Dani stood under the hot water, let it blast her neck and shoulders and all the knots collected in the muscles there. Her first shower, upon arriving, had been to clean off the blood and soot and grime. Afterward, she’d fallen into the guest room’s bed and slept better than she had in no telling how long. Maybe ever. She woke stiff and sore from the fighting, so she used that to justify a second shower to herself. Being clean, not having to rush, using products that smelled good enough to eat, wrapping her body in a huge fluffy towel with another just for her hair – it was absolute bliss.
She stepped out of the bathroom, thankfully covered by the biggest, softest towel she’d ever used, right as Kevin Moynihan opened the guest room door.
“Oh, sorry.” He kept his gaze on her face. “I knocked but there was no answer.” He had two department store shopping bags in one hand and a newspaper under the other arm. “I’ve got some things for you.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
He drew his eyebrows together, his expression uncertain. “Your clothes were in bad shape. Covered in blood. I felt it best they be destroyed, so I threw them into the building incinerator.”
She gaped at him, incredulous. “You destroyed my stuff?”
Kevin came further into the room and set the bags on the bed then held out the newspaper. She glanced down at it then back up at him. He nodded. Blowing out a breath, she took the paper and unfolded it.
Front page, below the fold. Several paragraphs of not much of anything but she read them all. The Russians weren’t cooperating with police, which didn’t surprise her. Cops were speculating it had to do with a turf war but had no clues leading to any suspects. There was no hint in the story that all that damage had been done by one lone woman.
“Like I said, I thought it best to destroy your clothes.” Kevin studied her, his blue eyes just as vivid behind a pair of glasses as without.
He had destroyed evidence. He’d made himself an accomplice. God. So she’d helped this guy, that didn’t mean he owed her anything. Much less putting himself on the line like that. She crumpled the newspaper and pushed it at him. “I never should have gotten in your car.”
“You needed help.” He put the paper on a table by the window.
“What I need is to leave.”
“No, I think you should stay.”
“Are you out of your mind?”
“You’re exhausted. You were hurt last night. I don’t know how you’re even alive, but I’ll save those questions for later.”
Oh, shit. He’d be getting precisely zero answers.
“Some of them survived,” he said. “They may have seen your face. They’ll be looking for you.”
“Which is exactly why I need to get out of here. You don’t want to get caught up in something like this.”
“No, I don’t. But you need help. Do you have any other friends you can go to?”
He had her there. She could only do so much alone. Besides, she was tired of having to choose between starving or stealing.
“Stay for a day, maybe two. Get some rest. You’re covered in bruises.” He gestured at her arms, mottled with purple. “Just hang out here and take it easy.”
A day, maybe two. They’d be looking for her in the South Side. This swank penthouse was half a city away. Hell, it might as well have been on the moon, as much as it had in common with Lincoln Heights and Cabrini. She pointed at the bags on the bed. “I’m guessing that’s clothes.” He nodded. She lifted her chin to indicate the door. “I’ve stood around in a towel long enough. Could you go so I can get dressed?”
“Of course.” He strode to the door then stopped. “Would you like breakfast or lunch?”
“Surprise me.”
He smiled, and for a half-second her knees threatened to buckle. “I will,” he said then left, closing the door behind him.
A day. Two at the most. A guy like that didn’t need her kind of trouble coming down on his pretty head.
The shopping bags were full. Casual stuff: jeans, cargo pants, a mix of t-shirts and long sleeve tops. Mostly dark colors like black, gray, navy blue. Stuff she might choose for herself, but the quality was like nothing she’d ever worn. He must have dropped a few hundred dollars on these two bags, at least.
Then she examined the underwear and upped her estimate of the cost. Every piece was exquisite, bore no labels, and was a stunning shade of dark red. She’d never seen anything like it outside of magazine ads.
Dani selected what to wear, dressed then dried her hair. Combing it out took a few minutes. She was on her way out the door when she realized there were no shoes in either bag. No shoes so she couldn’t leave too soon – so the guy had great taste in clothes and a bit of a passive aggressive streak.
The big, airy penthouse had two floors. She descended to the lower level, checking everything out. The place was clean and modern and masculine without being overbearing about it. The living room was split into two sections, one with furniture centered around a huge television and the other with seating grouped together for conversation. The walls were divided between shelves full of books and white space with framed abstract art in the center. Opposite, floor to ceiling glass looking out over a balcony and a magnificent view of the city skyline.
Dani examined both the books on the shelves and the art on the walls. Most of the books were non-fiction, volumes on art, music, and history. She didn’t know what to make of the abstract paintings. The largest piece was at least four feet across and three feet long, a white canvas full of brilliant blues and greens in geometric shapes accented with looping spirals.
The lab hadn’t been all experiments and tests. Once Dr. Hurd took over and conditions became more humane, classes became part of the routine. Dani’s own education had been patchy at best before, but those classes had filled in everything she’d missed and then some. The arts and humanities had not been skimped over simply because of the nature of the lab’s mission. Dr. Hurd had seen to that.
Dani carefully searched the painting for a signature. There was something in the bottom right corner that might have been the artist’s initials but it was so stylized she couldn’t quite make it out.
Kevin approached and stood by her side. “What do you think?”
“It’s like a Kandinsky but it’s not a Kandinsky.” She shrugged then crossed her arms over her front. “Some other abstract artist, I guess.”
He said nothing. From the corner of her eye she caught the faint smile on his face, the understated glow of pride. She peered at the initials again.
“You painted this,” she said.
Kevin placed a finger over his lips. “Don’t tell anybody. They think I only took art classes for the nude models.” He winked. “I hope you’re hungry. I decided on brunch.”
“Right about now I’d eat roadkill.”
“Hopefully my cooking’s better than that.” He raised an arm to guide her. “This way.”
The dining room was as spacious as the rest of the rooms, and like the living room had a floor to ceiling view of the city. The glass must have been polarized because the sunshine added warmth and golden light but no painful glare. A large rectangular table pushed against the glass on the right side of the room served as a desk, with a laptop and various books and notepads and other supplies scattered about its shiny black surface.
To the far left sat a circular bistro table with wrought iron chairs. Not far from that was a bar that connected to the kitchen, laden with food. Kevin handed her a heavy black plate. “Caprese quiche. Prosciutto wrapped asparagus. Croque monsieur. Fresh fruit. Croissants. Your choice of traditional Mimosa or raspberry Bellini.”
Maybe he was trying to impress her. It kind of worked. Dani wasn’t entirely sure what a couple of the dishes were but everything looked and smelled good, so she piled her plate high and took a seat at the table. They ate in silence, Dani going back for seconds while he made coffee.
Finally full, she pushed her plate away and rested her elbows on the table. “So when do you start asking me questions?”
Kevin set two steaming cups on the table and returned to his seat. “I’m ready when you are.”
“You know I won’t answer everything. I probably won’t answer much at all.” The food had been amazing and the coffee smelled divine as well. She looked out at the view instead of at him, more than a little unsure of herself in such surroundings.
“How about we start with something simple. What can I call you?”
She liked that. He didn’t ask for her name, he asked what he could call her. Maybe that was why she told him the truth. “Dani. My name is Dani.”
Understanding filled his eyes. He offered his hand. “My name is Kevin.”
They shook hands. He held onto hers for a beat longer than strictly necessary, but there was nothing possessive or domineering in his grip. He wasn’t trying to assert control, or test her, or any other kind of dickish hypermasculine move. It was like he just wanted to keep touching her for a moment longer. So she allowed it, and realized that it wasn’t bad at all, being touched by this man.
He let go and sipped his coffee. “Thank you for helping me that night outside the shelter. You saved my life.”
“You’re welcome.” She didn’t know what else to say.
“I do have a lot of questions, but we need to talk about last night first. If I’m going to help you, I’d like to know what happened. I think I deserve that much.”
“You’ve already helped me, and I appreciate that. But I need to leave.”
“And do what? Where will you go? Do you have any money? Do you even have ID? How are you planning to hide from those people?”
All damn good questions, and she had no answers. The weight of that reality pressed down on her. Enhanced strength, endurance, hearing and vision, plus other things she’d barely used – but it did her little good if all she could do was hide out in abandoned buildings, having to steal to eat. And now she’d made herself the target of violent, dangerous criminals, on top of the high likelihood that the lab was searching for her.
She had to get out of Point Sable. Nothing else mattered, not right now. She had to leave, and she had to do it before anyone traced her to an innocent man’s door.
“I appreciate your concern,” she said. “I really do. But you know I have to get out of here, as soon as possible.”
“I know.”
“If they find me with you, they’ll kill you too. They won’t care about your family name or your trust fund. They’ll put a bullet in your head and step over your body to get to me.”
The bright blue of his eyes darkened to a stormy twilight. “Look, I’m not going to pretend to be some kind of badass. You’ve got the market cornered on that.” He chuckled self-consciously and pushed his glasses up. “There are other things I can do to help you. You saved my life, Dani. I owe you. Let me repay that debt.”
How could anybody think this guy was just some airhead trust fund douchebro? She sat back in her chair and regarded him for a long moment. “The clothes are great.” She smiled. “A pair of good boots to go with them would be great, too.”
Red stained his cheeks briefly. “I can get you boots. I was thinking a new identity, too. Seed money. Whatever else you need to get somewhere safe, where whoever all you’re running from can’t find you.”
Definitely smart, as well as pretty. “What makes you think I’m running from more than just the Russians?”
“You took my phone when I videoed you. You didn’t want that footage seen online. Not much of a leap from there to the idea that you were already on the run.”
“The press makes you out to be a dumb, rich pretty boy. What are you hiding, Kevin Moynihan?”
He tipped his head up and took a deep breath. “I don’t know.”
Not the cavalier answer she’d expected. She didn’t know what to make of him, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so curious about someone.
Kevin shook his head then grinned. “It’s true I am rich and pretty.” He laughed. “Look, I’ve got a contact I want to talk to about getting a new identity for you. This isn’t something I know a lot about, but I trust this person. Stay here, and get some rest while I’m gone.”
“I can’t stay more than a day or two. I shouldn’t even stay that long.”
“Just long enough to get you a new identity. Let your bruises heal. I can see about getting you to a doctor privately if you need one.”
“No.” No more doctors, no more tests.
Kevin stood and picked up his coffee cup. “I don’t know how that’s possible but okay.” He carried his cup into the kitchen.
When he returned, she said, “Are you going to ask how?” How it was possible she wasn’t badly hurt, how it was possible she’d taken on so many at once and came out alive? Twice. She couldn’t tell him. The truth was too dangerous, maybe the only thing more dangerous than the Russian gangsters who were probably searching all over the South Side for her.
He was slow to respond. “I want to know. If you’re comfortable telling me. It’s not a condition of my helping you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I didn’t think that,” she said. “You took a huge risk, bringing me here. The more you help me, the bigger the risk. Maybe you could tell me why you’re willing to do that, because it’s not just because I saved your life.”
“To be honest, I’m still trying to figure that one out.” He glanced at his watch. “I need to meet my contact. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen. Sleep. Watch TV. Read. Whatever you want. Just…stay inside. Please.”
“Don’t worry. I may be a badass but I’m not taking off barefoot.”
“I’ll bring you back some shoes this time, promise.”
“Hey, how’d you know what size clothes to get me?”
Kevin gave her a playful look. “I took art classes for the nude models, remember?”
A guy like him probably had no trouble finding women, either. “Do I need to come up with a cover story in case your girlfriend comes over?” Too late, she realized what that sounded like.
“No girlfriend right now.” Only a hint of smugness colored his voice.
“Boyfriend?”
He winked. “There was that one time in college.”
That made for a nice mental image. Heat flushed her face and she hoped to God he didn’t notice her reaction.
He strode to the desk and gathered keys and a cell phone then found a notepad and pen and scribbled on it. He brought her the note. “Here’s my number if you need it.”
“What happened to the phone I stole from you?”
“I destroyed that, too. Use the landline if you need to call. Be back later.”
He trusted her enough to leave her alone in his magnificent apartment, which made him either an idiot and damned sure of her. The place was full of any number of things she could steal and sell. Probably had some cash tucked away, if she looked hard enough. But he was just going to leave and trust that she, and all of his belongings, would still be here when he got back.
Dani scrambled out of her chair and caught up with him. “Thank you. For everything.”
Kevin nodded, an unexpected intensity in his electric blue eyes. He raised his forearm, hand hovering inches from her elbow. But he didn’t close the distance, as if sensing her trepidation. “Get some rest.”
Then he was gone. She thought about checking out the fridge, despite how much she’d eaten earlier. Another cup of coffee, maybe read the rest of that newspaper, if she could find it. Pick out a book, or maybe just sit and stare out the window at the city in all its daytime splendor. Ultimately she decided to take his advice, went back up to the guest room, and slept.