I put my hands on his face to force him to look at me. “I’m not going to die, Reyes. Think about it. The prophecies say that our daughter —” I put a hand on my abdomen. “— is destined to destroy him. I can’t die. There’s another loophole; I just haven’t found it yet.”

“Prophecies can be misread. Misinterpreted. And they’re based on fate, on events from the time of their writing. A trillion things could happen to change them.”

I shook my head. “Not this time.” I took his hand and put it on my abdomen. “I’ll figure this out. I’m not going anywhere.”

Reyes gazed at his hand. “I can feel her,” he said. “She spoke to me.”

“Seriously?” I pushed his hand aside and replaced it with my own. “She’s never said anything to me. What the heck, Beep? Talk to me, baby.”

He laughed softly, then said, “Inept?”

Embarrassed, I said, “That’s what I felt.”

“Then you suck at interpreting other people’s emotions.”

“No, only yours.” I lifted my gaze to his. “You confound me.”

A set of charming dimples appeared at the corners of his mouth. “Then you know exactly how I feel. But he’s still a crime boss.” He turned back to Navarra.

“Hey,” the man said, raising his hands in surrender, “I don’t have any issues with you, Farrow. You know that.”

“Then we have an understanding, but just in case you’re thinking of somehow repeating history and trying to control me through her,” he said, arching a brow in warning, “do you remember how fast I am? How deadly?”

Navarra nodded without hesitation.

Reyes leaned toward him and raised his own hand to cover part of his mouth as though telling a secret. “She’s faster.”

13

Help someone when they’re in trouble,

and they’ll remember you when they’re in trouble again.

— FORTUNE COOKIE

We left the clubhouse with a bottle of fine scotch and a bottle of sparkling grape juice. It made me happy. “Navarra is so nice,” I said, and Reyes laughed.

“You see people very differently than I do.”

“Word. So, can I risk my life one more time today?”

He raised a brow. “Where to now?”

He walked me to my driver’s side door and I turned to him. “I thought we could enjoy the afternoon, maybe go play laser tag or something.”

“Laser tag?”

“Wait.” I looked around. “How did you get here?”

“I ran.”

I reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Scrolling through his menu, I said, “You called a cab.”

“But I ran to the cab when it got to the cemetery.”

I giggled at the thought. “How did you know where Navarra would be?”

“I keep tabs on everyone who’s tried to kill me in the past.”

“Ah. That’s a good habit to get into.”

“I think so. But laser tag?”

My phone rang before I could give him my sales pitch. The allure wasn’t the laser tag itself, but the cool uniforms and dark corners involved in playing the game.

“It’s Swopes,” I said, then answered with a “’Sup?”

“She’s here.”

“Oh, man, that sucks. Well, tell her hey for me.”

I’d almost hung up to go macking on my affianced when Garrett said, “Marika. She’s outside my house. Just sitting there.”

“Go talk to her.”

“I can’t go talk to her. She has a boyfriend.”

“Oh, my gawd, you’re such a girl. Want me to pass her a note before gym class?”

“Get over here and do your thing.”

“Are you kidding me? Reyes and I were going to take the afternoon off and play laser tag.”

“Do people still play that?”

“’Parently.”

“Dark corners, huh?”

“What is it about them?”

“I don’t know, but it’s creepy. There are kids everywhere. Get over here instead and figure out what she wants. This is your chance to get close to her. To go undercover, pretend to be her friend, and figure out what’s going on.”

“While she’s sitting outside your house? Don’t you think that’s a little obvious?”

“Come on, Charles. I’ve done a lot of shit for you. It’s your turn to repay the favor.”

He did go to hell when I got him shot. I did owe him.

“Fine,” I said, “but you can deal with Reyes later. He had his heart set on laser tag.”

Reyes didn’t really seem to mind missing laser tag. Or that I was risking my life to play go-between for Garrett and his ex sex kitten. It’s all about communication. Laundering the dirty air or airing the dirty minds. Something like that. If the look he was giving me was any indication, however, we might have to find one of those dark corners ay-sap. God, the man had bedroom eyes to die for.

I called Cookie. “Did you ever find anything out about that woman Swopes was banging who may or may not have had his kid?”

She sighed. “Did you look at the memo?”

“What memo? We’re getting memos now?”

“I sent a memo a week ago. I’ve been sending you a memo every week with a list of all the updates and my notes on all our cases for weeks now.”