Page 5 of Gluttony
“My partner and I come as a pair, sir,” she added.
“I hope you change your mind.”
Damien, having heard the exchange, coughed over the comms to hide the insult he shot at the man. Her lip twitched, and she lifted her chin. “Not happening, sir.”
“Richard.”
Damien laughed through her earpiece, making another less veiled insult about the man’s name. Fortunately, none of what he said could be heard by their client. She cleared her throat and slid her gaze back to the children.
When she didn’t respond, he kept talking. “Name’s Richard. You know that.”
The children squealed and jumped, all letting go of their red helium balloons at the same time. One by one, the little balls of landfill floated into the air, lifting into the cloudless blue sky. The kids ran circles around the lawn. So innocent. So ignorant.
For a moment, she didn’t see their backyard lawn, but her old childhood home. Her own drunk and disorderly parents. A loud bangpopped.
Senses on alert, Bailey unclipped her firearm from her underarm holster and pulled out the gun. She released the safety and held her wrist mic to her lips. “You got eyes?”
A crackling came back, then Damien’s deep voice: “It was a balloon Bai, just a balloon.”
Heat flushed to her cheeks and she sheepishly holstered her weapon.
“False alarm. Got it.”
When she lifted her sight back to Richard, he watched her with an amused and yet equally leering expression. Somehow, even though he looked at Bailey’s head, she felt his attention on the swell of her breasts pushing against her stiff, white button-down shirt. The damn shirts never fit her properly. Her waist and height were too small for a larger size, yet her breasts were too big. She clenched her jaw.
“A few more hours,” he decreed. “I’ll pay double.”
Awful, awful man.
And Damien was most likely enjoying every moment of her squirming, knowing she had to hold her tongue, or lose their paycheck. He would also be across the grass in a flash if he thought there was any serious danger to Bailey. Thankfully, she spied the clown walking toward the edge of the lawn where his trunk supplies were. The children were dispersing.
“Looks like things are finishing up here, sir.”
The man blinked, then turned to the children rushing up the steps to find their parents. A pretty brunette girl in a pink and white fluffy dress came stampeding up. A painted green butterfly covered half her face. She held a balloon animal in her hand.
“Did you see, Daddy? Did you see me make the balloon?”
He swayed. “Yeah, doll. I can see the balloon.”
The jerk’s eyes were still on Bailey.
“No, daddy, I said did you see me make it. I did it first go. No one else did it first go, but me.”
Richard blinked again. “Why don’t you show your mother?”
The little girl screwed up her face and aimed her gaze at the glass in her father’s hand. Something clicked inside the little girl and her enthusiasm disappeared, replaced by a look of pure indifference. Her arm dropped, the balloon animal lowered and fluttered to the ground. It rolled down the steps on a hesitant breeze and skipped over the limestone toward the pool, on a path to clog the filter.
The girl continued up the steps. She didn’t even turn at the balcony platform to find her mother but entered the house through the enormous open glass doors.
Bailey recognized that look of defeat. She’d seen it in the mirror many times herself as a child. Alcohol made memories disappear. It made children disappear. And when you had a lot of money, you tended to spend a lot on booze. Anger burned the back of her neck, prickling her skin.
Richard leaned toward Bailey, brought another waft of his sour stench, and she snapped. “You know,sir, if you weren’t so concerned with seeing the bottom of your glass, or watching me, you may have enjoyed the brief time you’ll never receive again with your daughter.”
She checked the lawn. Most of the children had dissipated, along with the clown. “Looks like the event is over. Our contract is done,” she said. “I’m not sure what threat to your family we were protecting you from, sir, but I suggest next time you look closer to home before you call us again.”
Richard spluttered, but Bailey didn’t give him a chance to respond. She walked the last two steps down to the lawn and crossed to meet Damien. Also wearing mirrored Aviators, his head followed her as she came closer.
Dammit.
