“Ow! You fucker!” He tried to shake me off, but he was nothing.
“Why did you run?”
“None of your fucking business, man! You’re probably a cop, right?”
“He’s not a cop!” We both turned in the direction of Vienna’s voice.
“I thought I told you to stay in the restaurant.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay. Because I would do that just because you told me to.” She walked over to us. “You can let go of him, too.”
“Who says?”
“I do.” She glared at me. “He’s not dangerous. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. Let him go.” I didn’t know if she was being humane or just trying to prove she had the upper hand.
“She’s r—right,” the little worm stuttered. I glared at him, but I let him go. The alley was a dead end, and if he tried to slip past me to get back to the street he wouldn’t make it to the sidewalk.
“Fine. Now, talk.” I waited, ready to pounce on him if he made a bad move.
He looked at her. “Since when do you bring outsiders to a meeting? You know better than that, Vi.”
“I don’t have a choice right now.” She looked around, up and out and down the alley. There were no windows or doors that I’d seen. We were alone. “This is the reason I wanted to meet with you. One of the reasons, anyway.”
“You told me this was his idea,” I muttered.
“I know I did.” She didn’t look apologetic. She only looked at him. “Have you been in touch with the client at all?”
He shook his head. “I was waiting for you. When you didn’t call me yesterday or the day before, I thought you got picked up. Maybe worse.”
She nodded. “I did get picked up, but he’s not a cop.” She stepped in front of him to be sure he didn’t run away before she got the statement out. I wondered why she lied about getting picked up. It would’ve been nice if she had told me what she had in mind before we left.
“Shit. You got picked up? What the hell, Vi?”
“I know, I know.”
“Did they get the stuff?”
She shook her head. “No, I managed to hide it before they caught up with me—somebody must’ve seen me coming out of the house, I don’t know. But the stuff is safe.” I couldn’t believe what a quick, easy liar she was. She should’ve been an actress.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Positive. Nobody’s getting to it.”
His eyes left her face and flickered up to mine. “How come it’s okay for him to know all of this?”
“I’m out on bail. The judge wants me guarded to be sure I don’t run. I guess they consider me a flight risk.”
“Who, you?” He laughed snidely. Then, his face fell. “When are you gonna be able to get your hands on the stuff? I need the money, Vi.” I could just tell he needed the money. He needed a fix, bad. I had seen it before.
“I don’t know. As soon as I can. But you need to know something. One of the pieces was hot—like, ultra hot. I don’t know what will happen when I hand it over. Do you? Did the client tell you what they were planning on doing with it?”
He shrugged. “Nope. I don’t ask questions like that. Nobody would use me.”
“I know. I know. I hoped, was all.” She looked up at me, then back at him. “Well, for now, I’m sort of stuck.”
“What do I tell them?”
“Don’t tell them anything. Don’t even tell them I just met with you.” She dropped her voice to a near-whisper. “Somebody broke into my apartment yesterday, overnight at some point. I would be willing to bet the client already knows I was at the police station.”
“How do you know?”
“Why else would they break in? They were probably trying to get their hands on their goods before the cops came and took them.”
“Shit.” His face went even more pale than it was before, and his eyes went wide. “That’s not good.”
“I know. I know. Just lay low for a while, okay? Maybe go, I don’t know, visit family or something.”
“Yeah, because I have family to visit.” He rolled his eyes. “This is bullshit, Vi. You’ve never fucked me over like this before.”
“I’m not trying to fuck you over. Have I ever once fucked you over? Damn it, Erich, we were both screwed the minute they came to you with this job. If I don’t know who the client is, I can’t hand over something as famous as what they asked me to take. I’m sorry. I have to think about both of us here. If I go down, don’t think you won’t go down, too. They’d probably name you as the go-between.”
“Bullshit!” I was sure he would run.
I cleared my throat. “I don’t think it’s bullshit, man. She’s making a good point. You might wanna get out of town for a while, until this is settled.”
He didn’t trust me for a second. “Why should I listen to you?” He scratched his arm through the long-sleeved t-shirt he was wearing, a grungy, stained thing that looked like he’d had it for years. Long sleeves in the middle of July. He was definitely hiding track marks on his arms.
“Because I’m not a cop, but I’m familiar with them. And I’ve been working on cases like this for years. This guy, whoever he is, is gonna want to cover his tracks.” Bad choice of words, maybe, but it seemed like I was the only one who picked up on it.
“Fuck.” He leaned against the way with his eyes closed. He looked even sweatier than before. “Okay. I have to get out of here.”
“Let me know you’re safe, okay?” She touched his arm, and he nodded. He looked at me one more time, then left the alley alone.
She slumped a little when we were alone. “Hell.”
“Why didn’t you tell him the truth?”
She looked up at me in disbelief. “You’re kidding, right? Why would I be honest with him? He could go straight for the client and tell them I went to the cops. It sounds better if I got picked up.”
“It doesn’t matter either way. Nobody’s going to get to you. Not while I’m around.”
She looked surprised, then smiled a little. But anything she was going to say got cut off when my phone rang. I should’ve known it was coming. I didn’t even have to look at the ID. “Everything’s fine,” I said as soon as I answered.
“Where the hell did you disappear to? I didn’t send that car out for you to run away from it.”
“The guy we were meeting with ran. Didn’t they tell you that?”
“Yeah, but I don’t like having you out of sight like this.”
I had to bite my tongue for a second. Did he treat the other agents like they couldn’t be trusted? Or was it just me? “We’re not far away. Just around the corner. Everything’s fine.”
“She’s secure?”
“Not going anywhere.” I glanced at her. She had the grace to look away.
“All right. We can’t afford to lose her.”
“I realize that.” When I hung up, I took a deep breath and told myself not to take him personally.
“I’m sorry. I know I’m a pain in the ass.” She put a hand on my arm.
“I just have to ask myself why he assigned me to your case if he doesn’t trust me to do a good job.”
“I’m sure he trusts you. He just distrusts me more.” She shrugged with a grin. “It’s not your fault.”
“Come on. Let’s get out of this alley. Dumpsters in July—not my favorite place to be.”
“Look at the bright side,” she said as we left the alley.
“What would that be?”
“You got out of having to order sushi.” She elbowed me. “Come on. I’m the one with a nameless, faceless threat hovering over me and I can still joke around.”
I noticed the eyes on us as we walked down the street. Mostly male eyes, mostly on her. I didn’t blame them—the light, fluttery sundress she wore was short enough to show off those incredible legs of hers, and when she moved it moved with her and made a guy wonder what else was underneath. At least, that was what it did to me.
“I’m still hungry,”
she murmured when we reached the sushi restaurant. “And I could use a drink now, too.”
“It’s, like, one-thirty.”
“Yeah. And if we were having brunch, it would be perfectly acceptable.” She had that smirk going, the one that told me she knew she would get her way. How many men had seen that smirk? How many of them had done what she wanted because of it?
“As long as we don’t have to go back in there. I’m pretty sure I saw rats running the dishwasher when the kitchen door was swinging open and shut.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re such a baby. I don’t see how you eat anything at all if you’re so squeamish about what restaurant kitchens are like.” She looked up and down the street, shading her eyes with one hand. “What about the pub there? Across the street? Your pal in the car can still be nearby.”
“Done.” I wished I could have a drink on duty. I could use something to cool me off—in more ways than one.
Chapter Nine – Vienna
The bar was dark, almost windowless, and the light coming in through what windows there were was dingy, brown. It reminded me of the way casinos were designed. Windows meant people could see whether it was day or night, how much time they had spent at the craps table or slot machines—so no windows allowed. Same thing there. No sense in letting the patron know the time of day, especially when they were belly-up to the bar in the middle of the afternoon like we were.
I slid onto a stool while Dylan signaled the bartender. “What do you want?” he asked.
“I can order for myself.” I was all in favor of men who believed in doing little things for women. Holding a door, holding out a chair, that sort of thing. I drew the line at placing my own order in a restaurant or bar.
“Excuse me, then.” He sat down beside me, and I felt his frustration. For such a big, tough guy, he was like a little baby. Most men were. They were so easy to read, too. I wondered if he had any idea that I could just about read his mind. I knew where his eyes went when we walked down the street together because I could feel them on me, just like I could feel the eyes of so many others. Not that I consciously sought out those eyes—most girls knew how it felt to be looked over. Just one of the many responsibilities of being female.
“Don’t take it personal,” I murmured. “I just like placing my own order. I’ve been burned before.”
“How?”
“By men who think they know what I want to drink better than I do.” I ordered a vodka tonic, while he ordered an iced tea. I raised an eyebrow. “Just a regular iced tea?”
“I’m on duty.” I tried not to roll my eyes. Right. Duty over desire. I had to keep that in mind.
“Anyway, like I was saying.” I crossed my legs and got comfortable as I opened a menu. “I’ve tried to order things before and the guy I was with tried to convince me what he wanted me to drink or eat was better than what I wanted.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Dylan snickered.
“Because you’re a man,” I sighed. “Men never have to deal with the bullshit things other men do. Men don’t try to convince other men they don’t know what they’re talking about. The way you’re doing to me right now.”I looked at him from the corner of my eye and saw his jaw drop. So he got it.
“You don’t like men very much, do you?”
I threw back my head and laughed. “Nothing could be further from the truth!”
“But you’re sitting here, telling me men do bullshit things to women—“
“Which they do. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like them. I just try to play by their rules, is all.” I shrugged.
“What’s that mean?” He crossed his thick arms on the bar. I had to pry my eyes away from them just to keep thinking straight.
“It means ordering for myself, for one.” I winked as our drinks were delivered. I ordered a burger and fries. Dylan looked surprised, then ordered the same thing for himself.
“It’s a burger and fries sort of day,” he muttered as he raised his glass to his lips.
“Amen.” I raised my vodka in a toast to him and took a long sip. I would probably feel like hell later after eating all that fatty food, but I needed to sink my teeth into something substantial. I glanced at his arms again as I thought that and was glad for the lack of light in the bar when my cheeks reddened. He had the sort of body any woman would drool over. I was human, after all. I blamed my flush on the vodka and took another sip.
“What else does it mean?” he asked. “Playing by the rules.”
I shrugged. “It means knowing what men like and giving it to them.” Shut up, shut up, shut the hell up, don’t give yourself away. My stomach was completely empty, which explained why a little bit of vodka loosened my tongue the way it did.
“Like what?”
I put a hand on his bicep and pursed my lips in a mixture of surprise and admiration at its size. He looked at my expression, then down at my hand. “Oh. I see.” But he didn’t pull away. And I wasn’t just putting on for the sake of proving a point, either. It was like touching granite.
“Do you work out?” I purred, then giggled. “Sorry. I can’t keep a straight face. But you get my point.”
“Men like having their egos stroked. Point taken.” He shook his head with a wry smile. “You’ve got me questioning everything now.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t get pissy about it. And don’t act like men don’t know just what most women want to hear.” I signaled for another drink. Might as well—there was nothing else to do.
“Like what?” he asked.
“If I told you, you would know all my secrets.” I managed what I thought was a coy smile.
“I don’t think I could ever know all your secrets.” He flashed a sexy smile that just about made my toes curl. Down, girl. I couldn’t let him get the upper hand so easily, even if he was almost ridiculously hot and even if it had been a long time since I’d been with a guy. I couldn’t remember the last time, I realized. I spent too much energy planning jobs and using my connections to get inside information, like the layout of Florsheim’s house. My connections were all men, but they weren’t men I slept with—only men I strung along with the unspoken suggestion that we might sleep together at some point. It took so little sometimes.
“And you never will know them.” I raised my glass again and downed the rest of my second drink.
“Easy there. You haven’t eaten yet.”
I frowned. “You don’t need to monitor me that closely, Dad.”
He smirked. “You’re my responsibility, or did you forget about that?”
I leaned in. “I didn’t see anything about that in the agreement from the judge,” I reminded him in a stage whisper.
“It’s implied.”
I rolled my eyes. “Right. Well, I didn’t sign off on any of this, remember.”
“And once again, you’re free to go back where you came from. You’re the one who turned yourself in. And by the way, were you being straight with Erich when you said—”
I held up a hand to cut him off. “Can we not talk about that right now, please? I’ve been thinking about nothing else since that night.”
I half expected him to argue the point, so it was surprising when he nodded slowly instead. “Sorry. You’re right.”
“I’m right?” I chuckled. “Let me get that one on the record. Dylan says I’m right.” I pantomimed writing it down on a napkin.
“Very funny. I’m not a bad guy, you know. I’m on your side here.”
I looked at him with a disbelieving eye, one brow cocked. “Oh, really? That’s news to me.”
“Maybe if you weren’t always so argumentative, you’d figure that out.”
“All you’ve done up to this point is remind me of what a bad person I am. Or did you forget what you said last night?” I told myself not to let the way he’d hurt me show on my face or in my voice. Since when did I care what so-called good people like him thought about me? He was totally outside my realm of concern. He was one of the suckers who played
by the rules and thought that made him one of the good guys. I tossed my hair over one shoulder and lifted my chin.
He winced. “I was out of line last night.”
“Damn straight.”
“Okay, okay, you don’t need to remind me.” Our burgers arrived, and salivating over the smell of beef was a welcome change from salivating over the smell of Dylan’s cologne. The first bite was heaven.
“I can’t tell you how long it’s been,” I managed to say over a mouthful of burger. “God, this is so good.”
“And probably way safer than what you were going to eat,” he snorted.
“God, give it up, already.” Still, I smiled, and he smiled back. It would’ve been so much easier to use him if he wasn’t so darn cute and almost likeable.
How was I going to do that, anyway? Eating gave me the chance to get quiet and think things through, even though the vodka didn’t help my thoughts churn as quickly as I needed them to. Then, I had an a-ha moment. The vodka. I’d drink one more and pretend it got to me more than it did. That would excuse me if he didn’t take the bait when I threw myself at him.
I signaled for another drink, even though the disapproval in Dylan’s eyes was evident. “What?” I asked, before slowly sliding a fry into my mouth.
He stared at my mouth for a moment, then said, “You know what.”
“I know I’m a grown woman,” I smiled. “And I know what I want. What I want is another drink. I’m not driving, right?”
“Right.”
I picked up another fry, then swirled it in some ketchup. “And it’s not like I have anything important to do today, right?” I poked the fry between my lips, then licked a little bit of stray ketchup from the corner of my mouth.
“Right.” His voice sounded far away. It was almost too easy, like he didn’t remember anything about what we had just discussed. I knew what men wanted.
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