Chapter 16
Willow
They wouldn’t kill her if she saw them?
That was a surprise. Their gorgeous faces might be covered, but they seemed sincere.
Why do I want to trust them?
She cleared her throat. “Well, since you told me what you do… I target insurance companies,” she said, fidgeting with the hem of her borrowed sweater. “You know about my shoulder issue, and you saw the scar. Healthcare is expensive.”
“How did it happen?” Ry asked, his tone gentle, almost coaxing.
That day came rushing back. Fear. Despair. Her hands were gripping the steering wheel as tightly as possible while a barrage of insults came from the passenger’s seat. Then came the fist and the sickening shock of the first hit.
Willow shoved the memory away as quickly as possible, but her heart was racing uncontrollably. She cleared her throat. “It was a car accident.” They didn’t need the full story. The closer she got to them, though, the more she felt like she might be losing control over the situation.
Mean One eyed her closely. “Now, why was that so hard? Unless you’re lying.”
She offered him a pointed look. “It isn’t a pleasant memory, believe it or not.” Desperate to get away from the topic, she continued, “Tell me your names.”
Nice One was watching, assessing her body language.
“Ryker,” he said.
Oh, so he had given her a nickname after she’d sucked him off. Well, she couldn’t fault him for not wanting to give away everything.
Willow turned to the other. “I’ve been referring to you as ‘Mean One’ in my head, so unless you want me to just call you that…”
He snorted, the mask bunching up like he was smiling as he pinned her with those bright hazel eyes. “Ezra. But maybe I like being the mean one.”
Their encounter before Ryker had returned was a push and pull she’d never experienced before—a game of prying information out of each other through teasing, like the foreplay was a verbal and physical battle.
She wasn’t sure how she could keep this up.
Surely one of them would let something slip, and they’d put the pieces together.
They were already starting to get suspicious of each other if their darting glances were anything to go by.
“I believe it,” she replied smoothly. “So, what does it mean to be a ‘heavy’ for a loan shark?”
Ryker answered, “When people don’t pay back what they borrowed, we get sent in to collect.”
“Is that what happened with my neighbor?” she asked.
Ezra cleared his throat. “No… she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“She caught you.”
Ryker groaned. “Yep. Our boss doesn’t like witnesses.”
“How do you ‘collect’ if you kill the people?”
Now they both looked uncomfortable. Ryker wouldn’t meet her eyes and Ezra was gnawing on the inside of his cheek.
“We rarely have to kill anyone,” Ezra said. “Our boss has a thing about taking fingers as warnings.”
Her stomach lurched. “You cut people’s fingers off!”
“We don’t do this out of choice,” Ryker said desperately. “We’re paying debts.”
Shock was still coursing through her system, making her queasy. Though why she was so horrified by their actions was a bit silly. She wasn’t here by choice. They had kidnapped her with the intent to kill her. But the look of desperation in Ryker’s eyes eased some of her disgust.
I shouldn’t get closer… I should find a way out of this. I’m doing it all over again.
That reasonable part of her brain was quickly being squashed by another side, the one that was telling her that they weren’t truly bad. They had spared her, and their insistence that they weren’t doing this out of choice seemed sincere.
“How much do you owe?” she settled on. She knew Ryker had admitted the debt wasn’t his, but she didn’t want to tip off Ezra that they had been talking about this already.
“It’s more about time than actual dollars,” Ezra said with a sigh.
“How long?”
Ryker rested his elbows on the table. “Six years for me. Two left for him.”
A sinking feeling like a weight had been placed in her gut took hold, though she wasn’t quite sure why.
She knew there was no point in fantasizing about having either of them, but this was like the nail in the coffin.
Her taste in men was absolute trash, and she was getting upset that these two murderers were stuck being dirtbags.
“Why do you have so much more time?” She swallowed hard, not sure if she wanted the answer. Who was he paying this debt for?
“The person got in very deep.”
“Is it a girl?” she asked with an edge to her voice. He had better not be married or in a relationship and cheating with her.
“No,” he replied in a careful tone, like he was trying to keep the suspicion off them while reassuring her.
Willow eyed the other one. “What about you? Is it your debt or someone else’s?” Now she needed to know if he was taken. The second wave of jealousy made her stomach twist.
Again, she pushed the intrusive feelings aside.
“It’s mine,” he said simply, cocking his head to the side. “I stole weed from the wrong guy.”
“I see.” She took a deep breath. This guy they worked for sounded pretty ruthless if he’d make a guy a murderer over stealing weed. “You really think he’s going to let me walk free? Does he know about this?”
Ryker pinched the bridge of his nose. “He knows we’re stuck here, but I didn’t tell him we got the wrong girl. As far as he knows, our witness is dead. We aren’t going to hurt you, pretty girl.”
The tension in her shoulders eased slightly. She hadn’t realized how nervous she was over the answer. As much as she told herself that they weren’t really bad guys, the fear that they might still kill her lingered.
Ezra bristled over Ryker’s nickname for her. Now that they had mostly cleared the air, it was time to poke them.
“Do you call every girl that, or just the ones you run into outside of ramen shops?”