“Sure, it isn’t,” Jarrod laughs, mouth full of bacon. “It never is…like that.”
“It’s not. I’ve never met her.”
“Kinky,” Jarrod says.
“You know what happened to me.” I lower my voice. “I’m definitely not going to be jumping into anything with anyone anytime soon.”
Jarrod sighs. “I guess not. Who is she then?”
“Someone I’m hoping will be able to help me with finding Gabriella, only she’s refusing to meet with me unless I give her a reason to.”
“I’m sure you can come up with a reason.” Stephan bobs his brows.
I give him a dirty look and take a bite of my food.
Both Stephan and Jarrod laugh.
“It’s not like I can tell her what actually happened, and she refuses to believe the reasons I gave her. I told her that Gabby lifted my wallet, a watch, and some other stuff. I mentioned that the watch was important to me and that there was a reward. She basically called me a liar. She said that Gabby – she calls her Lilith – wouldn’t have been interested in those things.” I lift my eyes in thought. “How can she know that? She must know something worthwhile.”
“Interesting.” Stephan puts his knife and fork down on his empty plate and rubs his chin. “It almost sounds like she knows something real about this Gabby/Lilith person.”
“What do you plan on doing?” Jarrod asks.
I shrug. “I’ve been texting her for weeks, and today she responded for the first time, so I think it’s working. I’ll keep at it.”
“I’m going to assume you traced her phone,” Jarrod says.
I nod. “Burner.” I push out a breath. “I need her to agree to see me without giving her anything. I can’t give her anything. It’s not like I can tell her who I am.” I widen my eyes.
“No, you cannot.” Jarrod shakes his head.
“Nope.” Stephanus shakes his head. “You can’t. It wouldn’t—”
The waitress arrives at our table. “Did you enjoy your meal?” she asks Stephan. She touches him on the arm before leaning down and taking his plate.
Oh shit!
Stephan’s eyes widen, and he sits up taller in his seat, sucking in a breath. “Yes, thanks.” His words are stilted.
“Good to know.” She winks at him. Then she looks down at our plates, noting that we’re still busy. “Anything else?” She lifts her brows.
“We’re good,” I say.
We watch her saunter off.
“Was it bad?” I cringe.
“No.” Stephan shakes his head. “Thankfully, she only touched me for a second.”
Poor guy. Actually, they both have shitty powers, in my opinion. Sure, they can come in handy at times, but – for the most part – they’re trouble.
Stephan can see into the future. If a human touches him – boom – he sees. The longer they touch him, the further into their future he sees. It can be a real buzzkill if you’re trying to get to know someone better.
I notice that Stephan is watching her. The waitress. He’s keeping his eyes on her. He does this for several minutes while I finish my omelet. I’m nearly done when he sighs. “Excuse me for a moment.”
“Here we go,” Jarrod says, rolling his eyes.
I chuckle.
“So, you’re just going to keep texting this woman?” Jarrod asks once Stephan is gone.
“That’s the only plan I have. Keep chipping away until she agrees to see me. I figure that she hasn’t blocked me so…” I shrug.
“It’s worth a—”
There is a yell. I turn my head and see Stephan grab onto the waitress’s tray – and just in time too, otherwise a whole stack of dirty plates would’ve fallen onto the ground.
“Oh my gosh.” The waitress sounds out of breath. “Thank you,” she gushes. “That was lucky. You happened to be here, and you have quick reflexes.” Her eyes are wide.
“Glad I could help. You got it now?” He looks down at the tray, which he is still holding.
The waitress has one hand on the tray. She puts the other one over his hand. Stephan’s eyes widen.
Oh no!
Jarrod and I lock eyes. We laugh. The poor schmuck just got another blast of her future.
“I have it.” She nods, taking the tray from him. “Thanks again.” She giggles.
Stephan is glowering when he comes back to the table.
“That was your own fault,” Jarrod says. “You should have left well enough alone,” he adds.
“I couldn’t,” Stephanus says, sitting down. “She would have been fired if I hadn’t helped out. I think she might be clumsy. In my vision, her boss said something about it being the second accident this week.” He shakes his head. “I couldn’t just watch her mess up like that. I’m sure she needs this job.”
“Please tell me you didn’t get any major insights from that last reading.” Jarrod cocks his head.
Stephan looks like someone kicked his puppy. “Her house will be broken into in the coming days…maybe weeks. It won’t be too far in the future.”
“Oh,” I say.
“I’m sure she has insurance.” Jarrod sounds irritated.
“I’m sure she does.” Stephan nods. “Unfortunately, she will be home at the time of the robbery, since it happens in the middle of the night. She will be intimidated and badly beaten. It will start a spiral of depression and anxiety. I didn’t get much more….only to say that her future is not headed in the right direction and she’s a really nice person. The course of her life will be altered for the good if we can stop her from being robbed.”
Jarrod groans. He throws down his cutlery in disgust. “So, what’s the plan?”
“I’ll follow her home after her shift today, and we can…” he pauses, wincing, “take turns watching over her from sundown to sunrise.”
Jarrod slumps back in his chair. “Fine,” he pushes out.
“The two of you are great guys,” I say, laughing. “I would offer to help, but I can’t afford to be anything other than one hundred percent on my game. That means plenty of rest,” I point at my plate, “healthy food…the whole nine yards.”
“Completely understandable,” Stephan says.
“We’ll handle it,” Jarrod agrees with a sigh. “I’m hoping it goes down within the next three weeks.” He frowns. “Otherwise, we might miss our trip. You might need to stay home closer to our flight,” he tells Stephan.
“Oh, yes,” I say. “You guys have that crazy trip planned. Remind me where you’re going again.” I frown.
“Armenia,” Jarrod says.
“Hiking in Armenia.” I smile. “Sounds interesting, I’ll give you that.”
“I can’t wait,” Stephan sighs. “We’re doing a tour of Yerevan city and then heading out for eleven days of bliss.” He gets this serene look. “No people. No electronic devices. We’re going to be completely off the grid. It’ll be just us and nature.”
“I have to say…it sounds amazing. Life feels like one big rat race at the moment.” My schedule is so full. With that in mind, I look down at my phone, clenching my jaw. “I need to get to work, I have surgery scheduled for this afternoon and need to do my rounds before then.”