around her eyes she’s about my mom’s age.
“Maybe,” I deflect, not really wanting to be recognized.
Before I left the house, I pulled on a black hoodie along with jeans and my white tee. I pulled the hood portion over my head, and I’ve kept my gaze focused out the window to avoid being spotted.
“Were you at Lawrence’s party on Lake Pontchartrain last weekend?” The woman leans closer, frowning at me.
“Yeah,” I nod, smiling lightly.
I figure the best way to throw her off my real identity is by pretending to be whoever she thinks I am.
“Ugh, of course. I thought you looked familiar.” She pushes the hat a little further back on her head. “Can you believe how wasted Theo got? I swear one of these days he’s going to fall in that pool and drown.”
“His dog’ll rescue him.” I just throw it out there to see what happens. Fifty-fifty chance, I’ll wager.
“Butter?” Her voice goes high, and she leans back laughing loudly. “That little dog couldn’t stop shaking long enough to save herself. Oh, this is our stop.”
She stands going to the door with her party, pausing to wave back at me. “Will you be at Andrea’s next weekend? I’ll see you there.”
I nod and wave to her, thinking this is one of the things I love most about this city. As big and diverse as it is, no one has ever met a stranger. That and how close a good time is every day and everywhere you turn.
I don’t know what’s going to happen for me next, but my life here has just begun. I’m not about to give up on it.
Another thought forming in my mind is I want Melody with me. It’s new, and I’m still working out the details, but I’m more determined than ever to stay inside her walls.
She’s got to see how good we are together.
CHAPTER 20
Melody
“You sure you don’t want to come with me?” Lindsey stands in the living room in a black lace witch’s dress. A long, black wig is on her head, and she’s wearing one of those pointy hats. “The Anne Rice ball is only a few blocks from here, and it’s truly the best party of the year.”
“They’re still doing that?” I’m surprised, considering the Queen of the Vampires passed on several years back.
“Pretty sure her son or some relative took it over. It’s too perfect to let it go, and I believe she might just be hanging around in that old house.”
