Home>>read Ripper free online

Ripper(17)

By:Lexi Blake


“Are they planning an intervention?” The thought made me a little sick. I couldn’t imagine a whole bunch of people sitting around begging me not to drink myself to death and sending me to a place where a psychiatrist would ask me why I drink. I would say hey, doc, have you ever seen a werewolf cut down in the prime of life? Ever been responsible for multiple homicides?

And then I would be placed on a 72-hour hold.

No. I wasn’t heading to rehab.

Sloane pulled two pieces of bacon out of the skillet and laid them on the plate that already had eggs and a couple of slices of toast. The smell should have sent me reeling, but my stomach was pretty strong and it grumbled at the thought of my stubbornness costing me the bacon. Healthy appetite doesn’t begin to cover what I have. Luckily, I’ve always had the metabolism to go with it.

“Are they planning an intervention?” Sloane’s deep voice washed over me like a calm, warm rain. That voice was soothing. “Maybe. Nate seems a little freaked out. Jamie seems…encouraged, maybe. He thinks it’s a good thing you’re working again. According to him, you’re talented and you’re wasting your gifts working for insurance companies and angry divorcees.” He handed me the plate and I gave up the fight.

I sat down at the kitchen table and dug in with gusto. “It’s not like I’ve been sitting on my ass.”

Sloane set a cup of coffee in front of me and then settled his big body onto my dining table chair. The morning light was kind to him, softening the hard planes of his face and making what was almost certainly a tough man look a little gentle. “Jamie thinks you should start working with us.”

I laughed. Sloane was the only person Jamie worked with on a regular basis and even then, it was only when Sloane brought him in. Grayson Sloane was a certified badass. That’s the only way to describe a real Texas Ranger. “Yeah, I bet I could pass whatever test your captain gives to contractors.”

He shook his head, setting down his coffee. “Probably not, but then I’m given an enormous amount of latitude when it comes to who I work with. I answer to the B company captain, but that’s technical. He doesn’t want to know what I do. He wishes he didn’t have to deal with me at all. It’s why he doesn’t question the reqs I put in for Jamie’s services.”

I took a long drink, the caffeine starting to work in my system. I supposed it was hard to be the Mulder of the Ranger world. Sloane handled all the “weird stuff,” meaning anything even vaguely supernatural. He was probably an outcast among his own peers. It made sense that he and Jamie were friends. They understood the same world.

“Hey little sister,” Jamie said, walking into the kitchen. “I like the new paint in the living room. How are you feeling?”

“Like shit,” I replied before polishing off the toast. Yeah, food had done wonders for me. “But I still have a job to do so I’ll suck it up. I’m sorry Nate felt like he had to call you. Last night was…a slipup. I ended up in a tense situation with a wolf and he apparently knew Dad.”

Jamie let out a deep breath and slumped into the chair across from me. My thirty-two-year-old brother seemed so much older as he thought about our father. “I’m so sorry, Kels.”

I sat back in my chair. “Do you run into many people who knew him?”

“I do,” Jamie acknowledged. “The bastard cut a wide swath. There’s no getting around it. He hurt a lot of people, and they don’t forget that he’s still out there. But they get used to me and if they don’t, I kick their ass. I won’t lie to you. If you want to work in this world, you’re going to have to make them accept you. Believe it or not, Nate can help you more with that than even I can. Nate has some powerful friends.”

I laughed at the thought. “Yeah, well, I probably won’t be meeting them. I met one of his gamer geek friends last night and I’m sure he’ll run the next time he sees me. I kind of hit on him.”

Jamie laughed but Sloane didn’t. He got up and poured himself another cup of coffee.

“Tell me about this case of yours,” Jamie said.

I shrugged, looking at the clock. I needed to get out of here soon if I was going to make it all the way to Dallas. “It’s a missing person case. She’s a shifter, lost her college scholarship and went on the game. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure she’s in trouble. I’ve got an appointment with one of her professors in two hours. It’s probably a dead end, but she’d been spending a lot of time with him according to her roommate.”

“Hey, aren’t you working some missing person cases?” Jamie asked Sloane as he settled back down.