Jenny swiveled in her chair to face Max. “And how long until he gets here?”
“I don’t know. He’s having trouble contacting her parents, I’m thinking tomorrow sometime.”
“It could be too late by then.” I said.
“I know.” He said and for just a second I saw fear cloud his eyes.
What was I doing giving him a hard time while someone he cared about was missing? A seed of guilt began to grow in the pit of my stomach as I watched him. Damn feelings; now I’m getting guilt complexes because of complete asses like him?
“Then I keep trying.” Jenny said and turned back to the computer screen.
Leaving Jenny to her work, I brushed past Max and walked around the island that separated the kitchen from the rest of the room. I grabbed two sodas and walked to the TV area. Sinking into the soft couch, I put one soda on the coffee table and opened mine, taking a sip.
“You mind?” Max asked as he came into the living room.
I held the other can out to him. My breath caught as our fingertips touched and I felt the softest brush of his power. While he sat across from me on the smaller love seat, I watched him to see if he had felt any of my power and just like before he seemed perfectly calm. Okay, so this little power sensitivity was totally my problem. Now all I needed to do was make sure he didn’t catch on.
“You want to talk about what happened?” He asked, interrupting my thoughts.
“I told you Sylvia didn’t know anything.”
“Yes, I heard you both . As I recall her exact words were ‘snap, snap like a twig you will go."
At his words I gave a quick look towards Jenny’s work area; the last thing she needed to hear was Simone’s message. Turning back to Max I whispered, “What she said has nothing to do with you or Julie. Just drop it.”
“It has everything to do with Julie. I need all your attention on finding her, not on some issue of yours.”
I kept my snide (and extremely hilarious and insightful) comment to myself; I needed to make this conversation go away, not cause it to blow up into another fight.
“Mateo’s just a Demon who has a bone to pick with me. A few months ago I killed a nest of Demons that was under his protection. He’s a bug, one I’ll squish once this is all done.”
“Then why are you so scared of his message?”
I chewed on my lip for a moment and tried to come up with another lie. Nothing I thought of would be believed so for the first time since this conversation began I told the truth.
“Because he’s a Greed Demon and can give me whatever I want. All I have to do is say the word and my whole world changes.”
“I didn’t think you were the kind to be lured by greed.”
“Oh and what did you think I’d be lured by?” I asked, not even sure I wanted to know the answer.
Max gave me a searching look and said, “I don’t know, but it’s not greed.”
“I guess that proves how very little you know of me.”
I stood up and went into the kitchen. Avoidance is something I’ve been trying to work on; there are those who say I’m too confrontational. Searching the cabinet for the chocolate bar I knew Jenny always kept on hand, I rifled her usual hiding places. After coming up empty in the oatmeal box, I stood on my tiptoes and tried to feel around on the top shelf. I felt the warmth of Max’s power a millisecond before his body brushed mine as he reached over me. As he laid the chocolate bar in front of me on the counter I felt his power recede as he took a step back.
“If Mateo wants you, why doesn’t he have you?” he asked from a few feet behind me.
My heart skipped at his question and I stood there staring at the gold wrapper of the chocolate bar as I scrambled for an answer I didn’t have.
“Really, for someone so pretty you’re rather dense. Try
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