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He’d claimed that he’d been unaffected by the bracelet, but the truth was Hunter had felt something when Corbi had told him Odin was allowing him autonomy in the club. He shouldn’t have been grateful, should have seen it for what it was, a bribe. Shouldn’t settle for scraps, and yet…
“Fuck,” he swore at himself and came to a stop again at the end of the long hall. Once he turned down the corner, he’d pass by the bar, which he’d need to in order to reach the stairwell that would take him back up to the private elevators. The bracelet would give him access to that as well. “I’m pathetic.”
“You said it,” a voice rumbled behind him, startling Hunter.
He spun around quickly and came face to face with the man from earlier who’d flirted with him at the bar.
The man held a glass in one hand, a pinkish liquid swirling around inside it as he idly shook it back and forth. He didn’t seem like he was drunk, and an intensity in his gaze had Hunter instantly on edge.
He took a step back and tried to remain calm. “You again.”
“Me again,” the man said. “I’m Po. You’re Hunter.”
Well, that wasn’t good. It was tempting to ask the cliché question since he’d never given this man his name, but he refrained. Best not to engage.
“Right,” he retreated another step, “well, as fun as this has been—”
“Drink?” The man thrust the glass into Hunter’s face.
He swatted it away, liquid sloshing over the rim to splatter against his cheek and all over Po’s hand.
The guy didn’t like that. He shoved Hunter against the wall, pinning him, and forced the glass to his lips.
Though he tried to resist, some of it slipped down his throat, causing Hunter to gag and cough. An apple flavor burst across his tongue. He slammed his fist forward, connecting with Po’s gut, and dug his knuckles in.
The other man cried out and stepped away, dropping the rest of the glass to the ground where it shattered.
As he was hunched over, Hunter quickly activated the emergency alarm on the side of his bracelet, the one Odin had thankfully just shown him, and then straightened just before Po turned back to him.
“That hurt,” Po growled. “And after I was being so nice.”
“I don’t know what you think is going on here,” Hunter said, frowning when his vision started to get a little blurry, “but I’m not a worker.”
“Of course not,” he laughed as if that was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “You? You’re just a small thing, barely worth a second glance from this place’s ritzy clientele. No one would mistake you for a Cherry.”
“Violence against other guests is strictly forbidden,” Hunter reminded, though, really he was simply trying to keep the other guy talking to stall. He had no idea where Odin had gone off to earlier, but hopefully it wasn’t far. Obviously there was no one else around to come to his aid, otherwise they would have stepped in by now.
Something big must have happened for everyone to have been called away. Maybe Hunter really should have listened and stayed in the room after all.
“I know the rules better than you do,” Po said. “I memorized them to the point I could recite them in my sleep. No one else is as vigilant as I am. No one else takes this job as seriously.” He tilted his head, inspecting Hunter. “You’re not my typical M.O., to be honest, since you don’t work here. But it’s my job to keep the district running smoothly. Anyone who steps out of line, who isn’t worthy of their position, they need to be dealt with.”
This guy wasn’t making a whole lot of sense, and Hunter questioned his hasty assessment that he wasn’t drunk. His gaze was just a little too wild, and his skin was flushed with excitement, though Hunter had no idea why.
It couldn’t be for anything good.
“So, you take care of any of the workers who don’t follow the rules?” Hunter latched on to the part of his statement that sort of made sense.
Po nodded enthusiastically.
Hadn’t Odin said something about workers being attacked?
“That sounds like a lot of work.” Hunter kept still against the wall, knowing better than to risk any sudden movements at this point. He also wasn’t sure he’d be capable of it anyway. The black spots in front of his eyes had grown, and he was feeling dizzier by the second. Whatever had been in that drink he’d been forced to swallow, it was doing something to him.
“It’s an important job,” Po stated.
“It sounds like.” Hunter swallowed and lightly tugged at his collar. Was it getting hot in here, or was that just him?
“The dizziness will pass in a moment,” Po said. “Then the fun can begin.”
