“There was a group of fans who wanted autographs, and several women who managed to write their phone numbers on Wade's hand before he pulled free.Sam sent him an arched brow, but he just shrugged. He got numbers written on him a lot; he'd never figured out how to stop that from happening.”

“He looked from the phone to the unconscious figure of the Salesman. "What did you do to him?" he asked."He got the wrong number," Alex said.”

“What is it that you want with me, Baka?”He looked at her in a predatory way that, she sensed, had nothing to do with blood. “The same thing any man who isn’t blind would want from you.” Elora arched a right eyebrow and took another sip of golden liquid as she waited for him to spell it out. “Your phone number.”

“I don't want him hurt because he got out of hand with me.""Yet you would have shot him."I shrugged. "I never said I was consistent, just serious.”

“I reached for the phone and dialed his number. I listened to it ring. It rang on and on. I imagined the phone crying out in his empty room.I didn't count the rings, but it felt like hundreds. Could Mr. Tate hear them echoing through his house? Was I torturing him? Making him scream in frustration, pressing his hands to his ears to block out the noise? If he wanted to make the ringing stop, all he had to do was pick up.Maybe he had unplugged Jonah's phone. Maybe he couldn't hear the ringing at all.”

“Danny, give me the phone." Isobel thrust her hand out for the receiver. "And you can forget the five bucks." "I was gonna charge you three-fifty anyway," he said, holding the phone just out of reach. "He knew he hadn't dialed the wrong number, so I had to tell him you were on the crapper.”