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I flicked my eyes to her nametag that read ‘Ross.’
Interesting.
“I’ll have a burger and fries, all the way. If you can load those fries with cheese and bacon, even better.” I handed her my menu.
She took it and tucked it underneath her arm, not bothering to write down my order.
A veteran in the food business, it looked like.
“And you, darlin’?” Ross asked her.
“What’s your name short for?” Hades asked instead of ordering.
It was amusing to see that she’d seen the same thing I had, yet hadn’t thought twice about questioning her about her unusual name.
Then again, Hades likely knew all about unusual.
“It’s Ross.” The older woman smiled. “That’s it. No more or no less. My dad was a Betsy Ross fan, and he thought Betsy was too overused back then. So Ross it was.”
“Ahh,” Hades nodded. “My name is Hades. I tend to always ask people about their name if it’s unusual. Then I like to invite you to my weird name club so we can commiserate.”
Ross smiled at her, losing some of the weariness from her stature.
“Anyway,” Hades handed her menu over. “I won’t be having anything. I don’t want my family knowing where I am. So for now it’s just cash, and I don’t have any of that until the bank opens tomorrow.”
Ross frowned, and I rolled my eyes.
“Get what you want, and I’ll cover it,” I said. “I was the one to invite you to a diner.”
Hades’ eyes met mine over the table, and I waited for her to make the right decision.
She narrowed her eyes when she saw I wasn’t going to budge on my stance, and sighed, long, loud and unladylike.
“Since he’s paying,” she mused. “I’ll have a Beefeater.”
The ‘Beefeater’ was a double decker patty melt that had eight kinds of cheeses on it and everything else under the sun usually on a burger. Then onion rings and fries.
There was no way in hell she was going to eat it all, but I couldn’t wait to see her try.
“All right, darlin’,” she said. “I’ll be back with some refills.”
I looked back toward Hades’ drink and saw that it was halfway gone.
“Half full or half empty?” I found myself asking.
“Empty,” Hades answered as she sat back. “How long are you at Vegas Royale?”
“As long as it takes,” I answered. “Maybe like two weeks or so.”
She nodded. “If I offer him my services for two weeks, could you spare me some time in the middle of the day when they’re not open to help me figure out what’s going on with her?”
Her being her sister.
I studied her for so long that most people would’ve started squirming.
Not her, though.
“What do I get out of it?” I asked.
I didn’t work for free.
That’s not how you made money.
She leaned forward and placed both of her elbows on the table—something my mom would’ve killed me for—and stared at me for long moments before saying, “What do you want?”
My immediate answer was ‘you.’
Not that I voiced that.
I didn’t have a death wish.
“What do you have to give?” I asked.
She tapped her finger on the little dent in her chin before saying, “I can offer you my design services.”
I hated to say it, but I didn’t need her design services.
Nothing that I did was in need of visual representation.
It was all word by mouth. If you didn’t get vouched by someone that I’d already vetted myself, then you weren’t working with me. End of story.
“I’m not really in need of that,” I admitted. “But I’ll help you, and we can think of something later.”
Maybe you would get more comfortable around me and we can see where this goes.
Again, I didn’t voice that.
Instead, I waited for her to agree.
But she surprised me and said, “You can have my body.”
I blinked, surprised to hear her say that.
She was just going to give it up without me having to work for it? What was the catch?
And I knew without a doubt that she didn’t realize what she was asking for, or she wouldn’t have offered it. Nor did I give any indication that it was something that might interest me.
“I…” I hesitated.
“I heard my brother talking,” she said. “When he called to ask you for help. I heard everything.”
Well, that explained it.
Some of the heat I’d been tamping down flared in my eyes.
“I’m not an easy guy, honey,” I said softly.
She scoffed. “Trust me when I say, I’m not easy either.”
No, I didn’t imagine that she was.
CHAPTER 6
Only whores can see this.
-Coffee Cup
HADES
I couldn’t believe I’d just offered my body to him for payment in helping my sister.
And he was staring at me like I’d just surprised the shit out of him.
“I’m sorry, but even if I was okay with treating a woman like that, which I’m not, I’m definitely not okay with treating you like that,” he said, surprising me.
