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“No, baby,” I whispered, so the rage boiling inside me didn’t spill over into my voice and scare her. She’d been eating nothing but cheap junk for months. It wasn’t her fault. She was living on a budget, one that was even tighter after the damned super raised the rent. But if I’d known, if I’d had an inkling that she was out there in the world and needed looking after, I would have scooped her up in a heartbeat and taken care of her. “That sure as fuck doesn’t make me happy.”
Lis stabbed her fork into the steak again, cutting with agitated slashes. “It’s cool that you can cook. I don’t know many guys who know their way around a kitchen.”
Jealousy hit me like an anvil falling on my lap. Jaw clenched, I took a bite of my own food. “My mom made sure I knew the basics before I hit my teens. I’m no chef, but I can pull off a full meal that will satisfy the taste buds while not killing anyone with food poisoning.”
Her lips twitched with the ghost of a smile. “That’s always a plus.” She took another bite and slowly chewed before speaking again. “I only know how to use the microwave, for the most part. And I can boil water without causing too big of a mess. My mom died when I was a little girl, and we had a cook who handled every meal. I tried to learn to cook a few times, but…” Her face darkened, and she lowered her eyes to her plate with a half shrug. “I learned quickly not to get caught anywhere outside of my room if I wanted to stay out of my stepbrother’s way.”
I dropped my utensils on the plate, balling my hands into fists beside it and causing her startled eyes to jump up to meet mine. “Give me his name, blue eyes,” I growled. “I’ll make sure you never have to worry about that motherfucker ever again.”
Her brows puckered, and she squinted at me for a long moment, studying me curiously before her expression cleared. “He doesn’t matter anymore. That’s part of my past now. I have a new life without having to fear every step I take within my own home.”
“I’m happy for you, baby,” I told her honestly. “But I need to eradicate this bastard. If he hurt you even once, then he doesn’t deserve to breathe.”
She considered me for another moment before licking her lips. “That is weirdly sweet, but I don’t want him dead. At least…” She sighed. “At least not right away. I want him to suffer before his death. I want to take everything he’s ever wanted away from him before he meets his end.”
“I can make that happen,” I promised. “Just give me his name, Lis.”
“No.” She picked up a second slice of toast and soaked up the rest of her yolk with some of the steak’s juices. Stuffing a huge bite into her mouth, she dropped the rest on the plate and folded her hands over her stomach with a contented groan. “That was delicious,” she said around the food in her mouth, making me fight a grin even as my rage at her stepbrother continued to boil inside me.
“What time does your roommate normally get home?” I asked, needing the distraction. I either wanted to go out and kill her stepbrother or pin her to the nearest wall and fuck us both blind.
Lis glanced at the illuminated clock on the microwave. “It varies. I heard her talking to some of the other dancers while I was changing. They were making plans to go out for drinks. I bet one of the whales offered to keep the party going somewhere else. ‘Drinks’ is normally the code they use when that happens, so they don’t get in trouble for meeting up with a customer after hours.”
“And you’re not worried about getting in trouble for letting a customer take you home?” I asked curiously.
She rolled those gorgeous blue eyes at me. Maybe she thought it would annoy me, but all it did was make my cock leak. I loved her sassiness. “Puh-lease. It’s no secret you are more or less related to someone high up within Cherry Bomb. No one even bothers to pat you down before they let you in. If you’re special enough for that, then no one is going to give me shit for letting you drive me home on a cold winter’s night.”
“I like that you think I’m special.”
An adorable snort-like laugh escaped her. “Of course that’s all you heard. We both know you’re a gangster, Garret.”
“Do people even use that word these days?” I mused. “I’ve been called a thug plenty of times, but no one has called me a gangster before. I like it. Sounds kind of badass.”
“I take it back,” she said with another cute snort. “You’re no gangster. You are one hundred percent a pain in the ass.”
Garret
After making sure the side of the fridge that belonged to Lis was filled—and her roommate’s eggs and steak had been replaced—I knew I had to head home. The sun would be up soon, and I needed a few hours of sleep before handling the super and apartment building owner.
But every time I decided it was time to tell her goodnight, I couldn’t bring myself to open my mouth, let alone stand up from where we’d been sitting on the couch with the television on. She didn’t have cable, but there were a few streaming services available. When she said they were all her roommate’s accounts and she could only watch them when Kim was out, I ordered a flat-screen for her room that would be delivered before she had to go to work later that night.
I planned on setting it up and signing in to all of my own streaming accounts for her to watch what she wanted, whenever she felt like it. Until then, I had other things that needed to be taken care of.
When she yawned, I finally forced myself to move. Getting to my feet, I took her hand and led her to the door. “Make sure this is locked up tight when I leave.”
Her eyes flickered with something that resembled disappointment, and I stored that away for later. But then she rolled those gemlike blue eyes. “Sure thing, Dad.”
I tapped her under the chin with my index finger. “I’m going to wait on the other side until I hear all the locks engage.”
“I stand behind the pain-in-the-ass observation I made earlier,” she grumbled.
“You wouldn’t be the first to say that to me,” I told her with a grin. “Get some sleep. I’ll see you tonight.”
“I thought all gangsters worked at night. If you’re spending every night at Cherry Bomb, your boss must be getting pissed at you for slacking on the job.”
“I’m not a gangster, baby,” I teased as I bent my head to brush a kiss over the top of her head. She was so much shorter than me in her heels at the club, but barefoot, she was even more so. I basically had to fold myself in half just to get to the top of her head.
As my lips grazed her, her hands flew out, pressing against my chest. I could feel how tense she was, but she didn’t push me away. Instead, she clenched her fingers in the material of my shirt, as if she was undecided on what to do. Kissing her one more time, I took her hands and untangled her fingers as I stepped into the hall outside her apartment. “If you need anything, you have my number.”
