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". . . and then I said, 'Of course I didn't sleep with your wife. She was too busy screwing your business partner to even notice me. '" Finn let out a laugh at his lame joke.
Xavier stared at him with a blank expression. Roslyn ran a fingernail back and forth across the tabletop.
I plunked the drinks down on the table. "Food's coming up in a minute. "
By the time I locked the front door and walked back over to the counter, Sophia had dished up Xavier's coleslaw and baked beans, and Roslyn's cherry pie with ice cream. I fixed the vamp's grilled cheese, while the dwarf worked on the two pork sandwiches. A few minutes later, I carried the plates of food to the table and set them down. Then I slid in on Finn's side of the booth.
"Nothing for me?" Finn asked.
"You've had your lunch already. Don't be greedy. "
Finn stuck out his lip and pouted. I rolled my eyes. Roslyn and Xavier dug into their food.
The four of us didn't speak while they ate. Xavier hesitated, but after the first few bites, his claim of not being hungry vanished-along with all the food on his plate. Roslyn merely nibbled at her grilled cheese and only ate a few bites of her pie. A shame, really. Golden crust, warm filling, a perfect blend of sweet and sour. I'd made the cherry dessert fresh this morning. Cooking was one of my great loves and skills in life, along with being rather handy with my knives.
I waited until they'd both pushed their plates away before I got down to business. "Finn, Xavier, why don't you boys go help Sophia? I think there were some boxes in the back she needed help unloading. "
Xavier frowned, and his dark eyes flicked to Sophia. The dwarf had gone back to slicing tomatoes, and the muscles in her arms bulged with her swift, precise movements.
"You're kidding right?" the giant rumbled. "Sophia's a dwarf, the strongest one I've ever seen. She could probably bench-press me if she wanted to. "
"Go help her, Xavier. Now. "
Finn opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. "You too, Finn. "
The two men grumbled, but they got to their feet and shuffled over to Sophia, who led them through the swinging doors and into the back of the restaurant. The dwarf would keep them occupied while I talked to Roslyn. Once I'd settled myself in the booth again, I stared at the vampire.
"Now that the boys are gone, you want to tell me what that little scene at Northern Aggression was about last night? And why Elliot Slater thinks that the two of you have some kind of relationship?"
Roslyn tapped her fingers on the tabletop. After a few seconds, her hand stilled. She drew in a breath and raised her dark eyes to mine. "Because the bastard's stalking me. "
Chapter Eight
"Stalking you?" I asked.
The news wasn't unexpected, given the creepy display of affection I'd seen last night, but I was mildly surprised that she came right out and said it. Roslyn Phillips wasn't my biggest fan, especially since I'd threatened to kill her if she ever talked about me being an assassin to anyone ever again. The vampire must be more upset or desperate than I'd thought to spill her problems to me with so little provocation. I hadn't even given her the hard stare yet.
Roslyn bit her lip and nodded. "Stalking, domination, possession, call it whatever you like. The bastard's obsessed with me. "
"When did this happen?"
"It started a couple of weeks ago," the vampire said. "When Elliot Slater came to question me about Mab Monroe's party and how someone was able to get their hands on one of the invitations for my girls-and her heart-and-arrow rune necklace. After that, well, I guess you could say he took a liking to me. "
The beginnings of a migraine stirred behind my eyes. Elliot Slater had come to question Roslyn because she'd helped me get into Mab's party so I could go after Tobias Dawson. Slater had seen, gotten close to, and become obsessed with the vampire because of me. All of which meant that Roslyn's suffering was my fault. All my fault. The vamp had kept up her end of our deal-given me the help I'd needed and kept quiet about it after the fact-and now she was being stalked as a result.
I'd done a lot of bad things in my time. Killed a lot of people, had a lot of blood on my hands. But Roslyn suffering like this because of me-it made me sick to my stomach. Physically ill. Because she didn't deserve it. Even when she'd blabbed about Fletcher Lane to the wrong person, Roslyn had only been trying to help someone else. This time, she'd listened to me about keeping quiet, and look what it had gotten her. My stomach twisted a little more at the thought. I didn't often feel this particular emotion, but I knew what it was. Guilt.
"At first, I thought it was just a passing thing, you know?" Roslyn said in a low tone. "Slater's not the first guy who's wanted to fuck me. I've had my share of wacko stalkers over the years. I always make it crystal clear that I don't hook anymore. That all I'm interested in doing is running my club. Then I steer them to one of my girls. Usually that's the end of it. If someone persists or really starts bothering me, Xavier encourages him to reconsider the matter. "
"But not Elliot Slater. " A statement, rather than a question.
"No," she whispered. "Not Slater. After he questioned me about Mab's party, he started coming to the nightclub. He'd get one of the booths on the main floor, order some drinks, and just watch me. All night long. He tried to get me to sit with him a couple of times. Dance with him too. I always politely refused. I sent other girls over to him to try to distract him, but Slater just passed them off to his giant friends. He never so much as looked at them. "
"So when did he go from watching you to something else?"
Roslyn dropped her eyes and stared at the tabletop again. "One night about a week ago. I sent Xavier home early and stayed late to go over some of the books. I thought nobody else was in the club but me. I was wrong. Slater came into my office. He said he was tired of waiting for me to realize what a good thing we could have together. " The vamp's voice was hard, brittle, remote, as if she was talking about something that had happened to someone else. "I tried to get him to leave. Tried to leave myself, tried to fight him off. Nothing worked. "
Although I didn't want to cause the vampire any more pain, there was a question I had to ask. Something I needed to know. "Did he rape you?" I made my voice as soft and gentle as I could.
