26 Chapter 26

It was a good thing that chase had happened so early in the morning, for the heat wave hadn't finished with us. By the time Hal and Derrick had returned, not only had I started my period (which always made me ten times more tired than I usually would be), but I had the weight of my stupid, heat-vulnerable body. Needless to say, I had taken a seat at the bar and hadn't moved for an hour as I ached and bled. I didn't even care that Gus had to pick up my work moving like a mad man, which was made more difficult for him since he had to keep his eyes down as he took and gave orders. I excused my moment of lameness by the lesser than usual crowd. Our patrons from upstairs had left and we didn't have any new ones yet.

"Did you get their rooms cleaned up yet?" asked Hal.

I gave a grunt in response.

Derrick, his heavily bandaged arm in a sling, had his expressive face doing all sorts of wiggles.

"You don't look well," he said.

I grunted again.