AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Er, heh. Look, we didn’t mean any harm.” Putting his hand on Dickwank No. 2’s shoulder, he pulls him back. “Just having some fun. We’ll be going now.”
He throws down a stack of cash and pushes his friend out of the bar.
Cheers from the watching crowd escort them out, and I take the chance to give Elio a quick nod. Understanding the meaning, he grins, throws his cloth over his shoulder, and calls out, “A round of drinks on the house!”
The cheer grows ever louder, and the mass of bodies surges toward the bar.
I turn to make sure the woman is okay, but the stool is empty; she’s already up, animatedly chatting to a group of people at a table. Moving out of the way for the throng of customers swarming the bar to take advantage of their free drink, I keep an eye on her for a few more seconds, just to make sure she really is okay.
She, on the other hand, seems to have completely forgotten me.
I guess that’s for the best. The last thing I need to be dealing with is a clingy woman with a smart mouth.
Even if that smart mouth almost made me smile.
Almost.
“You didn’t have to stay ’til close, boss.”
I finish closing up, ending with the lock on the bottom of the security cage door, taking joy in the simple routine, and hand Elio’s keys back. He pockets them, then pulls out a cigarette and lights it.
“I’m going back to the office anyway,” I say as the tendrils of cigarette smoke drift up into the night sky and then dissipate in the soft breeze.
“Mr. Baxter, it’s almost two thirty in the morning.”
That’s the normal response I get when people realize that I’m going back to work when they’re just getting ready for bed.
“It’s quiet.”
Elio grins and shakes his head, pushing off the wall. “You need a ride, sir?”
“The walk will do me good,” I say, waving away his kind offer.
He nods and turns, whistling as he gets into his car. I wait until he’s driven off before I start my walk.
The Baxter headquarters are about ten blocks from the bar, and it’s a walk I make at least once a week. The perfect amount of time for me to come up with a list of unfinished business to take care of before turning in for the night. Tonight, the list is a little longer than usual since I took a few things off today’s schedule while Kylian is in town from Hong Kong for a few days. I send a voice memo to my scheduling assistant to to check she’s moved a meeting up to tomorrow morning to take advantage of Kylian being in town to meet with the COO of a company Baxter is bidding to acquire. My three brothers and I each head up a region of Baxter Enterprises, with me in Europe and the UK, Kylian in Asia, Matthias heading up the US, and Damien holding down the fort in the Australian and Oceanic region. Kylian and I decided earlier to double-team the real estate company we’re hoping to acquire. One Baxter regional director is hard to say no to, two of us is damn near impossible.
As I sign off from the voice memo, a high-pitched shout up ahead stops me in my tracks. Looking up from my phone, I see a guy pushing a girl into an alley. The flash of white skin under a short denim skirt has my heart dropping into my stomach.
My feet push off the ground quickly under me, and I’m in the alley in less than five seconds.
The assailant is holding up a knife as the woman from the bar stands, hands up, eyes wild and wide.
“Hey!” I yell, disturbing him.
He spins around, dropping his arm for a split second. That’s all I need. I grab the hand holding the knife, push my other palm into his shoulder, and shove him against the wall.
His face slams against it with a satisfying thud.
I twist his hand behind his back, the awkward position making him drop the knife, and I grab the back of his head and slam his face against the wall.
There’s a satisfying sound of a breaking nose.
With a hand on the scruff of his neck and the other on the waist of his pants, I shove him away.
He stumbles, looks at me over his shoulder, and flees like a cockroach into the night.
I keep watch for an extra few seconds to make sure he doesn’t come back, wiping my hand on the back of my pants.
