Psychic

44. Winged

When Reno woke the following morning, the first thing he did was look in the direction of the room where Rai had slept. The doors to both rooms were open so he sat up quickly and threw his blanket off.

He did not even notice Ken sitting on the couch opposite of him with Isaac, until he told Reno, "you're just looking for a reason to kick Abel's ass, aren't you?"

"He's already given me plenty," Reno answered without looking away from the open doors. He turned his legs off the couch to stand when Rai walked in from the dining room with Jericho following. She had an egg, cheese and bacon sandwich in her hand and the dog wanted it.

"You want to get ready to go or are we leaving you?" she asked Reno as she handed the sandwich to Isaac.

"Me and the kid are staying here," Ken announced. "Dog too. We'd just be in the way."

"And Abel?" Reno addressed his question to Rai. "You want to drag into our business?"

"Normally, I'd want him to leave it to me but he knows the area."

"Is that all?"

"Well, we wouldn't know where to start otherwise."

Reno stood up and approached a small decorative mirror hanging on the wall. He rubbed his eyes and face before looking back at Rai. "Come on." He opened the front door and waited for her to join him.

"What?" Her head tilted slightly and she crossed her arms.

"I want to talk to you. Outside."

"Is that all?"

He closed his eyes and breathed out slowly through his nose. "Yes."

He sounded irritated, which amused Rai. She smiled and shrugged, "if you say so." She followed him outside and turned to him as he closed the door behind them. "Well?"

"Goddamn." He glared at her as he turned. "Can't you give me a second?"

"Why should I?"

"It's polite."

Rai scoffed and smiled widely. "Yeah because you've always been real courtly with me too. The threats, the assaults, yeah, real courtly."

"Please. I barely pushed you against that wall."

"You picked me up and slammed me against the wall."

"If I had put any effort into it, you would've gone through the wall. Besides, I didn't know it was you."

"So it's okay for you to assault other women?"

"I didn't say that. I'm just saying that I wouldn't have done it if I had known it was you."

Rai sighed, not interested in pursuing the argument. "Why are we here?"

"Do you like Abel?"

Rai laughed weakly and threw up her hands. "He's an actor, Reno. All women get wet for Abel Levine."

"I'm not asking anyone else. I'm asking you."

"What do you think?"

"Don't patronize me. Tell me that I'm not just imagining things. You like him, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. I like him and I can't believe he likes me..."

"Why does he get to come out and say what he wants and get away with it? Every time I tried to express myself to you, you rejected me but when Abel does it, a price tag shows up on your face. These legs open for fifty gold."