Chapter Six

I ran. I didn’t stop to call for help.

This is your fault! I shouted at myself. If you hadn’t jumped in there when he was dancing with her, he’d probably have left well enough alone!

I shoved down the internal voice with a snarl. It wouldn’t matter too much whose fault it was if I couldn’t get to her quickly enough.

I burst through the exterior door and surveyed either direction. To my left was a warren of alleys, riddled with garbage bins and rats and people of questionable character. If I was kidnapping someone, it’s the way I would’ve gone. But Monato wasn’t me. He was probably the kind of man who liked things easy. I glanced to my right. It was dark, but just around the corner was a narrow space between two buildings that led out to the main road. I took off in that direction.

My instincts were right.

As I reached the street, I spied Monato and two of his thugs huddled against the exterior wall of the restaurant a few doors down from the club. I shook my head at their audacity. And at their idiocy.

A blonde girl was hanging over one of the men’s shoulders, and she was clearly unconscious. They hadn’t even bothered to cover her up.

What was their plan if they got caught? I wondered. What if the police drove by, as they often did, and saw them standing there?

No self-respecting cop—hell, no self-respecting person—would believe a stupid story about the girl having had too much to drink

I stepped onto the sidewalk and did my best to appear invisible. No easy task when you’re my size. I kept close to the sides of the buildings as I moved along with my head down.

How did a guy like Monato suddenly become my main target, when there were so many other more worthwhile pursuits?

I knew the answer. Or at least partly. I was more than just the girl tonight. I didn’t like how Monato made his money. I didn’t like how he was always rubbing it in people’s faces. He was nothing more than a lowlife pimp. There was something else. Something beyond the asshole factor. The more I interacted with him, the more I knew it, even if I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

As I got close enough I could really see the blonde’s face. It was her, of course. One of Monato’s men—the one not carrying the girl—caught sight of me as I approached them.

“Hey!” he shouted.

I stepped up casually and clocked him on the side of the head with one of my fists. He crumpled to the ground, and the other man looked down in surprise before he turned toward me.

“Give her over,” I commanded.

He hesitated, and for a second I really thought he was going to give me the girl. Monato grabbed his arm.

“You weren’t kidding about keeping her, then?” he sneered.

“Did I look like I was kidding?” I asked.

“I’m just surprised is all,” Monato said. “You seem to have so very little interest in anything but kicking me out of your club on a regular basis.”

“So stop coming in,” I suggested.

“No.”

I bristled. “Give me the girl.”

“No.”

“This is a new low for you, isn’t it?” I persisted. “Don’t you usually just hook them on drugs so they continue to need you?

A dark sedan pulled up in front of us, and the door swung open. I moved to block it.

“I would love to stay here and further discuss my shortcomings. Maybe negotiate a deal. But I’m afraid our ride is already here,” Monato told me with an obnoxious shrug.

He pulled out a tiny revolver and waved it casually in my direction before instructing his thug to load the girl into the trunk of the car.

“You won’t shoot me out here in front of my own club,” I said. “Even you aren’t that stupid.”

“No,” he agreed. “But I might shoot her. No one will give a shit but you. And if anything happens to me, I’ve made sure my driver will take her somewhere inconveniently hard to find.”

I considered his words. He was just barely shrewd enough to have made that arrangement ahead of time.

“I’ll have you followed,” I warned.

“I know,” Monato said with a smile.

He slammed the trunk shut and gestured for me to move. I snarled, and made to get out of his way, and then a hand reached out from inside the car and tapped the back of my leg.

“Get in,” hissed a familiar voice.

I didn’t hesitate. I bent myself in half and fell into the sedan. The tires squealed and the car took off down the road.

It took me a second to right myself and close the door.

“Jesus, Billy!” I swore. “Why didn’t you just tell me it was you?”

The older man grinned, which made his scarred face go from macabre to terrifying. I punched him in the arm.

“I saw you kiss some poor girl…on the hand of all places,” he replied. “And then you had a loud fight with our buddy, Monato. So I followed his guys. Took his driver out, and borrowed this luxurious little ride. Waited until I thought you might need me. But really…You looked like you were doing all right.”

“Like hell I did.”

“Anyway, I figured you didn’t want to go without the girl.”

I shook my head. “So you were chancing my life to save some stranger?”

“The only chance I ever took was agreeing to do this job with you,” he replied. “You’re the one risking your life for the girl.”

I didn’t argue. Billy was my most trusted guy, and the only one who could get away with speaking his mind—to a certain extent anyway.

“Where are we going?” I wanted to know.

“Hopefully somewhere safer than your club.”

I sighed and let him drive. I had enough thoughts tumbling through my head to keep me occupied. And I needed to stop letting Monato get to me if I wanted to do the job I’d come to do. I had put in too much time getting where I was. I couldn’t let it slip away over some girl I didn’t know.

Billy navigated the streets quickly, and when he flicked the lights off and cruised into an unfamiliar underground parking lot, my tension level spiked again.

“Relax,” Billy said. “We’re just going to stop so we can take the girl out of the trunk. Then you can find a better place to hide out.”

Hiding out. Not my style. It made me irritable.

“You’ll need to carry her yourself,” Billy told me as we exited the car. “I’ve got a bad elbow.”

I rolled my eyes. He ignored my look and opened the trunk.

I stared down at her for just a moment, realizing again that she was beautiful. Her skin was porcelain white, and her hair was fine, and it looked soft I had to hold in a ridiculous urge to reach out and stroke it. Her head rolled to one side, and she let out a loud snore. It made me laugh before I could stop myself.

“Hurry it up,” Billy urged.

I bent down and put one hand under her knees and the other under her shoulders. I lifted her carefully, and cradled her still form against my body. I don’t know if it was her apparent vulnerability, or just the closeness of her—it had been so long since I’d let anyone near me like that—but my chest compressed involuntarily.

I carried her over to the waiting car. Thankfully, it was one of our vehicles. I didn’t bother to ask why Billy had it there as I placed the girl carefully in the back seat and covered her with my coat.

“Billy,” I said in an uncharacteristically husky voice. “I’m gonna leave her with you and double back to the club in a cab. I won’t be long. I just need to make sure we weren’t followed and sort out a few things.”

The older man nodded once. He respectfully didn’t ask what those things were, and didn’t give me any flack for not trusting his evasive driving skills. I was glad I didn’t have to admit the girl’s presence had unnerved me to the point of needing to get a breather.

I headed up and out to the street where I hailed a cab.

Twenty minutes tops, I told myself, because as much as I wanted to clear my head, I wanted to be near the girl even more.