Reyes opened the door to Osh’s room and turned on the light.
“Damn,” Osh said, covering his sleep-swollen eyes from the overhead light. “Could you take the brightness down a notch, love? You’ll wake the dead.”
“It doesn’t have a dimmer,” I said, looking for one on the light switch.
“I meant yours.”
“Oh.” I pulled my jacket tighter. “Sorry. I can’t really control that.”
I could tell Osh was on the defensive the minute we walked in. Could he sense Reyes’s mood, too?
Wearing only a pair of plaid pajama bottoms to bed, much like another supernatural being I knew, he kicked off a dark blue comforter and scooted up until he was using the headboard as a backrest.
Reyes was busy snooping. Like literally. Opening drawers and peeking inside. Lifting items off a dresser and examining them. Checking the closet and filtering through Osh’s clothes. It was all terribly rude.
“Mind telling me what Sherlock is up to?” Osh asked.
“Oh.” I waved the spousal unit off. “He’s just snooping. We’re here because we need you to go to high school tomorrow. As a student. To watch Amber.”
“No.”
“Please?”
“No. And really? High school? I’d have no idea how to act.”
“Please. You know more about humans than they know about themselves. But no snacking on any souls. They’re just kids.”
Osh let out a long sigh and scrubbed his face with his hands.
Reyes lifted a pair of pants that were crumpled on the floor, took out a wallet, and started going through it.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, mortified.
“Are you kidding me?” he said, looking at Reyes, who continued going through the contents of Osh’s wallet.
“Uncle Bob is getting it cleared with his captain as we speak, so it will kind of be an official APD operation. Just without the warrants and stuff. Hopefully, the school won’t make a fuss.”
“What do I have to do?”
“Go to her classes with her. Watch her back. Keep her safe. She’s being stalked.”
His gaze snapped from Reyes back to me. “Stalked? By whom?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out. But tomorrow’s Friday, and we need one more day to get a team prepped. Which means one more day everything has to appear normal. If she misses school, the stalker may know something is up.”
“Fine. I’ll do it, but I’m not doing homework.”
I laughed until Reyes opened up Osh’s nightstand and brought out a Playboy.
“The articles,” Osh said.
I rolled my eyes, then grew serious. “Did you see her again?”
He didn’t have to ask whom I meant. “I was on duty all day yesterday.”
I nodded, ignoring the cavernous ache in my heart.
“She’s amazing,” he added. “She’s smiling now. It’s lopsided, just like yours.”
I beamed at him.
Reyes did not.
“So, you’re better now?” Reyes asked.
Osh eyed him. “Right as rain.”
Reyes nodded and walked over to stare down at him. They’d been getting along so famously, until I told Reyes that Osh was destined to be in Beep’s life. That she would love him. That he would love her.
“Just remember,” Reyes said, “anything you do to my daughter, I do to you.”
“What?” Osh stared, aghast. “What the fuck are you talking about? I’m out there risking my life for her, and you —”
Reyes leaned closer, shutting Osh up, and whispered, “Anything.”
The two of them nose to nose, both being temperamental demons, was all kinds of bad. And, strangely enough, disturbingly sexy.
But they couldn’t get into a fight. I needed Osh to be healthy and bruise-free. Not to show up at Amber’s high school looking like a scrapper-slash-troublemaker. We needed the school on our side.
“Reyes, can we discuss your opinion of Osh later?” He started to argue, but I held up a finger and said, “Amber.”
He bit down, tossed Osh his wallet, and backed off.
“No,” Osh said. “I want to know what the fuck that was about. If you think I can’t protect her, just say so.”
“That’s not it at all,” I said. “You’re one of the few who can. Reyes just had a long day. We went to Scotland. He doesn’t travel well.”
Osh’s expression would suggest he didn’t believe me for a hot minute. I wouldn’t have, either, but we didn’t have time to go into it.
“Okay,” I said, heading for the closet I’d just glared at Reyes for snooping in. “You need to look young.”
“I do look young, considering how old I am.”
“No, like, really young. You look nineteen. Amber’s thirteen, but she’s a freshman in high school, so we could pull this off if you —”
Osh scrambled off the bed and blocked my advance with an arm across the door to his closet. “I’ve been around awhile now. I know how to look young.”
I eyed him doubtfully. “Are you sure?”
“Seriously?”
“Okay.” I handed Osh the address and ushered Reyes out. “Be there at 7:30. We have to get it all set up in the office before classes start.”
“Got it.”
“And no flirting.”
“What?” he asked, pretending to be offended. “I would never.”