I looked Penelope over, my stomach still twisted into knots. He could have hurt him. Okay, Enzo hadn’t done anything to my cat, but he could have. And even if he didn’t, he had violated my space without a second thought. And for what? To clean?

Goddamn crazy person.

I kissed Penelope’s head and shoved a hand into my pocket, searching for my phone. As soon as I had it, I stabbed the contact name of my old friend and waited for her to pick up.

“Yo, Texas! How the hell are you?”

I grimaced. “No one calls me that but you,” I muttered.

“Yeah, I know. It still gets under your skin, doesn’t it?” She chuckled, and I heard the familiar sound of her fingers flying over the keys. “What’s up?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You still doing security?”

“You bet your sweet, plump ass,” she said. “Why?”

“I need someone to install a security system in my apartment. I’m renting, so I don’t need a bunch of wires and shit, and my landlord can’t know about it. Think you can do it?”

“Piece of cake,” she purred. “When do you need it by?”

“Tomorrow?”

Chelsea choked, and I imagined it was on one of those energy drinks she liked to chug. “Tomorrow? That’s short notice. You know it’ll cost you, right?”

“I thought we were friends?”

“My friends call me more often,” she said. “And do shit with me. This sounds more like a client needing a last-minute job. It’ll cost you,” she repeated.

“How much?”

“Fifteen hundred.”

“Shit,” I swore. “Why is it so much?”

“Because my shit is good, and I’m better,” she said. I could hear her smug grin. “And I know you, Tex. You don’t want that cheap internet crap you slap up on a wall and only half-records when it wants to.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” I searched my brain, trying to figure out if I even had that much money to spend. “What if we go out? Grab something to drink? Do you think you could shave off…five hundred bucks?”

She was quiet for a minute. “I could use a wingman. Meet me at 7th Circle in an hour?”

“Blu,” I said quickly. “Let’s go there.”

“Bet, Blu it is. See you in an hour.”

We hung up, and I turned back to the laptop. Enzo had been on a mission, looking over my stuff and then getting to work like he lived here. I hadn’t seen him in days, but at that moment I could swear I still smelled his cologne.

* * *

I stood at the bar as music pulsed around me. My heart was throbbing a little too hard, pounding in my ears and drowning the music out. Why the hell did I come back here? There were a thousand clubs in New York, but I’d picked the one that housed Enzo Vitale.

There’s something wrong with me.

“Tex! Over here!”

I cringed as she shouted my name. My head whipped around as I tried to see if anyone was looking at me, but everyone was in their own worlds. I glanced back at Chelsea. Her dark purple hair was up in two round puff balls on either side of her head. Even in the dark, her piercings glowed a neon green. We’d had matching piercings at some point, but I’d taken mine out before I joined the academy. I missed them.