James rolls his eyes. “Sorry.”
“Like you mean it,” Mr. Harry warns.
“I’m sorry for being a jerk. You didn’t deserve it,” James says.
Mr. Harry sighs, then hands me a stack of twenties. “Now, I’m going to take this asshole back home. Please, rest assured that he will behavemuchbetter next time.”
The two of them exit the building, and once they’re gone, Dice puts his hand on my shoulder again. His touch is comforting, like a warm blanket.
“Are you all right?” he asks again.
He barely talks, and this is the third time he’s asked. It means so much coming from him. He needs the reassurance that I’m okay, and that fills me with hope.
Dice actually cares.
I should lie and tell him I’m fine. After all, I need him to focus on helping Piper. Not me.
I also want to tell Dice the truth.
I’ve got such a bad feeling about everything right now,exceptfor Dice. I know I can trust him with everything.
“I don’t know,” I finally say.
“Don’t worry,” Dice says. “I’ll take care of it.”
CHAPTER10
DICE
Lily resumes her shift,and I head back to the bottle service booth. I discuss the situation with Ronin and ask him to guard Lily while I finish work. Ronin agrees. Although Tomo is Ronin’s birth father, Ronin was raised by the Ito-gumi, our enemy. He knows not to ask questions; he simply obeys orders. It’s how he’s earning his loyalty in the Endo-kai.
Niko, on the other hand, grabs my shoulder before I leave.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” he warns. “We need Mr. Harry on our side.”
This has nothing to do with Golden Honor Firearms or Harry Hayes. This is about his brother.
James put his hands on Lily. The manager confirmed it, and by the way Lily avoided my questions afterward, he deserves every ounce of pain I’m going to deliver.
Niko and I part ways, then I drive the van to Mr. Harry’s property on the edge of Las Vegas, near Mount Charleston. His house is on a massive piece of desert with a gate blocking outsiders. No matter how many guest rooms he has, men like Mr. Harry won’t let their family sleep in the same house. It’s only a matter of time before his brother leaves.
I park the van in the shadows, away from the security cameras lining the gate.
The clock ticks.
Finally, the gates part, and a bright red sports car exits the driveway. It’s James. I follow closely behind. Before he can get to the highway, I lean out of the driver’s window and shoot his tire. His car swerves, smashing into an overgrown cactus. He curses into the night.
“What the hell was that?” he screams. “Stupid fucking road kill—”
I step closer with a tranquilizer in hand. The gravel crunches under my boots.
Finally, James sees me.
“Who the fuck are you?” he asks.
It doesn’t matter who I am. What matters is that he messed with the wrong woman.
“Wait. You’re that guy from the club! You’re—”
