Chapter Nine The Forge #2
She spat again, clearing her mouth of blood, and headed towards the waiting room where here jacket was hung.
She had no intention of going up the rope ladder to the waiting crowd.
Adan winced at the pain shooting up her arm as she pulled the leather close.
The punches she took covering her stomach had finally hit her as her adrenaline faded.
She walked up the stairs slowly, using the banister for help, and headed towards the bar on the main level of the Forge to gather her winnings.
"Signing up for another one?" The Matchmaker asked Adan as she appeared among the crowd from the dark stairwell.
"Drink first." She harked back, her lungs protested. The crowd moved as she grabbed the last remaining seat at the bar. A dark-haired beauty in tight black dress took Adan's drink order.
Two shots of bourbon and one large, cold beer later, Adan was mostly healed. Her orbital bone was slowly, stitching itself together, and was very tender. One more shot and beer, and she would find the Matchmaker for another fight.
"What did I tell you about going off and doing something stupid?"
The scent of fresh rain and oak told her who was behind her.
If his tone wasn't telling enough. She rolled her eyes into the back of her head.
She was not in the mood for this. She was in the mood for pain, and hard liquor, and release.
None of those things involved Lord Lennox Hollow.
She sighed and signalled the bartender for another round of shots. The beauty smiled and then stumbled when she noticed who stood behind Adan. She rolled her eyes again as she saw the effect Lennox Hollow had on women.
"Sir?" She asked behind her, effectively ignoring Adan.
"Whatever she's having, thank you, Molly." His timber voice was unusually kind.
Fucking Flirt.
Four shots of bourbon appeared and two more beers.
He raised an eyebrow at her in question, but she had trained her eyes on the bar--anywhere but him.
Maybe if she was lucky enough and ignored him, he would go away.
"By the look of the labels on those shopping bags you had in the Luxus I wouldn't expect this drink order from you."
She was past the point of masking and out right hissed in his direction.
She braced for whatever punishment was coming her way.
Today she did not have the strength to care-- "I watched you out there, you were good."
She turned to look fully over her shoulder at him.
She wasn't expecting that response--"But you're not as good as you think you are."
And there it was. The lift before the inevitable smack down.
She sneered and turned her back to him to take her shot and chase with the beer.
"I should thank you, for earning me a small sum."
He grinned. He had bet on her, and won. Which she, of course, would get a percentage of.
"Let me guess, you own this place too." She snarked, downing another shot. This fucking male. He was slowly taking away all her favourite places in The City of Bones. Another reason to keep hating him.
"I do." He reached over her, practically caging her as he grabbed for one of the shots off the bar. He polished it off and placed the empty glass upside down beside her empty ones. "What brings you here, other than torturing yourself." His tone was acerbic.
His comment laid Adan bare. She whirled around on her bar stool to face him fully.
He moved to allow space for her knees but stepped back to cage them between his legs.
His long arms came down on either side of her, and she leered back.
"I've told you before, and I'll tell you again. What I do with my time is my fucking business."
She hissed loud enough for a few patrons at the bar to take notice.
"Wrong, again, love." He leaned in and Adan could smell the fresh mint from his breath.
"Not until we're done, then and only then, will your time be your own. Until then, you stay in line and you fucking obey. I thought you were finally coming to heel since you've been sequestered in the castle. But now that I see how you like to spend your nights--It's not good for you."
His eyes flashed with that pity again, if only for a second.
"What do you care what happens to me?" Her eyes narrowed. She tried with all her might not to slur her words as those two shots sunk in to her blood stream.
"Maybe it's all the money you just made me... "
He pushed off the bar and shrugged his shoulders.
He pulled on the cuff links at his sleeves before placing his tattooed hands into the pockets of his tailored pants.
"Possibly because of how lovely you looked the other night... "
He chuckled, but it held no warmth. "A huge difference from the bloody, broken mess in front of me right now."
He grimaced, but his mouth turned upwards into a devious smirk.
He leaned back into Adan's space. " or is it just that I like seeing you wear my collar?"
"You're a pig." She spat. Of course, he wouldn't give her an actual answer.
He would avoid the truth at all costs and then demand that very thing from her.
She loathed him for it, but his understanding of why she was here--how he saw through it all...
that infuriated Adan. There were so many facets of herself--so many masks.
That she long ago forgot who she was--what she was.
She had no choice if she wanted to survive in this world.
She couldn't be her true self, and Lennox Hollow was the last person she would want to share that with.
He seemed to see it all without her having to open her mouth. It was abhorrent.
"Why are you punishing yourself?" His green eyes darting about her face searching for a tell. Lingering on the swollen eye that would leave a brutal bruise for a few days.
She drained her beer, and maybe it was the alcohol or the fresh fight that gave her the courage.
Hells, perhaps it was that she just needed to say it out loud.
"I killed that rebel. I deserve this." She wavered in her seat, Lennox's arms moved to steady her.
His deft fingers curling around her shoulders.
She couldn't help but sigh at the weight lifted.
"You had--have no choice, you're a slave, love."
His tone was almost--benign. "But I promise if you help me, I will give you your freedom but I need you alive and unbroken to do that."
He gently grazed her cheekbone, and the pain there seemed to lessen.
He dropped both his arms to his sides, but didn't step back.
"Just give me more time. Then you can go off and do whatever it is that you do."
It felt like a barb, like she had no life outside of this.
No plans for after, but to bring life to that would mean more hope than she had.
To dream that big would bring the fates down upon her.
She closed her eyes as the room started to spin.
"Why are you helping me?" She asked again, half expecting him to ignore the question.
Lennox looked down at the sad drunk assassin. He wanted to tell her the truth, but he still couldn't tell what she would do with that information. He couldn't trust her with that just yet. Which was ironic when he asked her to trust him.
She sighed, "fine, if you won't tell me, then just answer me this."
She signalled the bartender for another round that she did not need.