The High Priestess - The Darkest Desires Series

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cho bounced off the car door, pushing her whole-body length into McQueen's before she stepped away, "Then we should get going." Echo walked around the car and slipped into the passenger seat before McQueen could utter a word. By the time he slipped into the driver's seat Echo was already trying to fiddle with the radio.

"Get going? Going where? I'm going back to the station. Get out" McQueen protested.

"No. we're going to the club remember." Echo reached over and switched on the ignition, so the radio would work causing McQueen to flinch as she got close. Pathetic she thought with an eye roll. But then she remembered they had a deal. Soon enough he'd be in her pocket. Instead she smiled up at him, her mouth precariously close to his lap. "Don't worry Queenie, I don't bite." She sat back slowly making sure to keep eye contact the entire time, "Much."

McQueen cleared his throat. "I can drop you at the House if you need a ride." He pulled out of the parking spot and started to drive keeping both hands on the wheel. Echo almost told him he could relax, but she liked how wound up he got around her. For now, she didn't plan to jump his bones, but she did examine the Jeep roof and admired the head space.

"Well that's the right direction, but you're not dropping me off." McQueen threw her a questioning glance. She sighed. "Look, you've raised the stakes. There's something in it for me now. The prospect of you owing me a favour darling can really get a girl's heart pumping. Just thinking about it makes my skin tingle." Echo wound a piece of hair around her finger, "Now I'm as invested in finding the killer as you." She passed him a wink. "I have some key suggestions that I think we should discuss in great, great detail."

It didn't cause the desired effect. Instead of being affected at all, McQueen frowned. He was doing that too much. Echo liked it when he blushed. "That all it takes for you to be invested in someone's death? You... you have to get something in return?"

"Don't look down on me." Echo retorted. "Do you think you're any better?" Echo shifted in her seat, so she was looking right at the Detective. "You get a pay check each month telling you you're doing a good job in the field. Your government spends money on security cameras all over the city, so people feel 'safe', when all they use it for is to spy. The average stranger will stand and gawk at danger or a crime being committed, rather than call for help. People are less likely to help than you give them credit for."

"That doesn't apply to every citizen everywhere." McQueen shot back desperately trying to keep his eyes on the road. "And if any normal person were asked to help in an investigation, they would. You turned it down flat because it was of no gain to you."

"You're right. I did. But you know where you're wrong? People say they will help in an investigation but it's not out of the goodness of their heart. It's because they want that story to impress their friends at a dinner date. They want to feel that thrill of being close to death and danger, while not being in any line of fire. Its pride that has them going to you. Not any sense of being a good-Samaritan."

McQueen said nothing. Echo was almost pleased but after a minute or two of silence she wanted him to fight back. She wanted him to argue. She wanted to knock him down again, to see him get back up. But as the minutes continued to pass she grew more and more sullen as he held his tongue. What a good little Sunday-boy.

"I can't argue that you're wrong." A low voice spoke. Echo stopped watching the sluggish traffic and watched him instead. He'd not removed his eyes from the road and his fingers were curling and uncurling around the steering wheel as he struggled with his words. "People don't always have the right intentions..." He took a breath, like it was difficult for him to say. "But they do what they can, when they can and hope that it makes a difference. You can't change everyone for the better at once. You have to give them time, but everyone can get there. God guides us all and sometimes we stray but-,"