Page 43 of Hero & Villain
I stared at him while my stomach churned. “Right. Groupie. That’s what I am.”
I was definitely going to stab him. I’d just throat jab him with my two fingers, then gouge out his eyeballs when he was on the floor.
He was saved by the clerk, who rang up his beer, and then it was me and my chocolate.
That’s what girls with pink hair did. Wait at the back door for a shot to go to the party on the winner’s arm. I could drug all the other groupies to increase my odds of being selected, but I wasn’t really a wait and see if someone picked me kind of person. I’d just kidnap him.
I shook my head. Seduction was the opposite of kidnapping. Groupies didn’t get Dirk Dagger’s attention, anyway. He didn’t date publicly. I knew that. That’s why I was working with the team, so I could subtly seduce him in the romantic work atmosphere.
I sighed deeply and handed the clerk my candy bars. I had no idea how to seduce someone whose fetishes were clearly less conventional than whips and chains. We could talk tech. Maybe I could seduce him with my brilliant inventions, like the ninja trainer, or my can clippers. I’m sure he’d be very impressed.
That was out then. My best bet was to break into his warehouse and find something valuable. I should scrap this entire seduction plot when his soft kiss was still wrecking me.
I drove back to the compound, stopping at the gate.
“Good evening. Did you forget something?” the guy at the gate asked. What was his name, Ron?
“I was looking for Jezebel.”
He shook his head, eyes going a little big. “No, Jez left a few hours ago. Trix is the only team member who isn’t already prepping for the fight. She’s working on something in her shop.”
I gave Ron a big smile. “Perfect. Trix is the person I really want to see.”
He frowned at me. “Why?”
Why would I be here? It would be so much less psychologically troubling to break in at night, but I didn’t want to get on Jezebel’s bad side. Or Nix, actually. I liked working as his secretary. He let me take over his office as if I were in charge.
I gave him my sweetest smile. He flinched, so it probably wasn’t actually sweet at all. “I want to bet my entire paycheck on Dirk, but first I need to know the odds that he’ll win. I need a psychological breakdown from someone who’s inside his head.”
Ron stared at me, like he could see right through me. He knew I was lying, that I’d come here to break into Dirk’s warehouse and steal tech.
The chain-link gates slid open, and he nodded me through.
“Good luck” was all he said.
I waved and hit the gas before he could change his mind. Or I could change mine. What was I even doing?
I parked around the side of the warehouse between the garage and Dirk’s lair. I walked over to the side door and picked the lock easily enough and slipped inside. If anyone saw me here, I’d say I’d decided to ask Dirk if he felt like a winner. That would be normal.
The trouble with Dirk’s lair was the absolute chaos. I had a small flashlight in my kit, but the labeling was more confusing than helpful. Mini Star Destroyer? Then why did it look like a land walker? And when I touched it, it started beeping like the robot thing. It was an abomination of bad labeling. Toni, who had spent a few years fixated on Star Wars, would have burned the place down. I wished I had a phone so I could take a picture and send it to her, to capture that diabolically twisted project.
I poked it a few more times and got more beeps and bloops. Maybe I’d steal that and send it to Toni. No one would notice it missing from the shelf of other bits of weirdness.
I picked it up and then heard a low growl that made the hair on the back of my neck stand upright.
I dropped the abomination and whirled around, pulling out a bar of chocolate to face the mountain lion of chaos. I shined my light, and when the light reflected creepily, it yowled and sprang at me.
I dropped my chocolate bar and ran, but not before the monster clawed my calf. Looking behind me as I sprinted, hoping I wasn’t leaving a trail of blood from my throbbing leg, I saw Marcus Licinius Crassus crouched over my chocolate bar, devouring it while he gave me the creepiest smirk.
I lunged out of Dirk’s lair, closing the door and then locking it behind me while my heart raced and my fingers tingled. I started laughing from the rush of adrenaline and the fact that I’d gotten absolutely nothing other than a claw swipe, but this was my first foray into Dirk’s den. It would take some time to conquer its contents. That was fine. I had time. I’d break in once a week or twice a week, look around, get clawed, and get out. It was good to start slow since the chaos was so great.
Which meant that I’d actually have to talk to Trixie, or Ron would probably mention it, and people would say, ‘What were you actually doing at the compound after hours?’
I limped over to the garage and found the Dragon under a car, coveralls over legs, which were the only things I could see of her.
I cleared my throat. “Trixie? Maybe I’m supposed to call you Dragon? I hate to bother you, but…” This was idiotic. Why would anyone bet their entire paycheck on one fight? I wouldn’t be able to buy chocolate. Or pay rent. Or get gas.
She rolled out from under the truck and sat up, wiping her hands on a rag. She was so at home covered in grease in a pair of coveralls. Also effortlessly beautiful, with all those curls coming out of her braid to frame her high cheekbones. The way she looked directly into your eyes was disconcerting, like she had absolutely no shame, and didn’t expect you to either.
