Hannah and the Hitman

Chapter 7

7

JACK

“What happened with the librarian?” Dax asked later that night, after the elevator doors closed behind him. I had my own private one and it opened right into my apartment. His mouth was turned up with amusement. He was enjoying my misery, the fucker. He was in black suit with black dress shirt beneath, the typical uniform of a fixer due to the fact that the color hid blood. Which meant he either just came from a job or was on his way to one.

I was sprawled on my leather couch, my cat on my chest. I’d found Pancake–named after my favorite food–behind a shady bar’s dumpster downtown. I’d finished a guy and when he fell to the ground, the body startled the cat out from his hiding spot. He’d jumped onto my shoulder, and I couldn’t get him off because his claws had dug into my Gucci suit.

The vet I took him to said he was a Siberian, whatever that meant. He was a mix of black, brown, and white fur, as if he’d gone to a fancy hair salon and got foils. His ears were pointy and his eyes golden. Since I was the one who gave the vet permission to snip off his balls, I figured he’d be an asshole to me when I brought him home.

Turned out, I was wrong. He liked the high life. Literally. He liked my penthouse, the fancy cat food my housekeeper bought for him, and hanging out with me. He’d scored the ultimate cat life.

“Nothing,” I muttered.

“Nothing? What’d you do, chicken out?” When I said nothing, he laughed and shook his head. He kept his hair buzzed fairly short and he ran a hand over it. “Holy shit, you did. You chickened out.”

“She’s a fucking librarian and I blew a guy’s head off last night.” I’d flown to LA and gotten rid of a drug lord. Another hard day on the job. “Guess which one’s intimidating.”

I couldn’t believe I admitted that aloud. I hadn’t been scared of anything since my dad left when I was eight. That was the last time I felt vulnerable, and I vowed then I wasn’t going to feel that way again. I learned to fight, learned to kill, even so I could be strong. Then I look at one specific woman and I’m in big fucking trouble.

“You’re intimidated by a librarian? ” His eyebrows winged up. “Holy shit, you really do like her.”

Dax unbuttoned his suit jacket then dropped across from me on the matching leather sofa, the glass coffee table between us. My apartment was modern male, all dark wood, gleaming metal, and big windows. Compared to Thorndyke’s place I’d seen through my rifle’s scope, mine was better. I made more money. I wasn’t an asshole. Not that the last made a difference when it came to penthouses. But I didn’t need bulletproof glass to keep me safe because I wasn’t a bad guy. No one was out to kill me.

I grabbed Pancake, placed him on the floor as I sat up. He raised his snooty face in the air and trotted off, fluffy tail twitching back and forth.

“I’m going back tomorrow,” I said, telling him as much as I was telling myself. I was intimidated by her. She was too good for me. Smart. I had street smarts but that wasn’t the same thing.

“Good for you,” Dax said. “Fuck her and get her out of your system.”

“It’s not like that.” With a few flicks of my wrist, I brushed cat hair off my clothes.

“You don’t want to fuck her?”

“Of course, I want to fuck her!” He’d riled me up on purpose and I’d taken the bait. A sigh accompanied my next words. “She’s different though.”

“Magical pussy?”

“Watch it,” I warned with an accompanying glare. I didn’t like his tone or what he was insinuating. Although I had a suspicion it was true. Perhaps one of the reasons I’d ducked earlier in my SUV was that I knew she was going to fuck up my entire life.

He held up his hands. “Let me know where you want me to send the wedding present.”

I glared some more.

“I thought you had plans,” I muttered, wondering why he’d stopped by .

“I do. I figured you’d crash and burn and want to go with me.”

“So your pep talk was all bullshit.”

He clapped his hands and stood. Grinned, even. He was too fucking perky. “Absolutely.”

“Asshole.”

Except I had crashed and burned. No, I’d chickened out, which was worse. I was wallowing on the couch over a girl, which probably only made Dax more amused.

“Let’s go.” I grabbed my gun and my keys and followed Dax out of the apartment.

I knew the kind of man the librarian was interested in. She’d told me outright on the plane. I was that guy.

Except for earlier when I’d been a pussy.

I was going back to Coal Springs, going into that library and making that woman mine.