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It felt natural. Like of course he would. I returned that kiss and it was only after I began to love it that I realized what we were doing.
I pulled away, biting my lip.
He gave me a little smirk. “There it is,” he said.
“What?”
“That look on your face.”
“What look?” I tried to make my expression neutral.
He grinned. “It’s half hate, half desire. I’ve got to say, it’s pretty damn hot.”
“You don’t know what I want.”
“I know what you look like. And when you bite your lip like that and stare at me like you can’t decide if you want to punch me in the face or fuck my brains out, I’ve got to admit, it really makes me want you to do both.”
“You’re messed up.”
“I know, little bird. But tell me you don’t like it when I kiss you, and maybe I’ll stop.”
“Maybe?” I made a face. “Great. So you’ll just keep doing it no matter what I say.”
“Probably.” He leaned back in his seat and laughed. “Fuck, that guy’s face when I hit him was priceless. He didn’t see that coming at all.”
I sighed and shook my head, but a smile slipped back onto my face.
“What do we do now?”
“Well, we’ve got all day,” he said. “We could go back to the room and take a nice, long shower together.”
“I bet you’d like that.”
“We could skip the shower and I could give you that taste you’ve been craving.”
“No thanks.”
“All right then.” He shrugged. “I guess we’re stuck in the car. Got any other places you want to show me? Maybe that diner you worked in?”
“Yeah, we could do that.”
“And maybe we can talk to some of those girls you worked with. I bet a few of them would be willing to help.”
I ran a hand through my hair then tugged at it. “Some might,” I said.
“Got any names?”
“I’ll think about it. I might still have some numbers, but they leave a lot, you know?”
“Sure. Can’t blame them.”
“But there are always more girls.” I shook my head. “I should’ve left sooner. God, I don’t know what I was thinking.”
He went quiet for a long moment and stared out the front windshield. “It’s easy to convince yourself that things are normal, once you’ve been in them a while.”
“Yeah? You know about that?”
“I do,” he said. “I grew up in some shit circumstances. Thought it was normal, though. I thought everyone’s parents drank themselves half to death each night and fought like wild animals. That sort of shit, you know?”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
He waved a hand. “Didn’t tell you that for pity. Just that I have some slight idea of what those girls are thinking. And of what you went through.”
“I’ll try to come up with some names,” I said. “And we can make some calls.”
“Good.” He nodded slowly. “That’s a start. Let’s go drive past your old job and maybe we’ll shake some more screws loose, find some more leads to track down, yeah?”
“Yeah, okay.” I smiled at him. “Just don’t kiss me again.”
“Don’t be so fucking kissable and I won’t.”
I rolled my eyes, still smiling, and he pulled into traffic.9LeonidHedeon called that night ten minutes after our room service showed up. Robin helped herself to dinner while I went into the bedroom and answered.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I got a job for you.”
“Go ahead. I’m listening.”
He cleared his throat. “I got word of a spot where some of the boyeviks like to sell their shit.”
“Corner boys?”
“No, full-on boyeviks. Straight-up soldiers. But they sell on this corner sometimes to make some side cash.”
“And they’re Maksim’s boys?”
“By name, at least.”
“I’m guessing you want me to hit them.”
“Ideally, yes.”
I frowned a little and sat at the end of the bed. “Where’d you hear this?”
“I’ve got a source.”
“Inside the family?”
“You know how this works.” Hedeon sounded impatient. “If you don’t trust me—”
“You know I do,” I said. “But I like to know what I’m getting myself into.”
“Pavel will work with you again. Meet up with him at the address I’m about to text to you. From there, he’ll take you to the hit.”
“Fine. Just be sure your info’s good.”
“It’s good.” He paused. “How’s the girl?”
“Interesting,” I said, looking at the bedroom door. “We took a little tour of the city today.”
“Show you anything worthwhile?”
“I think we got some leads, but I’ll let you know when something good shakes out.”
“All right. Do your thing tonight.”
“Always do. Later.”
“Later.”
I hung up and sat there for a moment. I stared at the carpet and let my mind work over that conversation.
Hedeon didn’t normally assign me a hit with almost no preparation. Normally he gave me a target and an address and let me scope it out myself. He knew I hated going into something blind.
I could tell this was important to him, but it felt rushed and half-baked. He had some source, but I didn’t know who it was. It didn’t feel normal for a group of real soldiers to stand around and sell their shit themselves. Typically, they farmed that kind of work out to young guys and fall kids that could take a drug charge without doing too much time.
