Personal Demon
Page 20

We found Sonny reading a novel in a near-dark booth.
“You strain your eyes, you won’t be much good to us tonight, Sonny-boy,” Bianca said, flicking on the lights for him. She turned to me. “If Sonny’s here, Jaz won’t be far.”
“He’s in the storeroom with Guy,” Sonny said.
Bianca’s lips pursed and she headed toward the back. I followed, leaving Sonny at his table.
Clearly Guy’s friendship with Jaz wasn’t something Bianca approved of. Did she think he was after her job? Anyone could see that Jaz’s ambitions stretched no further than securing a place in the gang with minimal responsibilities, and burrowing in for as long as he could.
She asked about our lunch plans. Who’d suggested it? Was I going with Jaz and Sonny, or just Jaz? I wondered whether Guy had a policy about crew members dating, and Bianca was hoping to get Jaz in trouble.
In the storeroom, Jaz was counting boxes, Guy marking them down. Jaz was retelling some adventure, and Guy was laughing. It all seemed very normal, but there was a note in Guy’s laugh, too rich and too loud, trying too hard to show his appreciation for the tale. And there was something in the way he was looking at Jaz, and the way he quickly glanced away when he saw us watching.
A laugh and a look didn’t prove anything, but I wondered whether there wasn’t a very different cause for Bianca’s jealousy. That might also explain why she’d been so eager to know whether Jaz was taking an interest in the new girl. When Jaz saw me, though, his grin said that if Guy was interested in Jaz, it was a one-sided attraction.
“Is it—?” Jaz checked his watch. “Shit. Sorry, Faith. I meant to meet you at the door.” He turned to Guy.
“Mind if I skip out on the rest, boss? Got a hot lunch date.”
Guy muttered something about being left with all the work, but waved us out good-naturedly. So maybe I was reading too much into a laugh and a look.
We were just stepping out the door when Tony barreled past, jokingly elbowing Jaz into the wall.
“Rod got his college letter,” he said to Guy and Bianca. “Max and I are springing for pizza.” He glanced back at us. “You guys in?”
Jaz hesitated, and I could tell he was torn. I reminded myself why I was here. I couldn’t turn down any opportunity to hang out with the gang, and get them talking about the Cabals.
“Uh, sure.” I looked at Jaz. “If that’s okay with you?”
“We’re in,” he said, then lowered his voice to me. “Rain check for tomorrow?”
I smiled. “Definitely.”
 
WE ATE IN the bar, Max and Tony having dragged a small table over to a booth so we’d all fit. They’d brought the pizza, but Guy sprung for a twelve-pack of beer, taking it from the back and carefully noting it in his accounts. The beer was a local microbrew, Jaz said, and ribbed Guy about “springing for the good stuff for a change.”
 
As for Rodriguez’s news, Guy had known about his college hopes and seemed genuinely pleased for him, only joking that he’d better give him a special deal on technical consultation after he left.
“So when do we get to wager on how fast you’ll be back?” Tony said, peeling a pizza slice from the box.
“College was cool, but after one month sweating my ass off in a cubicle, I was so out of there. You don’t get pizza and beer parties in a suit job.”
“Once Rod’s gone, he’s gone for good,” Jaz said. “If school doesn’t keep him there, the California girls will.” He winked at Rodriguez, then took a slug of his beer, his dancing eyes lifting to mine. “Though personally, I’m partial to East Coast girls.” He leaned back. “But as for why anyone would give up this gig to go to college?
Totally beyond me.”
“I hear ya,” Tony said, lifting his bottle. “To the sweet life. No worries, Guy. I’m not going anywhere.”
Jaz and Sonny hoisted their bottles and chimed in their agreement.
“Great,” Guy muttered. “Come fall, Bee and I will be stuck with all the loafers.”
I turned to Max. “You’re leaving too?”
He shrugged. “Probably following Rod out to Cali. That’s the plan anyway. No college for me, though. I’ve got some other business out there.”
“Five foot two with eyes of blue,” Tony sang. “His girlfriend moved to L.A. last year.”
“Ex-girlfriend.”
“Yeah, the ex you still text ten times a day.”
Max colored under his tan. “We’re friends, okay? Sure, Jess is working in L.A.—”
“For the Nast Cabal,” Tony interjected, to hisses and boos from Jaz and Sonny.
“Only until she gets her MBA,” Max said.
“Like getting your education from the military. You gotta bet they’re not going to let her waltz away when she’s done.”
Max shrugged. “She knows that. She’ll pay her dues.”
“And pay and pay and pay,” Jaz said.
Tony nodded. “Face it, buddy, she’s in and she’s not getting out.”
Max’s eyes flashed, but Guy cut him off.
“Enough. Max knows what I think.” Guy cut a look his way. “If Jess can pull it off, all the power to her, but Cabals don’t give away free educations. As long as she knows that, and she’s careful…” He shrugged. “Maybe it’ll work out.”
He passed around the pizza box as Jaz and Tony grabbed a second beer, and I could tell the conversation was going to shift away from Cabals.
“So if you work for a Cabal, they’ll pay for college?” I asked.
“Uh-uh.” Guy wagged a finger at Max. “See what you started?”
“Hey, I didn’t start—”
“Yes,” Guy said, twisting to face me. “A Cabal will pay for your degree, in return for years of indentured servitude slaving in their cubicles. If you decide you don’t want to have Mommy and Daddy pay for your education, then we’ll talk about extending your stay. You’d be better off earning your tuition here than getting yourself indebted to a Cabal. Working for me is a whole lot safer.”
“And funner,” Jaz said.
Sonny put his head in his hands and groaned.
“As you can see, there’s at least one gang member who’ll never leave me for college.” Guy put his elbows on the table, leaning toward me. “Seriously, Faith, Cabal life isn’t a route you want to take. Max’s girlfriend—sorry, friend—is a shaman. They’re a dime a dozen. If she’s careful, she can probably quit after a few years, no hard feelings, no bounty for her scalp. But an Expisco half-demon?” He shook his head. “If they get you, they’ll never let you go. Employee for life.”