“Guess so.”
He stared at me, obviously not believing a word I said, but didn’t say anything else. He just flipped through the cards some more and continued to puff on his cigar.
“Since when do you smoke?”
“Since I fucking feel like it.”
“You’ve never smoked cigars before.”
“Jesus, is everyone gonna rag on me about something? I’m not allowed to smoke a fucking cigar now?”
I held up my hands in defense and backed away. “Shit, I was just asking. I’ve just never seen you smoke. And then you’re drinking, which is fine, but are you supposed to drink while you’re on meds?”
“Are you my doctor now?”
“It was just a question. Relax.”
“You fucking relax. It’s a fucking cigar. It’s not like I’m holding a fucking purse or something.”
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. There was no way he could know about the old ladies. “Why do you say that?”
“Because if I were holding a fucking purse, there’d be something to worry about,” he said slowly, as if I was fucking stupid. I nodded and backed away. I needed to walk away before I gave myself away. Hunter walked in a few minutes later with a ball cap pulled down over his face.
I started laughing, pointing at his face as he looked up at me with bruising all over his face.
“Don’t laugh, asshole.”
“She really did a number on you. What exactly did you say to deserve that beating?”
“Shit, I’m not really sure,” Hunter said, pulling the ball cap off his head and showing the rest of the damage. “She was liking all my criticism, but everything changed so fast.”
“It always does. That’s why I told you to run away.”
“Yeah, but it just doesn’t make sense. She started turning my words around on me and twisting the meaning. It was fucked up. And that wasn’t even the worst part.” He looked over at Chance and then leaned in close. “She only punched me once.”
“So, how did you get those other bruises?”
“If I tell you, you can’t laugh.”
I stifled my laughter, pulling my lips between my teeth so I didn’t lose it. “I swear. No laughing.”
“It was a pack of wild old ladies.”
“What?” I shook my head. That couldn’t be right. “What do you mean a pack of old ladies?”
“They came out of nowhere and just beat the shit out of me after Lucy had me down on the ground. It was like they were elderly vigilantes.”
“Was one of them missing her teeth?” I asked hesitantly.
“Yes!” he said, pointing his finger at me. “You too?”
I nodded gravely. “I was just minding my own business, fucking Claire up against the front door, and they fucking beat the shit out of me. They said they had heard about ‘the Reeders’ and were coming for us.”
“Oh.” His face turned pale and his eyes were wide.
“Oh, what?”
“I, uh….I may have given the ring leader our card.”
“You did what?” I paced away from him, my whole body thrumming with irritation and a little fear.
“I didn’t know they were out to get us! I thought they might want some undercover work. That one lady was a great actress.”
“And how exactly were you going to present that to Cap? Cap, I say before we go in guns blazing, we send in the little old ladies to see what they can get out of them.”
“Well, not exactly that, but it could work.”
“Shit, this is so bad. I mean, I don’t mind taking out a few assholes, but old people are a different story.”
“And they were women,” Hunter added.
“Exactly. But they were evil women. Who just walks up to someone and starts beating him with a purse?”
Hunter snorted. “You’re lucky. I’m pretty sure one of them used a shoe.”
“So, what are we gonna do? We can’t not say anything to Cap. They said they were coming for us.”
“Yeah, but we can’t exactly tell him that they’re old ladies. He’ll laugh at us.”
“Not if we show him our evidence,” I said with a nod.
“You want to tell Cap that we got beat up by old ladies?”
“Who got beat up by old ladies?” Rocco grinned as he joined us. “Those are some nice bruises. I’d say whoever did that had a nice swing. It wouldn’t have been the swing of a purse, would it?”
“Who told you?” I spat.
“Nobody,” he grinned. “It’s all over the news how some old ladies took down a man in a shopping center after they thought he was assaulting his woman. Gave a description and everything. Tall, ruggedly handsome man with large muscles. Bald. Could be mistaken for The Rock.” Rocco turned to me with a big, shit eating grin. “You wouldn’t happen to know anyone that looked like that, would you?”
“This is going to be so bad for business. How’s it going to look when clients find out we were beat up by old women?”
“If it makes you feel any better, they also took out a few teenagers that were trying to rob a gas station.”
“How would that make me feel better?” I asked.
“I don’t know. They were boys. You’re men. They’ll be you one day and then they’ll know what it feels like.”
I clenched my jaw in anger. “All that says to me is that old ladies beat up weaker versions of me.”
“Look, it’s not really that big of a deal,” Rocco said, not so believably. “My grandma used to play hide and seek with me and let me tell you, she could run. I was scared to death that she was gonna catch me.”
I glared at him, arms crossed and flexing, ready to shoot out and strangle him.
“Alright, it’s not exactly the same thing, but I’m telling you, old ladies are scary to everyone.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Claire
“Where are you going dressed like that?” Lucy asked as I swiped lipstick on before popping it in my clutch.
“I’m just heading for a job interview.”
“Yeah, that’s what you said when I talked to you, but nobody goes to a job interview dressed like that!”
I looked down at my outfit, confused by what she was talking about. I had my hair pulled back in a fancy chignon and I wore a tight fitting, mid-calf skirt with a slit up the back. The blouse I wore was perfect to add a little sex appeal, but hide all my assets at the same time. I also had a smart jacket to finish off the look. I was going for a fashionable woman from the 1940’s, and I thought I was killing it. It was all part of my fantasy that was about to play out over the next few weeks. It was what Derek and I had agreed on. Then we would get serious about starting a family.
“Claire, you look like you took a giant leap backward in time.”
“Is it that good?”
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I said, attaching a hat with pins to my head. I didn’t want it falling off and ruining the look.
“Fine, don’t tell me, but you know this is going to come back to bite you in the ass.”
“Alright, well, I’ll see you later. Let yourself out.”
I grabbed my new white gloves off the table and pulled them on as I walked out the door. It was a little warm to be wearing all this, but I thought I looked great. I drove out to Pittsburgh, looking for the perfect spot to put my plan in place. Parking off Fifth Ave, I locked my car and strut down the street, finding my target immediately. I pulled out my compact and checked my appearance one last time before snapping it shut and locking it in my purse.
I made sure to put some extra sway in my steps as I strut down Fifth Ave. When a passerby wasn’t paying attention and knocked into me, my purse went flying, sending the contents of my clutch in all directions. This was not how this whole thing was supposed to go. I knelt down and started picking up my compact, a small handkerchief, a small wallet, but I couldn’t find my lipstick. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it laying in the street and reached over to grab it.
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A horn sounded and I glanced up just in time to see a bumper headed right in my direction. Strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me back at the last second. I landed on top of my savior, noticing immediately how strong his chest was. Looking into his eyes, I was struck by the intensity burning bright in them. I was lost, unable to look away for even a moment for fear that I was dreaming this whole thing.
“Are you alright?”
“I….” I felt breathless, unable to even put together the simplest sentence. This beautiful man had my stomach in knots so tight that I worried I might pass out.
He pushed up, taking me with him and ran his hand through my now disheveled hair and checked me for bumps. “I think you’re okay.”
I nodded dumbly, swallowing what little saliva I had in my mouth. “Thank you so much. I could have been killed.”
He stood and pulled me up, picking up my glove that had somehow fallen off during the whole debacle. I pulled at my skirt, fixing my appearance the best I could. I pulled the pins out of my hat and fixed my hair, replacing the hat when I was finished. I looked up at him again only once I felt presentable, blushing furiously at his scrutinizing gaze.
“I’m Nicholas.”
“Myra,” I said, not wanting to give my real name. After all, I was pretending not to be me. I might as well give myself a good name.
“Myra, that’s a beautiful name.”
“Thank you,” I smiled.
“Would you like to grab a drink? You seem a little shaken up after what just happened.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that.”
I smiled as he took my arm and followed him down the sidewalk to the door of a very well known restaurant, The Capital Grille. It was known for its excellent food and ridiculous prices, but since I had never been here before, I was excited for the opportunity to even have a drink.
He leaned in and whispered something in the host’s ear and then we were led off. I was so enraptured by the elegance of it all that I hadn’t even noticed that we had been taken to an entirely separate area. In fact, it seemed that we had a whole room all to ourselves.
Nicholas held out my chair for me and I tried to ignore the butterflies soaring inside me. He was such a gentleman, but more than that, he was beautiful. I couldn’t stop looking at him.
“So, Myra, what is it you do when you’re not needing to be rescued?”
“I’m a ballet dancer.”
“Really? I would love to see you dance sometime.”
“I’m actually performing at The Pittsburgh Ballet Theater tomorrow night.”
“Is that so?”
“You should come by and see. We’re performing Swan Lake.”
He grinned at me, like there was nothing more he wanted than to see how I moved. He ordered champagne for us, along with some appetizers and even lunch. It was all so amazing and I found that I could lie quite easily to Nicholas about anything. It was the adventure that I had needed and he was just the man to have it with. When lunch was over, he helped me stand from my chair and pulled me in closer to him.
“I wish I could stay longer, but I have business to attend to.”
I nodded and that was when he leaned down and brushed his lips softly across mine. I melted into his kiss, his strong arms, and his arousing scent. If he hadn’t pulled back, I would have kissed him all afternoon until I had to go home.
“Will I see you again?” I asked him as he walked me out of the restaurant.
“Tomorrow night,” he said darkly, and then he turned and walked away, leaving me a shaking mess on the sidewalk.
Phoenix Rising Page 19
