“So, I thought you were a badass. But now?” He shot her an assessing glance. “Right now you look just like everyone else—a good little drone locked into the hive mind, incapable of thinking outside the box.”
“Like I’d ever give a crap about your opinion of me, a man who breaks innocent people’s faces and steals other people’s money,” she muttered, shrugging her way out of Joelle’s pink jacket so she could get back into her own. “I don’t have to be a damn anarchist to prove anything to you, you know. I’ve got nothing to prove, period. If anyone says otherwise, they’re going to get nothing but my middle finger.”
“So, no anarchy for you?”
“Let me be clear. I’ve got no beef with the rules of society. They’re fine. They’re lovely. It’s people I hate, generally speaking.”
“Except for Felix fuckface, the innocent in all this.” He said the name with a sneer as he slowed down for a turn onto a dark road that looked like some sort of service tunnel. “I still don’t remember who he is, but I do know one thing—I’ll remember you until my dying day. You’re the only person in recent memory who’s managed to put me on my ass. You’re a tougher fighter than your man ever dreamed of being.”
Was it weird that she was oddly thrilled at being unforgettable? “For the last time, Felix is like my brother. Calling him my man makes me vomit a little in my mouth. Keep it up and I’ll vomit all over your pretty ride, if only to make sure you get the point.”
“Nevertheless, he still must’ve felt pretty damn emasculated when you told him about how you confronted me.”
“Hm.” The silence unwound around them when she didn’t offer anything more. As a darkened underground parking lot came into view, highlighted by a brilliant source of light coming from somewhere beyond the small sea of cars, she felt his eyes on her. As the Hummer came to a stop, she chanced a quick side-eye his way and almost cursed out loud to find he’d turned to face her completely.
“What?”
“You didn’t tell him.”
Bingo. “Why would I?”
“I thought you were close. Obviously not that close.”
“He’s still taking his meals in through a straw. You know, what with all the missing teeth and his jaw wired shut, he’s not exactly at his strongest right now. I’ll tell him if and when it ever comes up.”
“It’s not coming up? Damn, I must’ve hurt him more than I thought.”
Okay, she’d walked right into that one. “Because I’m stubborn, I’m going to try one last time to get this through your thick skull. You don’t fuck someone who was your foster brother since you were twelve. It’s just too gross for words. Now tell me, what the hell are we doing two stories below ground after midnight? It feels like we’re in a damn tomb. Or a rave that’s being held inside of a tomb,” she added, glancing toward the light bleeding through the cars before them. “What is that? Is it like some kind of party?”
“Yeah, I guess this could be called a party, depending on your mood.” He opened his door before shooting her another glance. “Whenever I show up around here, I’m always in the mood for this kind of party.”
“Where is here, anyway?”
He jerked his bearded chin toward the light. “You’ve heard of floating games, right? Craps, poker, that kind of thing.”
That made her brows quirk. “Yeah. Gotta keep things like that on the move so the cops don’t bust in and ruin everyone’s fun.”
“Right. Well, this is like that.”
She tilted her head as a roar from a crowd reached her ears. “Wow. Must be some kind of craps game.”
“Oh, it’s a game, all right. And gambling is what makes it fun for the spectators. But I think the real fun is reserved for the players themselves.”
“What do you mean?”
“Come on out, Stems.” He tilted his head toward the light, and for some strange reason she was distracted by how silky all that dark blonde hair looked as it brushed his massive shoulders. “Let me show you.”
For a heartbeat Alice hesitated, because there was a light in his eyes that was a little scary. Part challenging. Part anticipatory. All of it dangerous.
Insanely dangerous.
Why, oh why did that make her want to bite her lip?
Against her better judgment, she found herself reaching for the door handle. “Okay, Loki. Let’s go.”
Chapter Three
“If it isn’t the Gravedigger. I didn’t know you were signed up for tonight’s dance.”
“Dinky.” Loki clasped the other man’s hand preceding a half-chest bump, half bro-hug. No other man there would have dared to try that move, something Loki was perfectly okay with. “I’m a tourist tonight. Anything special on the card?”
“You or your brother Tyr are always my biggest draws. Everyone else is just amateur hour.” Dinky’s gaze slid to Alice. “Whoa-fuckin’-Nelly. Where’d you find the Amazon?”
“The Amazon found me.” Loki glanced at the woman in question when he heard a faint snarl rise out of her. Since he was six and a half feet tall and the top of her head could probably fit just under his chin, the Amazon tag was accurate. She was one tall drink of water, with legs that went on for about a year. But it wasn’t just her height that fit the warrior-woman description. A lick of danger lurked in the cold stare those blacker-than-midnight eyes leveled at the world. It was like she understood life was supposed to be awful, and she fully expected things to get worse.
He could understand that.
More often than not, his world had gone from bad to worse until he’d finally taken control of his own destiny. There had never been a time during his growing-up years when he’d had the optimistic thought that life could work in the opposite direction—that things could go from bad to better if he just waited long enough.
Waiting for good things to happen was something only suckers did. And optimism? That was an unknown quantity for the likes of him. He’d been raised in darkness. When he’d been a kid, that was all he thought the world was.
Thankfully, life got better as he’d moved into adulthood and the darkness eased its grip on him. Or, maybe things hadn’t actually gotten better. Maybe he’d just gotten used to coping with who and what he was.
And he never forgot who he was.
Always and forever, he was a Gravedigger.
There were times when that knowledge, that darkness, still reached out to drag him back into its smothering stranglehold. When it did, he came here, to the Lower Lower. This was where he fought that darkness in the most efficient way he knew.
By getting bloody.
Looking into Alice’s depthless, world-weary eyes, he couldn’t help but wonder what she did to keep her darkness at bay. Because she had it. Oh, hell yeah, she had it bad. And unless he missed his guess, that darkness was threatening to swallow her whole.
Like always recognized like.
“Dink, I’d like you to meet Stems. She’s a friend of mine.” To emphasize that she was with him and therefore as unapproachable as the Queen of England, Loki put an arm around her shoulders and was surprised by how birdlike her bone structure was. Her ferocity had almost made him forget how feminine that body of hers was—a body whose imprint had been burned into his nervous system from the moment he’d pinned her to the parking lot. “Stems, this is Dinky Clouds.”