I was bent at the waist gasping for oxygen and strongly considering giving her an ultimatum when she started shaking her head at me. The little spit fire wasn’t even winded. In fact, just to prove it, she started stretching.
I’m ashamed to admit that I fell behind by the third block. She was bouncing from foot to foot and shouting, “Hustle, Dion!” only I was done. With burning lungs, I actually had to say to her, “You go, leave me.” And then I had to watch my woman finish chasing our lead on foot while I used the building to hold me up. One thing I will say about Mercy is, she doesn’t gloat (much).
Anything she says she can do, she can do. I basically told her anyone could be a PI with the right resources.
I hadn’t taken into account actual physical activity.
“Seriously?” she says handing me a bottle of water.
“I’m built to intimidate, not sprint.”
“Admit it, it’s not as easy as it looks.”
“Why are you always chasing people?”
“Because they run?” she counters.
“I can’t believe he made me chase his ass,” I mutter.
“No?” she laughs. “You weren’t exactly out of sight.”
“I wasn’t hiding behind a dumpster to wait him out,” I remind her. “That’s disgusting.”
“Yelling ‘stop or die’ made much more sense,” she smirks.
“I’ll do better next time,” I promise her.
“Of course, you will,” she says kissing my cheek.
“You got him, right?”
Leaning into me, she winks and says, “I got him.”
An hour later, I dropped her off at the shop so I could go home and shower before dinner.
PI work was much grimier than I had expected and I stunk. Exiting the shower, I check my phone noticing a dozen missed calls from an unknown number. Dialing it back, I wasn’t expecting Pita.
“What’s wrong?” I demand when I hear his voice.
“Mercy,” his voice trembled.
“Is she hurt?” At his silence I roar, “Focus! Is she hurt?”
“No –” he whispers. “Just get here okay? She’s not right.”
“Where’s here, Pita?”
“The shop,” he says then yells, “Mercy, no!” and then I got dead air.
Rushing to the shop, I was still several blocks away when I saw smoke, lights, and even a fucking news van. Throwing it in park, I ran the rest of the way on foot to find Mercy staring at what used to be her business.
Pita was holding her hand and Ember was pacing. Without knocking the kid over, I wrapped myself around her doing my best not to freak the hell out. “What the fuck happened?”
“Bomb,” Pita says squeezing her too and I realized he wasn’t just doing it for his own comfort. He was also doing it to keep her still. I could feel her vibrating in my arms yet outwardly she didn’t move.
“Did you say bomb?”
“That’s what the cops told her,” he says looking away.
Just then a uniform tapped her on the shoulder and asked to speak with her privately. Loosening my grip, I watch her walk a few feet away and nearly killed the guy for hugging her. Nodding to him, she comes back to me and goes back to staring at the flames.
“Please talk to me, beautiful,” I urge her and for a while I thought she was ignoring me but Mercy as always, was thinking.
“What kind of sick soulless bastard blows up an adult toy store, Dion?”
“We’re going to find out,” I vow.
“All that affordable pleasure…gone. So much for the BOGO sale…”
Watching a thousand emotions cross her face, when it hardened I tensed. “Mercy,” I say gently. “Where’s your head at right now.”
“Probably best you don’t know, Dion.”
“What’s our next step?” I ask because she wasn’t doing this alone.
“Can you take Pita home?”
Crowding her, I ask, “Why? Where are you going?”
Looking up at me, I see everything right there in her eyes and it terrified me. “I’m going hunting.”
Decision made, I tell her, “We’ll take him home and then we go hunting, together.”
She was ready to argue, I could feel it so I ended it with, “I stand by my woman, always.” Mercy was at war with herself so I reminded her, “Now is not the time to test me.” Offering me a quick nod, we fall in step together and motion the kid toward the car.
While the ride back was quiet, the tension was loud. Exiting the truck, I inform him, “From now on you work from my office. Security will be made aware. Do you follow me?”
Pita nods at me, but couldn’t tear his eyes away from her.
“Good. Now, get some rest, kid.”
Opening her own door, Mercy throws herself around him and whispers, “I’m sorry, Pita.”
Hugging her tight, he asks, “What for?”
“If anything had happened to you…”
“So, you’re saying you love me,” he teases.
“Pain in the ass,” she mumbles pushing off.
“But I’m your pain in the ass,” he smiles before heading inside.
For several minutes Mercy stared at the door the kid had closed behind him. Her fury was so strong, I was surprised her hair wasn’t standing on end. Now that the kid was safe, my own fury was threatening to knock me over. I was pissed and terrified. I could have lost her.
I knew she was rattled because when I said, “Get in the fucking car,” she didn’t fight me on it.