AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I only stared at her, she chuckled. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. You know I see everything that goes on in this bar. If you wanted privacy, you would’ve met her somewhere else.” She ran her tongue over her bottom lip. “Who is she to you? Someone I need to worry about?”
I shook my head. “No. She’s… she’s—” I couldn’t quite think of what to say, how to describe her.
She was Taylor. She was my sister, but she was more than that. My guilt, my regret, molded into the shape of a beautiful young woman who’d come to me for help.
The Lioness outright grinned, something she didn’t do often. “She’s got you tongue-tied, eh? Never thought I’d see the day.” She brought the cigarette to her lips again, taking a slow drag from it. “Your mother never got like that, not even for your father. When she told me she was getting married again, I thought she was crazy. Usually Guild members stay in the Guild, for obvious reasons. She told me she wanted a normal life to go home to… but that didn’t work out too well for her, did it?”
All I could do was stay quiet. It was unwise to speak back when you were talking to the Lioness. Out of everyone in the Guild, she was perhaps the deadliest. It’s why she was on top.
“I know who the girl is. I know every family member of every Guild member,” she told me. “I hope she’s not a weakness to you. I’d hate for you to lose your edge all over a pretty face like that.”
“I won’t let her affect my work,” I said, meaning it.
The Lioness sighed, and she set her cigarette down on the ashtray before leaning forward, her stare holding mine. “She better not, because if she does—”
“She won’t,” I repeated, more firmly this time. The Lioness knew who I was, knew who she was talking to. It was pointless to make such threats toward me—and besides, if she ever thought she could lay a finger on Taylor and I wouldn’t do everything in my power to defend her, she was wrong. The Guild was my life, but Taylor was my soul.
She didn’t say anything right away. She simply held my stare, emotionless, her expression giving nothing away. But then, after a minute, she chuckled and said, “Always so serious, just like your mother. But, back to the reason you’re here: no, I don’t have any current jobs for you, but there might be something working its way up the pipeline. Check back with me the beginning of next month—this time at HQ, please.”
I hated going to the Guild’s headquarters, mostly because the place wasn’t my style. All glass, all windows, everywhere, on one of the top floors of one of the tallest buildings downtown. Plus, anytime I went, I always saw people who wanted to talk to me, have pointless conversations with me. Like I wanted to talk about the damned weather or fucking sports.
“Thank you,” I said, even though there really wasn’t much to be thankful for at all. This whole visit had been a waste.
The Lioness made a shooing motion, and I got up to leave. I made it to the door when her voice stopped me: “Be careful with her, Black Wolf. Sometimes the deadliest things in this world are the most innocent.” That’s all she said, and she offered no other explanation to further tell me what the hell she meant by it.
Did she mean Taylor was here to spy on me or something? A plant to try to get into the Guild? No fucking way. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Taylor hadn’t a clue about the Guild or what I did. If she knew… if she knew, she probably would never have come to me in the first place.
I left the office, heading through the dim hall, back toward the bar. When I emerged, Jeff called out, “Should’ve warned you she’s in a bad mood today.”
I went toward the bar, leaning an elbow on its counter. “She’s always in a bad mood,” I muttered, frowning. I frowned even harder when Jeff came over to me, his arms folded over his chest.
“I take it you didn’t get what you wanted,” he said.
I let out a mix between a sigh and a groan. “I need a drink.”
Jeff uncrossed his arms and tapped the counter near me. “Now that’s something I can help you with. One drink coming right up.” He went to work, pulling down something from the top shelf and getting out a small glass. He poured me about an inch of something clear, and he slid it down to me.
“Have one with me,” I told him. I was pretty much a lone wolf, didn’t have friends, but if I did, I supposed Jeff might be one of them. The man might stick his nose into areas it didn’t belong on occasion, but the man wasn’t half-bad. I knew a lot worse people, and all those people worked for the Guild. Yeah, let’s just say I hated most of my co-workers, if you could call them that.
Jeff relented, pouring himself the same drink. I raised my glass toward him, saying, “To the Lioness and her bad moods.”
He was about to clink his glass with mine, but he stopped short. “Nah, I’m not going to toast to that. Here’s to your stepsister.” He lifted his eyebrows at me, clinked his glass to mine, and then downed the entire cup in one gulp, wincing hard afterward.
Bastard.
I drank mine, practically slamming the glass on the counter. “I’ll remember that,” I told him, reaching into my wallet and pulling out a twenty to pay for the drink.
“I’m sure you will, big guy.”
He took the twenty, asked if I wanted change, and I shook my head. It was as I pushed away from the counter that my phone rang. My stomach hardened. I’d given Taylor my cell; it wasn’t the same number she’d called before. That was a forwarding service used by the Guild—no messages allowed.
It wasn’t Taylor, though. In fact, the name that popped up on the screen was a name I’d completely forgotten about since Taylor had come back into my life. Someone I’d used for a long time.
Using people was something I was good at. You had to be, if you wanted to go far in the Guild, work your way to the top, make a name for yourself.
Seeing that name made my mood sour, and I answered the call as I pushed out of the bar, “Yeah.”
“Yeah?” A feminine voice spoke on the other line, instantly sounding miffed. “You’ve never greeted me like that before. Is something wrong?” When I didn’t say a single thing, she went on, “It’s the first of the month on Monday—”
