“You want to help? Thea told me…”

“That I want to recruit you to my agenda. That I am not to be trusted. That’s fine. Most days, I don’t trust me.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “I’m not sure I trust me either. I don’t know me as well as I’d like.”

“And you’re worried you’ll end up like her.”

“Honestly? The idea has its appeal.” I sensed a shadow. The bird was around again, but this time I intentionally chose to ignore it. “She’s strong, tough, a good fighter, but…I don’t want to be exactly like her.”

“Good. She’s also straight-laced and boring.”

“She goes to BDSM clubs!”

“No, she’s being paid as a model. It’s different.”

It was. But she had known her way around Pan’s. Or maybe that was why…maybe it was all part and parcel of the same thing. “I suppose it is.”

“She follows the rules, even when they get in the way.”

“Not all of them. She kills people.” Which was generally against the law. I glanced around before saying it, making sure nobody was close enough to overhear. After, I admit I found my turkey club interesting. He was right about the turkey. It was particularly juicy and delicious. Good bread, too. I definitely needed to remember this place.

“Oh, that’s not the rules she lives by. Killing people is fine, as long as there’s a good reason for it. Did they start the fight?”

I nodded.

“But there are many things she won’t do. You might find that gets in the way. When it does? Come to me.”

I nodded. “So, you’re offering to be…what? Sneaky? You still can’t have the horn.”

“Oh, you will hand it over eventually. But sneaky is what I do. You have to admit…”

I tried to envision Thea being sneaky. I failed utterly. In fact, the image was rather humorous. “She does seem to be rather the walk right in guns blazing type.”

And I felt that I was much the same way. The temptation to take him up on his offer was growing. “She also said you would never intentionally hurt me.”

The sardonic smirk faded. “Intentionally.”

So, that feeling I had might be accurate. That he had somehow hurt me. That he had not meant to. Which meant he cared about me, because those are the very people you unintentionally hurt.

The people you most care about.