Recalled (Death Escorts #1)(29)
Author: Cambria Hebert

“Bad day?” Hobbs asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“You don’t have to wear that uniform, you know,” I said, motioning toward his dove-gray coat and bowtie.

“I have a distinct feeling that my choice of wardrobe is not what put you in such a nasty mood.” He sniffed, turning toward whatever he was cooking.

I watched him add a few things onto a platter and then slide it in front of me. “Perhaps a cookie will help things?”

I didn’t think so, but I shoved one in my mouth anyway. Chocolate and sugar melted onto my tongue. “These are good,” I mumbled around another.

“Yes, well, chewing them might actually make them taste better,” he said with a frown.

“I need some milk,” I said.

“You need some manners,” he muttered, but he got me a glass of milk.

I took a gulp and looked down at the cookies on the plate, then down at the bag in my lap. “Hobbs,” I began. “I need you to make me some more cookies and this time add these to the batch.” I put the bag on the counter between us and snatched up another cookie.

This time I chewed. He was right. It tasted even better.

Hobbs picked up the bag and looked at it closely. Then he looked back at me. “Where did you get this?” he asked.

“The store,” I lied.

“One does not buy nightshade at the grocery store.”

I choked on my cookie. “Nightshade? What’s that?” I said, trying to play dumb.

“Please,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I’m a butler, not stupid.”

“I don’t think you’re stupid.” I didn’t, but I hoped he’d think I gave him some exotic berry.

“It is not in my job description to help you kill others,” he said, still holding onto the bag.

“Who said I was going to kill someone?” I asked, feeling slightly alarmed.

Hobbs actually looked a little alarmed by what he said too. “I apologize, sir. That was very… inappropriate to say.”

I shrugged. “So you’ll make the cookies?”

“We both know nightshade is poison, so whatever you plan to do with these cookies is clearly not something respectable.”

“I’m not a respectable guy, Hobbs,” I told him, putting down the cookie I held.

“Respect is earned, sir. Perhaps if you want it, you should earn it.”

“Maybe I don’t want it.”

“I think you do,” he said knowingly.

“Just make the cookies,” I demanded.

“I will not,” he said in his dignified yet offended tone. “Whatever you have planned with this poison, you will have to do without me.”

“I’ll fire you,” I growled, rising off my chair.

“Then that is your choice.” He sniffed.

Some of the steam went out of me and I dropped into my seat. “I don’t have a choice.”

“You always have a choice.” His voice held a note of finality.

“Not in my world.”

“In all worlds. Some choices are harder than others. Some choices seem impossible but aren’t always as difficult as they seem.”

His words sounded good. They made me wish he was right. But he didn’t get it. No one did.

“So what is your choice, sir,” Hobbs asked me. “Shall I pack my things?”

I looked between Hobbs and the bag of nightshade. “You do make damn good coffee,” I said finally.

Hobbs smiled. “Well, yes, I do.” When I didn’t say anything else, he picked up the bag and glanced at me. “I’ll just get rid of this.”

I watched as he threw the bag into the trash. Everything I went through to get that stuff and here I was allowing my butler to throw it all away.

I must be crazy.

“You made the right choice,” Hobbs said like it was over.

I left the kitchen and headed upstairs. What Hobbs didn’t understand was that I might’ve made the right choice today, but tomorrow would be a whole new set of choices.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Cupcake – A small cake baked in a cup-shaped container.

Piper

I couldn’t get the vision out of my head. No matter how hard I tried to distract myself, no matter how much Chinese I ate, I still kept coming back to the picture that only lasted seconds in my brain.

Frankie was going to die.

No, I reminded myself, the future can change. It doesn’t have to happen.

God, please let it change.

Sometimes having the gift of sight didn’t feel like a gift at all. Many people say they’d rather know when they were going to die… not me. I don’t want to know. Knowing was too hard. It was too stressful because then life would be reduced to the ticking of a clock. Of how many hours, seconds, minutes you had left. There’s no way you could fit in everything you wanted to do, and I think the knowledge of your impending death would be crippling and keep you from actually living anyway.

Frankie wasn’t just my best friend. She was my family, the person I counted on most, and the only person in this world I really trusted. Since the death of my parents it sometimes felt like it was Frankie and me against the world. I depended on her. If she died I’d be completely alone.

“Piper,” she said, interrupting my worried thoughts. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

I mustered a smile. “Yes. I ate way too much.” I put a hand to my stomach like I was about to burst.

“Well, you know what the cure for that is,” Frankie sang, getting up and going into the kitchen.

“Don’t say it,” I warned.

A few seconds later she came out of the kitchen carrying a pink box and a smile. “Sugar!” she exclaimed, pushing some of the half-empty cartons of Chinese out of the way and setting down the box.

“Is that what I think it is?” I asked.

“Yep.” She flipped open the top of the bakery box and lifted out a perfect-looking cupcake. It had a pink baking wrapper around the bottom, the top was piled high with white icing and pink sugar sprinkles.

I snatched it out of her hand. “You went to The Iced Princess!”

She laughed and reached into the box to get another perfect treat identical to mine. “I figured after everything you’ve been through you need a little royal treatment.”

The Iced Princess was the best bakery in all of Alaska. It was also way on the other side of town. In the rich district. Everything in the store was pink. Pink couches, pink rugs, a pink counter, and it even had a pink crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. They had a big poster just inside the door that read: The Iced Princess: Where everyone gets the royal treatment.