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"Yeah, they might," Hutton said. "But you would have taken all the credit. Guys like you—"
Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by Jake driving his fist into his face. He staggered back against the wall, blood streaming onto his shirt.
"If that gets onto the carpet, I'm going to be pissed off, Jake Blakesley," I growled.
Jake shook his hand and winced. "Be pissed off athim. He provokedme."
"You're both as bad as each other," I said scathingly. I hopped off the desk, grabbed a pile of tissues out of the box and pressed them to Hutton's nose. "I'm no doctor, but that looks broken to me. Now youaregoing to need to see a witch to heal it." I dabbed gently.
"My fist is fine," Jake said. He shook it and winced.
"If you're looking for sympathy for something you did to yourself, you've come to the wrong place," I said over my shoulder. "I said I wanted to talk, and that's what I meant."
I lowered the tissues to get a look at Hutton's nose, and of course the blood dripped from them straight onto my blouse. I sighed. At least it wasn't more juice.
"Jake, go and get a witch to fix this," I said.
"I'm not leaving you alone with him," Jake said.
I turned around and gave him a dark look. "There is a bar full of people right outside the door. Leave it open if you have to."
"I'm not gonna hurt you," Hutton said.
"I think he's more worried you're going to fuck me," I said.
Hutton looked surprised, but then he smiled although it obviously hurt. "I mean, happy to oblige."
I held up my arm to stop Jake from lunging at him again.
He grunted in frustration. "Ivory has better taste than that anyway."
"Not if she's screwing you," Hutton said. He glanced at me. "No offence. He just seems like kind of a dickhead."
"Jake has his moments." I looked back at him and smiled fondly.
"I have lots of moments," Jake said. "I'll get that witch. If anyone is willing to help this asshole. Don't blame me if they don't." He stalked out the door and left it open behind him.
"He's right about that," Hutton said. "They might be happy to let me suffer."
"They might," I agreed. "But I won't. They'll do as they're told. It's not as though I'm giving them a choice." As much as I hated messing with witches and magic, they had their uses once in a while. One or two of them owed me favours, which would come in useful when the time came.
"You said you were trying to help Silas Wheeler," I said.
Hutton shrugged one shoulder. "He was an old friend. From before. He was one of the guys sent to live with the Butcher. Every time anyone looked at him the wrong way, he would cry or piss his pants. Gus got tired of him and sent him away. He must have had a use for him, or he would have just had him killed. We kept in contact. He tried to get out, but Dagen is like quicksand. You get one foot out and…" He shrugged. "They grab hold of the other foot and pull you back in. I told him I was going to come to you, plead my case. I said if you would listen to me, I would put a good word in for him."
He shook his head. "Silas didn't buy it. He said he had it sorted out. He wouldn't tell me why or how, but he said he had a plan."
I nodded slowly. "It sounds like Dagen might have cancelled his debt in return for something. The gods only know what. Or if he carried it out before he died." Either way, if he was working with Dagen, he deserved what he got even more than I thought.
Hutton nodded towards my chest. "Sorry about the blood."
I looked down and grimaced. "I'm starting to get used to it." I might have to start sending Jake the bill for the dry-cleaning. Lately, every time he was around, I got messy. Sometimes good messy. Sometimes not.
Hutton gave me a funny look, but nodded. "I meant what I said. I'm not going to hurt you."
"I'm not that easy to hurt," I said. "But thank you for stopping me from having a knife in my back. That would really have spoilt my day." Not to mention my blouse.
"I believe you," he said. "The Queenmaker seems to think you're made of glass."
