Cipher by Moira Rogers Read Free Book Online Page B

are sketchy.”
    He didn’t bother holding back his groan, though his playful words would hopefully hide his tension. “Where the hell has that Mendoza kid been taking you?”
    Her cheeks turned pink, and she busied herself with the laces on her Doc Martens. “Miguel took me wherever I wanted him to.”
    Julio had been reluctant to discuss anything having to do with Kat and his brother, but the supernatural community in New Orleans wasn’t big enough for Andrew not to have heard things. “Good for him.” He almost meant it too.
    She jerked one boot off. “I keep trying to hook him up with Sera, but neither of them will take the bait.”
    He snorted. “If you think that slick little Casanova is what Sera wants, you haven’t been paying attention.”
    “Hey.” She struggled with the other boot, tugging at the laces with one hand. “Be nice. He might be a tiny bit of a man whore, but he’s still my friend. If I can be nice about Anna when she was screwing the love of—” Her teeth snapped together. “Are you ordering steak or not?”
    He wrapped his hand around her arm and held her still. “Look at me.”
    She didn’t. “I’m wasted. I can’t even untie my damn boot. Just feed me and let me sleep it off.”
    He released her and dragged her foot into his lap to unravel the knotted laces. “You’re not nice about Anna. You might not hate her or wish she’d die a horrible death, but you’re not nice . You don’t like her and you never will and that—” The heavy boot hit the floor, and Andrew sighed. “That’s how I feel about Miguel.”
    Kat finally looked at him, her face lost to bewilderment. “You really think it’s the same thing, don’t you?”
    “I guess you don’t.”
    Uncomfortable silence filled the space between them before she looked away. “I need to eat, or I’ll be sick.”
    He snatched the menu off the bed. “I’ll order a bunch of stuff. In the meantime, there’s an energy bar in my bag. Grab it, okay?”
    She obeyed without a word, and her stubborn silence continued until the food arrived. She ate with the same quiet determination, every movement mechanical. Methodical. All her attention seemed turned inward, even when she pushed away from the rickety table with a quiet sigh. “Thanks, Andrew. I’m just hurt and tired and need some sleep.”
    “How bad’s the pain? I don’t have anything too strong, but there’s some over-the-counter stuff in my bag.”
    “Maybe tomorrow.” She smiled wanly and crawled onto the bed. “I’m about to be unconscious whether I take drugs or not. Don’t be worried unless I sleep more than twenty-four hours.”
    “Got it.”
    He stared at the remains of his sandwich until her breathing deepened and steadied. Then he retrieved his phone and slipped out the front door.
    He’d need to tell Sera, at least, that they weren’t coming back right away. As Kat’s roommate, she would be the first person to raise the alarm, and he didn’t know if they could afford that right now.
    Best-case scenario, that sniper had been targeting the dead woman. Worst case, he was a lousy shot who only winged Kat…or missed Andrew entirely.
    Both possibilities sucked.
     
     
    Burnout dreams were the worst.
    Kat struggled her way into consciousness, guided by the throbbing ache in her arm. Her dreams had always been vivid, but after a controlled burnout, the deepest, darkest corners of her psyche turned her brain into their playground.
    She’d dreamed of pirates. The sexy, swashbuckling kind with ambiguous sexuality and a historically improbable lack of STDs. Miguel was their leader, and she’d been balanced on the precarious edge of a plank over the deep blue ocean, everything inside her screaming to close her eyes and jump.
    Her psyche wasn’t subtle.
    Neither was the pain, which her groggy mind identified as the delightful aftermath of being shot. Far less sexy than in the movies, where a few gunshot wounds never seemed to stop a determined heroine