“You are my sister whether you like it or not, and you’re my one sibling that Gus actually likes. If you don’t have anywhere to go by the end of the month, he said he was fine with you coming to stay with us. That’s what I want you to do. Not because I think you’re a damn charity case, but because we’re family.”
The slow, terrible creep of desperation dug its poison-tipped claws into Alice’s insides, while the uncertainty of her future loomed ever closer. “We were talking about Felix, not me. I’ll be fine.” She hoped. “Besides, there’s no shame in standing in an unemployment line, right?”
A low growl escaped her foster sister, and she slumped down into her seat. “I swear, I want to kill that damn animal Loki with my bare hands.”
“Tried it.” Much to her everlasting shame. “Trust me, it’s a bad idea.”
“I just don’t get why he jumped Felix out of nowhere. I mean, how on earth did he even know Felix had the payroll on him? Sounds like an inside job to me.”
“I…don’t know.” Without mercy, Alice’s mind spewed out an image of Loki, a confident giant of a man who worked at the most famous tattoo studio in the world. Clearly he wasn’t hurting for money, if his tricked-out Harley was any indication. So…
Why had Loki jumped Felix?
Why hasn’t Felix fuckface called the authorities himself? Think, Stems.
Now that she was calm and not blinded by Halliday rage, she could only shake her head.
None of Felix’s story made sense.
“I mean, it doesn’t make sense,” Joelle said, echoing Alice’s thoughts so precisely she glanced over in surprise. “That animal broke so many bones in Felix’s face—his nose, his jaw, all eight of his front teeth and that orbital bone thingy that doctor said has to be repaired.”
“Don’t forget the broken ribs and shattered right hand.”
“So why do that to a person you don’t even know? And why won’t Felix call the cops on this Loki bastard?” Joelle demanded, coming to the one sticking point that Alice couldn’t get around. “The guy must be a totally deranged savage, if robbing random people and beating them half to death is how he gets his kicks. He should be put in a cage like the rabid animal he is.”
“I don’t know what to make of him.” A clash of emotions churned inside Alice as she tried to hate the man who’d turned her world upside-down. But the only clear emotion that bubbled to the surface was the distinct impression that she’d made a terrible mistake.
And, of course, the burning humiliation of knowing she’d lost her temper.
It was just so horrifying. After spending a decade training herself in the ways of self-discipline so that she would never give in to the Halliday temper, she’d gone and lost it anyway. It was beyond unacceptable.
It was unforgivable.
How could she face this Loki guy again after losing her mind like she had? Sure, he was the source of all her abject misery. And it was true that she hadn’t been under this kind of stress since she was twelve and her father had died so violently. But going so far as to pick a fight with Loki by touching his prized Harley was insane. Even as she had done it, she’d known deep down that it wouldn’t change anything.
Her job would still be gone.
Her bank account would still be overdrawn.
Joelle would still be heartbroken.
Felix would still be taking his meals in through a straw.
Nothing would have changed if Alice had managed to beat Loki to a pulp.
So, what had she accomplished?
Nothing, except embarrassing herself.
Worse, her out-of-control emotions had made her realize she was just like her father—a rage-blind fool who clearly wasn’t capable of thinking things through when angry. Just another crazy Halliday with a hot Irish temper. It was so cliché it was almost funny.
Too bad she couldn’t find it in her to laugh.
Then there was that added salt in the wound of having Loki protect her even as he’d neutralized her. She could still feel his huge hand cradling the back of her head so it wouldn’t smash against the ground. How awful was that? He’d actually taken pity on her even as he’d taken her out.
She’d live and die trying to forget her never-ending shame.
“It’s time.” Alice glanced at the car’s glowing clock and opened the passenger door. Three minutes to midnight was close enough for her date with destiny. “I just want to get this over with.”
“Honestly, Alice, I don’t think it’s smart for you to meet this monster alone,” Joelle said yet again. “Please let me go with you.”
“He already had a chance to kill me today and gave it a hard pass,” Alice reminded her, though her heart swelled at Joelle’s determination to stand with her. She only wished Loki could see her foster sister at that moment—diamonds in her ears, Birkin bag beside her, looking like the blue-eyed, blonde-haired princess she’d always been. Yet there she was, ready to throw down, because that was what a true ride-or-die chick was all about. “Hopefully whatever bullshit this Loki guy’s going to put me through will be the absolute rock-bottom of my life, and tomorrow I can turn the page and work on making things better. God knows they can’t get much worse.”
“You call me if you need me.”
“I will if ever get my phone back.” With a wave, Alice shut the passenger door and headed toward the opera house’s main entrance. It was a huge set of double doors made out of heavy wood, and the building’s original name, The Civic Opera House, was immortalized in the stone and concrete lintel above. To her right stretched a multi-columned promenade, and through those columns Wacker Drive could be seen. Elegant Art Deco lanterns hung from the high ceiling, though at this time of night only every other light was lit, giving the promenade an eerie, abandoned look. On the other end of the block-long walkway, the shadowed silhouette of a man approached before melting into the shadows.
That wasn’t good.
Alert, she searched all the other shadows around her. Anything could be hiding in the darkness around her. It was midnight in Chicago, after all. Yet there she was, a woman all on her own, a perfect target for any urban predator.
Why was it that thought didn’t trouble her nearly as much as the thought of what she already knew was coming for her?
Loki.
The monster.
The destroyer of worlds.
The guy who saved her from a severe head injury.
A black Hummer rolled up to the curb. She turned, eyes narrowed in hostile warning in case it was some asshole stupid enough to mistake her for a streetwalker. Then the tinted passenger window rolled down to reveal Loki behind the wheel.
A Hummer.
Of course.
First a Harley with ape-hanger handlebars, and now a Hummer.
He must have a micro-penis.
“Pink?” He raised his voice over the diesel rumble of the Hummer’s engine, and for a moment she stared at him. If this was some kind of random, yell-a-color-out-loud game, she didn’t know the rules. “That can’t be your jacket. You’re not a pink chick.”
Oh. “It’s borrowed. You have my jacket.” She came up to the passenger side, but made sure she didn’t lean in. It’d be her luck to get arrested for solicitation with a move like that. “I’ll take it now.”