Chapter 2
two
. . .
Pyramus
I position my chair opposite hers to keep my eye on the entrance.
“Word has it you’re coming in from the cold.” I set my drink down and ignore it. My heart hasn’t stopped hammering since I noticed Mia at the bar.
“Says who?” Her eyes flash, angry with me already. God I’ve missed her. It’s been six weeks. Felt like six years to me.
She’s dyed her auburn hair an awful blonde and straightened away those beautiful curls. I recall their shape, the way they collapsed between my fingers. Otherwise she’s the same Mia I rescued from the fire at Harvey’s club last year.
“Vance. He said you’ve agreed to talk to the DA.” He didn’t. But I need to hear it from her, that she’s not going to talk, that she’s not going to be a hero.
“Bullshit. He never should’ve contacted me. I don’t know why he’s poking his face in this hornet’s nest.”
I paid him and his company to poke his face in this hornet’s nest. That’s why.
He doesn’t know that, and neither does she.
Then I took the job myself. If I can’t have Mia, I can at least keep her safe until she’ll let me get her the hell out of Halo City.
Before her beautiful body winds up bloated and face down in the harbor, along with all Harvey’s other sex workers the DA tried to turn into testimony.
“Hell no. It’s a loyalty test. One that I can’t pass.
” She lowers her voice to a whisper. “The Assistant DA belongs to Harvey, same as I do. Maybe Harvey has him whoring too.” She laughs, her eyes flashing bitter.
“I talk and Harvey has me killed. I don’t talk and the DA puts me away, though his underling’s on the take.
For all I know, he is too.” She peers out over the railing before she fixes those amber eyes on me.
“How about you? Who are you working for?”
I flash her my close protection badge. She grabs it out of my hands, brushing my fingertips with her own. Too quick for me. And I can’t bear to touch her. No matter how much I want to. Not here, out in the open. I can’t tolerate the distraction. Not while she’s in danger.
I need her all to myself, alone, behind closed doors. If she’ll have me. If not, I’ll keep my hands to myself. Guard her day and night. Until she finally agrees to get out of this hellhole.
“Halo Protective Group?”
“It’s Vance’s company. Private security.”
She takes another long pull on her drink. “That’s cute. Promises, promises. No protection in this town, sweetheart.” She sucks on an olive at the end of its skewer, and I envy it. I want those lips on me.
I shrug. “There can be.”
Her expression turns suspicious. “Who’s paying for you to guard me?”
I don’t respond, and my silence gives me away. She already knows the answer.
She leans across the table. “I don’t believe you,” she hisses. “You really have a death wish, huh? All that money in the bank and this is what you’re going to do with your time. You think Harvey’s going to let you live, walking next to me, here?”
“We don’t have to walk anywhere if you don’t want to. I’ll drive.” I plunk my olives into her drink and toss the more flammable contents of my glass into the potted ficus behind me.
Her lips curve at the ends, almost a smile.
The last streaks of sunlight are fading fast, reflected in the glass and steel around us. “Don’t use your real name out loud anymore.” It’s not a suggestion. Mia raises an eyebrow, but she doesn’t fight me on it. For once.
I imagined she’d bristle more at this new arrangement, but she’s surprisingly agreeable.
There’s no time to relax, though. I recognize the man two tables behind her from yesterday’s briefing at HPG: a low-level hit man, local dreg.
Hits his mark less than half the time, according to the info sheet, but then, you get what you pay for.
He’s got a scrubby, undercooked vibe: reedy arms, smudged spectacles. I’m not worried about him.
It’s the guy sauntering through the door who runs my blood cold. Martin Velnias. Shiny shoes, black trench coat. Those dark serial killer eyes. The assassin Harvey hired to take Mia out if she agrees to talk looks just like his file photo.
My hands clench, aching to draw my gun and shoot them both before they can even glance this way. They’re only tailing her now, Vance said. She hasn’t agreed to testify. But when she does, Christ. These vultures are circling her.
I trained up for this. But now that I’m face-to-face with premium evil blocking the door and a dollar store evil two tables back, all at the same time, I don’t know if it was enough.
If I’m enough. Sure, I was a sheriff, but it was a small, sleepy town.
And Halo City isn’t exactly governed by laws.
It’s more of a combat zone, from what I can tell.
My army days were a long time ago. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than jumping jacks to get her through this in one piece.
Not to mention me.
I keep my eyes on the assassin and put my hand inside my jacket. He leans up against the bar, chatting up the skittish bartender.
The killer turns his head. Locks eyes with me.
He nods.
For some reason I didn’t think their intel would be as good as Halo’s. I thought I’d be anonymous in Halo City. At least for the first week.
I was naive. If I keep on underestimating the enemy, Mia won’t make it out of here alive. And neither will I.
“We’re getting out of here.”
Mia winces at my tone, mid-sip, her back to her would-be murderers.
She sets down her glass, uncrosses and crosses her legs.
“Like hell we are. Where are we going? I haven’t finished my drink.
” She dangles that sandal off the edge of her toe, and my attention is momentarily divided between tracking the killers behind her and the delicate arch of her foot.
Would I kill to keep its owner in one piece? Without a doubt.
“Finish it.” It comes out gruffer than I want it to. Mia’s eyes narrow.
We’re not at my cabin in the woods anymore.
If only she’d stayed.