Page 10 of Kill Me Again: Psychics

Chapter Five

Baxter

The calls started at five, not long after I’d left Blade’s tiny flat. First Asher. Twice. I ignored them. Then Calisto. I ignored that, too. It was while I was sitting on a park bench contemplating why an afternoon of alcohol-soaked sex had proved so disappointing, despite Blade being well-endowed and impressively enthusiastic, that my phone lit up again. This time, Cade’s name filled the screen.

Grimacing, I brought my phone to my ear and did what I felt was a sterling job of sounding sober when I greeted him.

Cade didn’t bother returning the greeting. “I want your ass in my office an hour ago.”

A whole slew of vodka-fueled smart-arse remarks crowded the tip of my tongue, most of them revolving around not realizing Cade appreciated my ass that much. After a brief internal struggle, I emerged the victor and held them back.

“Did you hear me?” he demanded. He sounded annoyed enough that I regretted ignoring Asher’s calls. Had I realized they were acting as a mouthpiece for Cade rather than Calisto, I’d have answered. At least with Asher, you got frostbitten politeness instead of simmering rage.

“I heard you.”

“I don’t want to know where you are. I don’t want to know what you’re doing. The only thing I want to know is how long it will be before you’re standing in front of me.”

“I can get a cab.”

“Not an answer.”

I did a quick calculation based on traffic, distance, and the likely waiting time for a cab. And then I added ten minutes to be on the safe side. “Forty-five minutes.”

“I’ll expect you in forty. Don’t be late.”

The line went dead.

I made it in thirty-five. At least I had my ID this time, the journey to Cade’s office completed in under three minutes. Asher was waiting when I stepped out of the lift, his expression carefully neutral.

I raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you have left already? Calisto will send out a search party.”

“I told Calisto I’d be late.” Of course he had. With Calisto, Asher was endlessly kind, thoughtful, and considerate. It was the rest of humanity he treated with disdain, which wasn’t entirely fair, given he’d been nothing but nice to me. “Cade said to go straight in.”

Typical. The one time I’d have welcomed a delay, Cade could see me immediately. I hesitated with my hand on the door. “Is he…?” I began.

“Just go in, Baxter,” Asher said. “It’s better to get this over with.”

“This?” I asked.

He didn’t answer, reaching past me to open the door. His proximity made me acutely aware that I’d left Blade’s place without showering. It hadn’t seemed important at the time. There was nothing I could do about it now except endure this meeting and escape as quickly as possible.

Then I could go home, lock myself away, and mentally prepare myself for when I closed my eyes. How many times had I already relived the knife sliding into my back? A hundred? More? It had to be more. At least when I’d been dead, there were no nightmares, because I hadn’t slept. In hindsight, I should have been more grateful.

Cade wasn’t behind his desk. He was pacing.

Not a good sign. Neither was Asher following me into the office. Nothing positive ever came from being double-teamed. Cade swung around when I entered, dark brows knitting together.

“Thirty-nine minutes,” I said, attempting to lighten the atmosphere, which felt as heavy and volatile as an electrical storm.

It didn’t raise a smile. From either of them. I gestured toward Cade’s desk. “Should I sit?”

“No.”

Okay, then. I stood awkwardly in the center of the room, wishing I’d skipped the question and just done it. I deliberately closed my mind to any stray thoughts, figuring it was better if I didn’t know what either man was thinking.

“When I employed you here,” Cade began, his words coming out with a careful cadence that told me he was exercising a great deal of restraint, “I thought it was what you needed. Distraction. Something to focus on. Stability in a world that must have felt very far from it. You acted as if it were easy to return, but it couldn’t have been. So much had changed. Technology. People. Language. I thought a job would ground you. Give you a chance to build relationships with your fellow psychics.”

“Kendrick, Leo, and Silas are great.”