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How hard can it be to mug a girl too distracted to look where she’s going?
I don’t even remember what he looked like, and even if I did, then what? Am I going to chase the guy down and demand a wallet back that doesn’t even belong to me?
“Because if you can’t pay…” The cashier’s voice trails off as his gaze slides down to settle on my blue hospital gown. I tug the front of my coat closed, but it’s far too late for that. And the bare feet, wild hair, battered face, and crazy eyes? How do I hide those things?
When his expression turns blank, I know what’s about to happen. I can visualize it so clearly that it’s like it’s already happening. The cashier beckons the security guard over. The guard grips me by the shoulder and forces me out one step at a time, the sliding doors which are triggered by motion sensors gape open before we get close.
My palms, grazed and bloody from my first collision with the sidewalk, will bleed more when he tosses me out. I’ll probably crack my head against the ground because if the security guard is big enough to make pimps listen, then he’s strong enough to toss an underweight twenty-year-old woman hard enough she’s going to feel it when she lands.
So I’ll lose consciousness. Not for long. But just long enough that I’m coming around when the two pimps—probably enjoying a smoke as they wait for me outside—carry me away to spend the next two-plus years in a new kind of hell.
A brilliant white shirt sleeve appears from over my right shoulder. “I’ve got it.”
In the time it takes me to blink, two twenty-dollar bills in the man’s golden-skinned hand disappear across the counter and the white-sleeved man waves off the offer of change.
Again.
He plucks my plastic bag filled with mystery items and offers it to me, spicy cedar wafting into my face as he does. “Here, it’s the least I can do for making you wait forever while I buy out every lime in the store.”
He sounds like he’s smiling. There’s definite amusement in his voice.
Whether he’s laughing at me, or he’s feeling pleased with himself—smug, even—that he gets to play hero to some barefoot girl who can’t pay for her groceries, I don’t turn to find out.
After ducking under his arm, I head for the door, past the security guard already heading my way. “No need,” I say as I skirt around him, my eyes on the glass door. “I’ll make it easy for you.”
“Hey!” Expensive cologne guy calls out.
I wrap the coat tighter around me when the air-con unit just above the door blasts me on my way out. “I’m not looking for a hero.”
10
ADEN
“We don’t even have one?” I pitch my voice just loud enough to be heard over the bass.
Fortunately, it’s early enough that the DJ is still settling into his set. If we were to have this conversation at midnight, Killian would be staring back at me blank-faced.
He shakes his blond head. “Didn’t come with the delivery, Aden. We have plenty of lemons, though.”
“Lemons are not limes, Kil.” His lips part. “And if you try to tell me that they are, and Grady hears you,youwill be the thing he squeezes next.”
Killian snaps his mouth shut.
We both turn to take in Grady, mixologist extraordinaire, serving up two Long Island Iced Teas.
The strobe lights over the empty dancefloor have yet to go on yet, so the bar has more of a low-key chill feel than a club packed with dancers doing shots that it will be in a matter of hours.
But for now, the Cerberus on a Friday night is just how I like it. No drunk idiots to deal with yet, no sick on the dance floor, and no co-owner of said bar, Kade Lessing, provoking the other co-owner, Dariel Desiderio, into a fight.
As if Grady feels my attention, he darts a rapid glance my way and nods forcefully at the empty lime bowl.
I shift my focus to Killian, who turns to me. “You want me to go?”
“No,” I take in the half-naked woman grinding on Kade’s lap in the darkest corner of the bar. “Maybe I‘ll be lucky this time and the explosion will happen while I’m out,” I mutter.
“What?”
I turn back to Killian with a wide smile. “Nothing. I’ll be back in five minutes. Tell Dariel…” My voice trails off. I dart another glance toward Kade. “Just stay at the bar. Whatever happens.”
