I sigh. “Here we go.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “Here we go, what?”
“You helped me out with the situation with Alvin. Albeit, I didn’t ask for or need your help, but still, there it is. Now, I assume, we’re going to discuss what I owe you.”
He stares hard at me for a very long time. “Jesus. That’s where your brain goes?”
I stare back. “Am I wrong?”
He nods, sips coffee with a loud slurp. “Yes.”
“You handled Alvin like he was nothing,” I say, rather than addressing his answer. “You should’ve dropped him off the side, though. Would’ve saved yourself trouble. He may be small, he may be dumb, and he may be a sick, twisted pain in the ass, but what he’s not is forgiving. He’s a seriously vengeful little fucker, and you made yourself a very bad enemy.”
Chance cackles. “Ain’t scared of a little shit like him.”
“It’s not him you should be scared of, it’s the guys he’ll hire to murder you. Or, injure you to the point that they can drag you to him so he can do the honor himself.”
Chance laughs again. “Also not a worry.”
“Well, it should be.” I switch my grip on my mug, threading my two middle fingers through the handle. “He’s easy to underestimate, trust me on this. One-to-one, he’s about as threatening as a newborn kitten. He’s dumber than a bag of hammers. But he’s street savvy, and he knows very, very bad people, and he’s very, very good at getting them to do his dirty work.”
He just shrugs. “Oh, I believe you. I’m just not worried. Not about him, and not about the people he knows. He can order as many hits on me as he wants—he has to know how to find me for them to carry out the hits.”
“Well, you have to leave this club at some point.”
He smirks. “Don’t be so sure.”
“You never leave?” I eye him skeptically. “Not ever?”
He shakes his head. “Got everything I need, and there’s nothing out there I want.”
I consider this. “So you work up there, and live down here.”
He nods. “Yup.”
“What do you do when you’re not working?”
“Read,” he says, then tips his head to the side. “And lift.”
I shake my head. “Yeah, I couldn’t do that.”
“Do what?” His brown eyes take on a twinkle. “Read?”
I just roll my eyes. “No, asshole—live my entire life in one building and never leave.”
His eyes lose the twinkle. “Yeah, well, I have my reasons.” He points at me. “What’s the deal with you and that guy anyway? You said his name is Alvin?”
I nod. “Yeah, Alvin Robertson.” I turn away from him. “And my deal with him is none of your fucking business.”
“Owe him money?” He guesses. I don’t answer, and he nods. “You owe him money.”
“I said it’s none of your business.”
He just looks at me, humor and teasing gone. “I told you you’re safe here.”
“Safe is relative. And unlike you, I can’t just hide in the basement of a nightclub.”
“Oh no? Why not?”
“Because I have a life.”
He arches that damn eyebrow again. “A life that includes owing a two-bit sack of shit like that enough money that you’re acting like his goddamn servant?”
I feel my mouth tighten, my gut burn. I shoot to my feet, snatching my cane and doing my damndest to make a nice, dramatic, stomping-away exit. “Fuck you. You don’t know the first goddamn thing about me.”
He makes a rather effective point—waits where he is as I walk away, only to follow me and catch up within a few long strides. He pivots in front of me. Blocks me in.
“Move,” I snap. “I’m leaving. I’ll take my chances out there with fucking Alvin.”
“I’m offering you an alternative, Annika.” His voice is gentle again.
This cuts me deep, because it almost feels genuine. I know it can’t be, I know anything he’s offering comes with a catch. There’s always a catch.
“Yeah. Owe him, or owe you.” I push around him. “Sorry, buddy, but better the devil you know, you know?”
He moves faster than I’d have believed possible—for anyone, let alone a man his size. He’s just there in front of me again, and now my free hand is clutched in his paw. His hand is so big he’s gripping my closed fist in his hand, engulfing it.
“Not always, no.” He lifts my hand in his, touching the underside of my chin until I’m forced to look at him. “You gotta know what’s out there for you, Annika. That being not a damn thing. Nothing good, at any rate. Owing that rat fucking bastard. Cowed by him. Doing what he tells you. Taking his shit and eating it.” His eyes are hard. “Or worse. Man like that, in the end, only one thing he’ll take as payment. You can fetch him drinks all day long and you’ll never get free of him.”
I lift my chin, jerk it away. “Yeah, I fucking know.” I hold his gaze. “And what’s it to you, huh? You’re different? You want something else from me, do you? You’re gonna help me out of debt to Alvin fucking Robertson out of the goodness of your heart, are you?”
“Yeah, maybe I will.”
“Right.” I lift an eyebrow back at him. “And I’m Mother Theresa reborn.”
“You don’t have to leave, Annika.”
“I want to leave.”
“No, I don’t think you do. I think you’re scared and going back to what you know.”
“Literally, I just said better the devil you know. So yeah. Except I’m not scared, I just don’t know you and I don’t trust you—no offense, but I don’t trust anyone.”
He still has a hold on my hand—with no effort whatsoever, and with a gentility that takes my breath away, he unfolds my hand in his, despite my resistance. “You can trust me. I don’t want anything from you that you won’t eventually want to give me.”
I snort and yank my hand away. “Fuck you. I know exactly what that means, asshole.”
He shakes his head. “Not what you’re assuming.”
“Not what I’m assuming? I’m assuming you mean eventually you’ll decide my debt is due and you’ll take it from me one way or another—you’ll just tell yourself I wanted it.”
He rears back as if struck, and then throws my words back in my face. “You don’t know the first fucking thing about me.”
“You’re a man. That’s all I need to know.”
“That’s pretty damn sexist.”
“Oh, boo-hoo. Did I hurt your poor little feelings?” The sarcasm drips from my voice like acid. “I’ve fucking learned time and time again—men, all men, want one fucking thing from me. And they’ll do anything, go to any lengths and do any mental gymnastics to convince themselves I want it.”
He puts his face in mine. “Not me.”
“Right.” I lean close and make my voice breathy, push my chest into him. “I know what you want. You want this, don’t you?” I writhe against him, knowing I’m baiting a bear, but too pissed off and freaked out to stop myself. “You want me, don’t you? Wanna tap this ass? Tell all your buddies you tapped the tall gimpy redhead. You earned it, right? You saved me, after all, right? You deserve a reward.”