“Like I said, I came along to save your ass, and I know about Markoff because it’s my job to know about him.”
“I thought you said you weren’t a cop.” Everything he was saying made my head spin. I didn’t get a cop vibe off this man, but how he was talking made it seem like he was some sort of law enforcement. At the thought of that, the cash I’d just stuffed into my bra began to burn my skin.
“I’m not,” he assured me. “I just occasionally work with them.”
I arched a perplexed brow. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”
He reached around into his back pocket and pulled out a business card. The thick cardstock paper was an attractive slate gray color. The logo on the front was simple, a pair of Greek letters in a bold black font.
“Weston Scott. Alpha Omega,” I read.
“You can call me West.”
I ignored him and kept reading. “Private investigation and security?” I looked up at him, no less confused than I was a second ago. “So you, like, install security systems or something?”
One corner of his mouth hooked up, and I wanted to smack myself for thinking he looked damn good when he smirked or smiled. “Not exactly.”
I was officially done with this whole messed up, disastrous night. Snatching up my glass, I threw the remaining three quarters of my drink back in two big gulps, instantly regretting it when the vodka burned all the way down my throat and pooled deep in my belly. There was a reason shots were so small. Large quantities of booze were not made to be chugged. “Oh, that was a mistake,” I wheezed out. “Jesus. Everything north of my bellybutton is on fire.” I coughed as tears brimmed in my eyes. “It’s like I just drank a glass of lava.”
And this was why I could never successfully seduce a man. This was the real me, here. A walking, talking, dumpster fire.
“You good?” Weston asked.
I greedily snatched up the glass of water the woman behind the bar just slid over and sucked on the straw like my life depended on it, drinking down half the glass before the flames in my chest, throat, and stomach were finally doused. “Yeah,” I sputtered and cleared my throat. There really was no coming back from this. My night was officially shot to hell, I’d made a complete ass out of myself, and now I’d burned off the lining of my stomach. It was time to call this whole thing a wash.
Standing from my stool, I snatched up the wallet the jackass had taken from my purse and flipped it open. The fact that everything inside was exactly where it was supposed to be surprised the hell out of me, but I was determined not to show it. He’d lifted my wallet to prove a point, not to steal the piddly amount of cash inside. Good to know. Pulling out a few bills, I stuffed them into the bartender’s tip jar before jamming it and the business card back into my purse.
“So, this has been swell and all, but I’ve had all the fun I can handle for one evening. Have a nice life, buddy.”
With that, I sauntered out of the bar with my back straight and my head held high, silently hoping I didn’t trip on my heels and fall face first onto the marble tile. Because that was exactly how my night was going.
Four
Stella
The engine of my shitty car sputtered as I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex. “Oh no you don’t,” I commanded as I turned the wheel to navigate toward my spot. It was harder than usual given the fact that the power steering was being a touchy bitch, but with a heaved grunt and a few curses, I got the nearly worthless hunk of rusty metal to drift in the general direction I needed it to go.
“Don’t you die on me now, Gertrude. Not when I need you most.” Gertrude let out a cough that was more like a death rattle, but she held strong, chugging along like the Little Engine that Could until I was able to coast into my spot. “There you go, baby,” I cooed as I leaned forward and patted the dash. “Good girl. Just a bit longer and I’ll get you taken care of. I promise.”
I didn’t know how the hell I was going to do that, seeing as I was already broke as shit and getting broker with every passing second. Hell, my whole family was. The cash that was still tucked into my bra might have been enough to fix a couple of Gertrude’s problems, but it wouldn’t even make a dent in what we owed.
Shifting the car into park, I twisted the key to kill the ignition and threw the door open, flinching at the loud, obnoxious creak the hinges made. I added that to the list I kept in my head of all the countless things that needed to be fixed on my car, and stepped out. The moment my left foot hit the dingy, cracked asphalt, I winced in pain. Those torture devices called heels were pinching my toes so bad, I worried my feet might be permanently deformed after tonight.
“These sadistic pieces of shit had to have been invented by men,” I grumbled as I reached down and ripped the shoes off my feet. I’d rather take my chances on the potential tetanus crawling all over the ground than wear these things for another second.
Feet free, I let out a sigh of relief as the blood rushed back to my little piggies and started toward the sidewalk. So many of the lights that were supposed to be illuminating the way were burned out that the walk from my car to my apartment was mostly in shadows. Of course, my pig of a landlord was so busy sexually harassing all of his female tenants that he didn’t have the time to do his actual job, and now the place was quickly going from just okay to a downright pit. Any time I complained about the lights or the fact that the dishwasher didn’t work or the ceiling leaked, he insinuated that the repairs might get done faster if I was willing to let his fat, sweaty ass into my pants. Never. Gonna. Happen.
It was because of those stupid freaking shadows that I didn’t see the person lurking in the darkness near my front door until it was too late.
“Lovely night, isn’t it?” I whipped around with a squeak, dropping the godforsaken heels I was holding. I fumbled with my purse, trying to get to the can of pepper spray inside, but before I could, the man was on me, grabbing the bag from off my shoulder and tossing it aside. “You won’t be needing whatever’s in there, little dove.” Now that he’d moved out of the darkness and into the small beam of sickly yellow light provided by the dingy bulb by my neighbor’s door, I could see that the man was freaking huge. And hairy. He was like a giant, overweight Sasquatch, and there wasn’t a doubt in my mind he could crush me with just one beefy hand.
“Who are you?” How my voice remained steady when my whole body was shaking like a leaf and my heart was about to pound right out of my chest was beyond me, but I’d somehow managed.
“Don’t worry your pretty little head. I’m only here to deliver a message. I’m not gonna hurt you.” The way he was leering at me just then didn’t exactly fill me with warm fuzzies, and what he said next proved my gut instinct about this man right. “At least not yet.” A shiver of revulsion worked down my spine as his smarmy grin pulled at his lips.
I swallowed down the ball of fear growing in my throat and threatening to choke me. “Look, I don’t know who you are or who you think I am, but you’ve got the wrong person, dude. I promise, your message is for someone else.”
“Pretty sure I’ve got the right person, Stella Ryan.” My whole body quaked when he reached out and dragged the tip of his meaty thumb across my jawline and right below my bottom lip. If he knew my name it could only mean one thing.