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“Seems to me you’ve been alone a long time.”
Longer than she knew. And he was tired of his own sorry-ass company. But he had Lyric now and planned to do everything in his power to keep her.
“I like it that way. Less complicated.” He really didn’t need this right now.
“Did someone break your heart?” She put her hand over his.
He slid his hand free. “No.” They usually just walked away with the same complaints. Everythingcame before them. He loved his job more than them. He was never around when they needed him.
And they were right.
But things had changed. He had changed. And now he wanted more.
Spike waved him over.
He stood and stared down at Maria. “Excuse me.”
“You should know, I don’t give up easily. Not when it’s something I want.”
He tried to let her down easy. “I’ve got other priorities right now.” He hoped the abrupt brush-off would work and headed over to talk to Spike.
“Hey, man, I saw you with Maria. Everything cool?”
“Fine.” He hoped.
“Good. Because you get in good with her, you’ll be made like me.”
Well, that got his attention. “What do you mean?”
“I can’t talk about it now. You’re not in the circle. Yet. But me and a couple of the others want you in on what we’re doing.”
This could be the break he needed. “Just tell me what’s going on and what she has to do with it.”
“I stuck my neck out yesterday taking you to that meet with those guys. You handled yourself. That counts. That matters. Just hold tight until me and the guys can talk you up enough to get you promoted.”
Viper knew when to push and when to let things go. “Are you all set for your thing tonight?”
“Yeah. I’ll be in and out. It’ll look like she slipped and fell and hit her head.”
“Are you nervous?”
“No. I’ve done this kind of thing before.”
He tried not to sound excited by the confession, more surprised. “You have?”
Spike glanced around, then leaned in. “The first time, I kicked my girl’s foot right out from under her when she was about to step down the stairs. She cracked her head open and died the next day. Stupid bitch was cheating on me.”
“Damn.” Viper seriously didn’t know what else to say.
“The other two times were like this. Someone hires us to do a job. We get it done. One was this guy whose business partner wanted him out of the way before some deal went through. He wanted the money for himself, I guess. I rigged the heater in his hunting cabin. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Last month, that woman who disappeared mysteriously... They’ll find her in her car in the lake in the spring after the thaw. Maybe.”
He’d check those two murders out. “How many of these have you done?”
“Just those. Plus the one tonight.” Spike looked thoughtful for a moment, then added, “You were with Bleaker the night he died. Those bastard feds killed him.”
“Right?” Maria asked from behind him. “That’s what happened, Viper?”
He schooled his features and turned to her. “Yes.”
