She puffed out a pouty sigh. “I guess I thought this whole patrol business would be more, I don’t know, superhero-y.”
“You mean, you come out dressed for battle, something snarly and homicidal obliges you and shows up, and you summarily kick its ass?” He laughed. “Not so much. In this case, it’s really to your benefit to go looking for trouble.”
“Right.”
“Mona swears she can sense them. A disturbance in the Force or something. She gets so determined about that stuff. I love it.”
Bailey stiffened at the
L
word.
“Anyway, I told her—”
“
So
,” Bailey said before she could stop herself, “you and Mona, huh?” She gave a cursory glance under the bed of a white pickup.
“Yup.” Zane gave a little sigh as he peered down a narrow alley. “Me and she, she and me. Jury’s still out on what our celebrity-couplename will be. I’m thinking Zona because otherwise it’d be Mane and—”
“How’d that, um, happen?” Bailey interrupted.
Just be chill. Casual. Absorb all this information and make it as normal as possible
. “She doesn’t seem like your type.”
“I have a type?”
“Well, sure.”
Five foot nothing, Chinese American, a little drunk on experimental old fashioneds
… When Zane frowned a little, she back-pedaled. “Okay, not really. But I see the way you are now …”
“Hmm.” It wasn’t agreement or disagreement, just acknowledgment. “She kind of came out of nowhere, honestly. I was out in Humboldt Park one night, catching up with a guy I know who’s stationed out there—at a bar, I mean. Cantina La Estrella? Makes a killer margarita.” Bailey shook her head, and Zane kept on. “Anyway, she was working a shift with Hector. He went out to patrol, and things got busy back on the home front.”
Bailey blushed but then realized that he really meant
at the bar
. “So you jumped behind the bar and helped out?”
Zane did a palms-up. “I tried. You should’ve seen her. She didn’t need my help. Shaking, stirring, salting rims. She’s really good, Bailey. Almost superhuman.”
Bailey gave a noncommittal
mmm
.
“And then, when I saw her fight for the first time …” He heaved a contented, faintly visible sigh into the chilly air. “I gotta tell you, Bailey, she might be the best bartender I’ve ever seen. Better than Garrett in his prime.”
“Better than you?”
“It’s like we’re doing two different jobs. She’s bartending, and I’m mixing drinks and occasionally killing stuff. She’s helped me grow so much as a bartender. And when I told her about my whole pipe dream for the Long Island … she didn’t think I was crazy. She was right on board. Can you believe it?”
Bailey couldn’t believe it, actually. At that moment she’d rather believe in tremens.
“So is it normally this quiet?” She put herself on high alert, scanning the shadowy patches.
“Not really,” he said, a bit more businesslike. “But quiet’s a good thing. When it comes to tremens, you can always hear them com—”
And just then one darted out in front of them.
“Shit!”
Bailey saw it first. It surged into the dim light from under a Dumpster, its muscles visible with every motion. The slit mouth between its eyes was already open wide, creepy and hungry.
“Zane!”
Bailey grabbed his forearm but worried she was too late. She remembered how impossibly fast her tremens had moved.
But she’d never seen Zane in action.
He thrust out a hand and jerked the tremens aside with nothing but his psychic powers. It hurtled into the base of a streetlight with a dull
clank
, then spilled to the sidewalk.
“Zane,” Bailey said. “Zane!”
The tremens stumbled to its feet, but Zane was ready. A manhole cover ripped out of its resting place and plowed into the tremens’s ankles, sweeping it off its feet. And there Zane stood, guiding the metal disk with a determined face and a steady hand.
The manhole cover had overshot, but it braked in the air and then
“You mean, you come out dressed for battle, something snarly and homicidal obliges you and shows up, and you summarily kick its ass?” He laughed. “Not so much. In this case, it’s really to your benefit to go looking for trouble.”
“Right.”
“Mona swears she can sense them. A disturbance in the Force or something. She gets so determined about that stuff. I love it.”
Bailey stiffened at the
L
word.
“Anyway, I told her—”
“
So
,” Bailey said before she could stop herself, “you and Mona, huh?” She gave a cursory glance under the bed of a white pickup.
“Yup.” Zane gave a little sigh as he peered down a narrow alley. “Me and she, she and me. Jury’s still out on what our celebrity-couplename will be. I’m thinking Zona because otherwise it’d be Mane and—”
“How’d that, um, happen?” Bailey interrupted.
Just be chill. Casual. Absorb all this information and make it as normal as possible
. “She doesn’t seem like your type.”
“I have a type?”
“Well, sure.”
Five foot nothing, Chinese American, a little drunk on experimental old fashioneds
… When Zane frowned a little, she back-pedaled. “Okay, not really. But I see the way you are now …”
“Hmm.” It wasn’t agreement or disagreement, just acknowledgment. “She kind of came out of nowhere, honestly. I was out in Humboldt Park one night, catching up with a guy I know who’s stationed out there—at a bar, I mean. Cantina La Estrella? Makes a killer margarita.” Bailey shook her head, and Zane kept on. “Anyway, she was working a shift with Hector. He went out to patrol, and things got busy back on the home front.”
Bailey blushed but then realized that he really meant
at the bar
. “So you jumped behind the bar and helped out?”
Zane did a palms-up. “I tried. You should’ve seen her. She didn’t need my help. Shaking, stirring, salting rims. She’s really good, Bailey. Almost superhuman.”
Bailey gave a noncommittal
mmm
.
“And then, when I saw her fight for the first time …” He heaved a contented, faintly visible sigh into the chilly air. “I gotta tell you, Bailey, she might be the best bartender I’ve ever seen. Better than Garrett in his prime.”
“Better than you?”
“It’s like we’re doing two different jobs. She’s bartending, and I’m mixing drinks and occasionally killing stuff. She’s helped me grow so much as a bartender. And when I told her about my whole pipe dream for the Long Island … she didn’t think I was crazy. She was right on board. Can you believe it?”
Bailey couldn’t believe it, actually. At that moment she’d rather believe in tremens.
“So is it normally this quiet?” She put herself on high alert, scanning the shadowy patches.
“Not really,” he said, a bit more businesslike. “But quiet’s a good thing. When it comes to tremens, you can always hear them com—”
And just then one darted out in front of them.
“Shit!”
Bailey saw it first. It surged into the dim light from under a Dumpster, its muscles visible with every motion. The slit mouth between its eyes was already open wide, creepy and hungry.
“Zane!”
Bailey grabbed his forearm but worried she was too late. She remembered how impossibly fast her tremens had moved.
But she’d never seen Zane in action.
He thrust out a hand and jerked the tremens aside with nothing but his psychic powers. It hurtled into the base of a streetlight with a dull
clank
, then spilled to the sidewalk.
“Zane,” Bailey said. “Zane!”
The tremens stumbled to its feet, but Zane was ready. A manhole cover ripped out of its resting place and plowed into the tremens’s ankles, sweeping it off its feet. And there Zane stood, guiding the metal disk with a determined face and a steady hand.
The manhole cover had overshot, but it braked in the air and then
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