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Hehadto be drunk.
“Reggie,” I warn. “Liquor must make you forget who you’re dealing with…”
“You’re not going to be the biggest baddest bitch for long,” he slithers close to my face. So close that his breath claws my nose.
The stranger breaks the beer bottle he’d been holding on the chair next to us. It takes a lot to surprise me. I definitely wasn’t expecting it. He held the broken bottle outward. His grip was so tight his knuckles were paper white. “Back the fuck up before I slit your throat!” He warns Sketchy Reggie as his fingers twitch toward his inside jacket pocket.“Make a move for that gun and your Adam’s Apple will be ripped out before you touch metal.”
I’m intrigued.
Maybe even a little impressed.
He’s about to slice up Sketchy Reggie in the middle of my office.
Reggie holds his hands up and backs away. “You’re gonna be sorry, Aria!”
As soon as he’s gone,I turn to the stranger. “Who are you?”
“Tony,” he says plainly.
“Yeah?” I ask. “Who do you work for?”
He shakes his head. “A guy named Wilson at Wilson and Son Mechanics. We work on cars…” he laughs. “I doubt someone like you knows him… or his son…”
“Why were you in my office?” I ask, my brow raised.
“I was hitting the head….” He points to the bathroom just outside my door. “Heard the commotion.”
“Tony, do you like working on cars?” I ask, pointedly.
“Glad your guts aren’t on the ground…” Tony muses as soon as my eyes blink open. We’re in a hospital room. I’m strapped up like a robot.
I roll my eyes. “Did you carry me here?”
He laughs. “Fortunately, you’re pretty light.”
“That’s a headline I needed everyone to see… Mob Boss Queen Saved!”
My reputation matters. The fact that I was just saved by a man after I’d been stupid enough to test the Colombos. They’d been around long enough for me to know not to. But again, my stupid ego…
“I think you saved me just as much as I saved you. Besides, most people can’t walk around an entire clubhouse with their guts hanging out…” he encourages. “You’re like a real-life zombie lady.”
I appreciate his kindness. But it’s not something I’m used to. No one is kind in this business.
“Well, thanks,” I grumble. “For everything.”
“Don’t mention it.”
He leans back in the chair next to my bed and pulls open a magazine. Who even reads magazines these days? “Besides,” he says. “You only let me carry you for a little while. You’re the most stubborn person on the planet.”
I can’t help but look at him.
I’m actually really dazzled by him. Maybe even more than I was before with the whole Sketchy Reggie thing.
This guy seems like the real deal which is something I’m not really used to anymore. They don’t make men like they used to. He’s fierce, and there’s a fire behind his eyes, unlike anything I’ve seen in a long time.
I don’t need a man to protect me. I don’t even like the fact that I have bodyguards in the first place. But the higher you get, the more of a target you are. I’m lucky enough to have a whale size target on me at all times and I’m only human. I have two eyes, not fifty and only two hands to hold two guns. I need more cover. Bodyguards give me that cover.
I figure, if I gotta use them, I may as well use some with some gall.
