Page 34 of Desperately Delicate Viper

My skin heats as Luca fills my mind. I’ve noticed the same thing he’s talking about, watching Luca go from commanding and dangerous to gentle and submissive in the blink of an eye.

“Yeah, it’s pretty fucking hot.”

We reach the pawn shop and I head up to the counter while Sparrow wanders farther into the shop. My palms sweat as I reach into my messenger bag to pull out the baggie of jewelry and watches. I’m sure I’m not the first person to come in here and pawn stolen items. Hell, I’m probably not even the first person this morning.

The man behind the counter is helping someone else, so I let my eyes wander while I wait. It’s fairly quiet, with just a few other customers walking around. There’s an older woman looking through a stack of records, and a couple of teenagers who must have skipped school messing around with an acoustic guitar. A tall, skinny man leans over the glass case filled with jewelry. I’m not sure what makes my attention linger on him at first. He looks like a biker and a junkie if I had to guess. His skin is gaunt and his long hair falls in dirty, stringy strands over the shoulders of his leather jacket. There’s a patch on the sleeve that looks familiar, but I can’t quite place it off the top of my head. But whatever drew my attention to begin with is quickly replaced by an uneasy feeling when his eyes snap towards Sparrow.

I shift on my feet and drop my head a little, but keep my attention on him, watching him watch Sparrow without him noticing. The man’s eyes narrow and he curls his fingers into a fist, slipping his other hand into his jacket pocket. My heart beats faster and the sweat on my palms is no longer because I’m nervous about selling stolen watches.

Either Sparrow has no clue he’s being watched, or he’s extremely good at playing it cool. He wanders up and downthe aisles, picking up random items and generally just keeping himself busy while he waits for me.

“Can I help you?” I startle and hurry forward.

“I want to pawn these.” I set the bag on the counter, keeping one eye on the other man while the employee dumps out my stuff and starts to sort through it.

The dude abandons the jewelry case and ambles in Sparrow’s direction in a way that might look casual if it weren’t for all the staring. I bounce impatiently on my toes, but otherwise do my best to play it cool. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. I thought Sparrow was coming to the apartment to kill me too, so clearly I have some trust issues. It’s possible the junkie is just mistaking Sparrow for someone he knows, or having a weird trip and doesn’t even realize he’s staring.

“I can give you five-k for the lot.” The employee sounds bored.

I suck in a sharp breath and then cough when saliva goes down the wrong way.

“I’m sorry, how much?”

He scowls. “I can’t do any better than that. We’ve gotta turn a profit to stay in business, that’s how it works.”

I hold my hands up and shake my head. “No, uh, yeah that’s fine.”

My head spins from the amount of money he just offered me. So much so that I completely forget about the creepy junkie while I fill out the paperwork and watch him count out the cash to hand over to me. I stuff the bills into my bag, along with the small wad I already had there. Sparrow meets me at the door and we head out again.

We’re halfway down the block when the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. I glance over my shoulder and, sure enough, we seem to have picked up a new friend.

“Be cool, but I think someone’s following us,” I say as quietly as possible, even though I doubt the dude would be able to hear me over the sound of traffic anyway from where he is.

Sparrow tenses, reaching one hand into his jacket while subtly glancing over his shoulder.

“Motherfucker,” he mutters.

“Friend of yours?”

“Not exactly. He’s got a Sleepless Reapers patch though. Let’s just say I’ve developed a bit of a reputation with the motorcycle club.”

My muscles tense and I almost stumble over my next step. My heartbeat skyrockets, and the adrenaline that spikes through my veins steels my spine and hardens everything inside of me. The Sleepless Reapers are notorious for not only running meth, but for getting people hooked and turning them into club property. What happens once someone is club property? I’d rather not think too hard about it.

“What kind of reputation?” I ask, matching Sparrow’s quickening pace.

“The ‘shoving my favorite dagger into their fucking jugulars and watching them bleed out’ kind of reputation.” His lips curl into a different kind of smile than I’ve seen so far. It’s cold and disturbing. It’s exactly the kind of smile I’d expect the Ice Man’s lover to wear. “Listen, I’m going to have to handle this. There’s a burger place right up ahead, you can dip inside and I’ll circle back and meet you after I take care of this asshole.”

Something tells me he doesn’t just mean he’s going to lose this dude. I’ve gotten my knuckles bloody plenty of times—going feral,as Finn calls it—but I’ve never killed a man. I’ve neverseena man killed. I should take Sparrow’s advice and let him do his thing. He must know what he’s doing to talk about stabbing bikers in the jugular so casually. It feels wrong to leave him alone though.

“No, I’m with you,” I say before I can talk myself out of it. “What’s the plan?”

“Yeah?” He reaches for my hand, linking our fingers together like we’re on a date. “Alright, follow my lead.”

In only a few more feet we reach an alley between two buildings. Sparrow’s fingers tighten around mine and he yanks me off the sidewalk, into the alley. I get ready to run, but he slows his pace instead, checking over his shoulder again and then leading me deeper, farther away from the bustle of the street. It doesn’t take long before the crunch of gravel under boots echoes behind us, letting me know without looking that the junkie biker is still on our tail. Sparrow leans closer to me, acting like he doesn’t notice the man.

“Sorry about this,” he whispers.

My heart jams into my throat and I open my mouth to ask what he means, but before I can, he pushes me up against the nearest wall and flattens himself against me. I try to push him back, but he just laughs and then brings his face close to mine like he’s going to kiss me.

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