Mixed Feelings (Empathy in the PPNW Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

happened?”
    She had a question of her
own. “You have a m istress ? ”

 
    Chapter
Three

 
    I hustl ed Chloe out of the office, shushing her when she
tried to speak. I didn’t want to risk Laurel and Hardy coming back with more
questions or the realization that I wasn’t who they thought I was. They seemed
pretty scared of me, but if they figured out they’d just bowed and groveled
before a lowly level three human who didn’t have a scary mistress, that would
likely change. Laurel had already seemed halfway set on taking me out. I didn’t
want to risk Hardy and his dangerous tusks feeling the same way.   I didn’t relax until we were
buckled into Chloe’ s little sedan.
    “Do you have a second job I
don’t know about?” Chloe demanded as she started the car.
    I shook my head rapidly. “ No! I ’ m way too lazy, you know that! They clearly thought I was someone else.”
    “Obviously , ” Chloe said , back to being her unflappable self. Meanwhile, I was
practically vibrating, eager to get as far away from the dark office as
possible. “I mean, they looked at little old human me
first.”
    “ I ’ m human! ” I insisted. “They shouldn’t have been looking at either one of us!”   
    “Yes, but you’ re human-plus. Human with benefits. I don’t know if I’d
call you super -human, but—”
    “ Okay, stop. I get it. And hey! You pointed them straight
at me . What if they were there to
hurt me—or hurt whoever they think I am?”
    “ I panicked! ” she admitted. “Believe me. If things had been
different, I wouldn’t have put you in that position.” There was a trace of
disappointment in her and it was clinging like a slug to the greasy edge of her
guilt . “ I ’ m so sorry. ”
    I knew she was sorry. I could
feel it, though I didn’t want to—not just because it was an unpleasant
experience, but because none of this was her fault.
    “ It ’ s okay,” I soothed, wishing I could project
feelings, not just receive them. “It was... um, I don't know what that was, but
they weren’t there to hurt me. They seemed to be scared of me, actually. I
don’t think anyone’s ever been scared of me before.”
    “Except the pizza boy when
he’s late with your dinner.”
    “ Well, he ’s asking for it,” I agreed, shaking my fist as comically as I could manage . As I ’d hoped, Chloe laughed and we both went quiet for a
few minutes, basking in the glow of not feeling terror or worry. Finally, I
piped up.
    “Did I really just agree to
help them? Me? Why would I do that? I don ’t
know the first thing about finding kidnapped children. I ’ve
lost two cell phones in the last year. What was I thinking, agreeing to handle
this?”
    “I think you were thinking
that two scary monsters were standing in front of you, telling you that they’d
found parents in distress over their missing offspring. Not even you could turn
your back on that.”
    “ Not even me? ” I rolled my gaze her way
and caught the slight smile on her lips. She was teasing me. Instead of giving
in to her ribbing, I pushed ahead with the matter at hand. “ We should look into that before anything else. If
families have just gotten wise and found some way of hiding their kids from
these... things, then there may not be a problem at all.”
    “You could ask Mel to help!”
Chloe suggested. Cheer tap-danced out of her psyche and all over mine. I ground
my teeth, trying my best to figure out a reason why I would not— could
not — ask Mel Somerset for help. Sure, he ’s a successful p rivate i nvestigator, but he’s also Mel .
    “ Fine! ” I huffed after my brain failed to offer me an out. “You
can call him tomorrow morning and ask if he’s willing. I don ’t want to ask him for anything. He might take it as
an invitation to take his pants off.”
    “You should invite him to
take his pants off anyway,” Chloe said, her optimism fluttering against my grumpiness and
threatening to suffocate it. “Not now, of