Page 52 of Hero & Villain
Jezebel patted his hand. “Oh, honey, don’t worry. There aren’t any scary cute girls around here who would lock you up with marriage and morals. Why don’t I get you a drink and a nice puppy that can fetch your slippers?”
That reminded me of her cocker mutt, Maples, who was dying. She needed care and safety, protection, but I wasn’t a hero. I’m the one who had manipulated everything so that she’d come after me as the soulless granddaughter of Haversham, but the reality, this woman who had been broken by every man she’d ever known, wasn’t someone that I could play games with, not like that.
“Are we going to fight tonight?” Trix asked, redirecting the conversation to business.
Nix nodded, shaking off his nerves. He was genuinely terrified of marriage and cuteness, putting them together as the ultimate death. “Yeah. Let’s get your fists wrapped. Tom, is everything set up?”
He’d been standing on the edge of our group, waiting for someone to notice him. “Sure thing, boss. Bulldog is champingat the bit. Ben’s got tech ready. You didn’t want a costume, did you?”
Nix started wrapping my fists. He was the best and the fastest because he’d been doing this the longest. “Naw, we’re good. It brings me great happiness to ruin one of his pink shirts.” He winked at me and then finished wrapping, and pushed me towards Tom.
The alley was already roped off, so the quiet, more private audience hopefully wouldn’t get a stray punch. Wealthy individuals were placing bets while I stretched my neck and slipped out of my shirt. Buttons could kill you.
Bulldog grinned at me behind his teeth guard. Right. I needed one of those if I didn’t want to be in a dentist’s chair all night.
I turned to Nix and instead found a grinning Trevor right in front of me.
Trevor had gone to Harvard, but I have no idea how he didn’t get expelled since he seemed to do nothing but drink and consume other chemical substances. Maybe he was going into pharmaceuticals, literally.
“Dirk! I told Roger that we’d be glad we'd come to Vegas. You know he’s not happy unless he’s jumping out of a plane without a chute. Are you still sober? You are.” He wrinkled his nose and then grinned at me. “I’ll drink twice as much to make up for it, and hey, after this fight, Rog can stitch you up without morphine. You know how he loves that, and if you’re morally against mind-bending substances…”
“We’ll talk later,” I said, putting my mouth guard in and ducking under the rope. Seeing Trevor made everything snap into sharp focus. He’d been engaged to my sister. He reminded me who the enemy was, Haversham, and who the victims were, everyone else, except Phillipe, who was the old man’s evil twin.
I took a deep breath before I turned and faced Bulldog in time to take his charge in my gut, knocking me down on the pavement.
For a second I couldn’t breathe. It reminded me of Daniela. Maybe I couldn’t breathe, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t fight. She fought every day to keep her head above water.
Fighting is one thing I couldn’t help doing. I would fight as long as there was life in me, but now I had someone to fight for.
Chapter Sixteen
VILLAIN
The next day I went to Dirk’s den during lunch break with some turtle burgers and an apology, but he wasn’t there.
One of his tech assistants stared at me like I was a mountain lion. Which made me nervous. Anyone who worked there had very good nerves.
After I got home, the weekend was long without paperwork to focus on for eight hours every day. Hollow. Like whatever happened with Dirk had left me with gaping holes the wind of feelings could blow through. Othello and I got along well enough, but by Sunday afternoon, I was waiting at the garage door when Jezebel came in wearing boots and a sequined bra.
“Did you need something?” she asked, sounding tired.
I opened my mouth then closed it while I realized how idiotic it was to ask her about where Dirk was, or what she’d been doing, like I was lonely or something ridiculous. I brightened and pulled my roll of cash out of my pocket. “I wanted to pay rent. And also ask where the best place is to get chocolate in Las Vegas.”
She looked at the money and then back up at me. “Keep it. You paid for the whole month with that inspirational stunt youpulled on Thursday. When Dagger’s fighting well, the team is happy. You didn’t have to put on that dress, though. It made you look like easy prey.”
“Like Minx?”
She gave me a sharp smile. “I suppose so. At least after you carried yourself so well, Trix is on board with you joining our Girl’s Night next Friday. It’ll be after the second-biggest race of the season. Every year the season feels longer. I need to hunt down a younger stallion, but breaking in a new stud is so much effort. I’m not talking about men. I don’t do double entendrés unless it’s in public. Public is also exhausting.” She yawned widely and headed for her room, leaving me no clue where the best chocolate was, but plenty of money to spend on it.
On Monday morning, I pulled through the gates, eager to get back to work. On my lunch break, I went for a little walk and happened to end up in Dirk’s tech lab. When he saw me, he put down his small tools and stood up. He had a sling on his left arm and his nose taped in two places.
“What happened to you?” I demanded suddenly furious. How dare he get hurt? He’d better have gone to a hospital.
He grinned slowly, flashing that dimple at me. “I didn’t realize that you were the only one allowed to break my nose and dump me in the desert. Did you need something, Pinkie, or did you just miss me?”
I couldn’t tell him that I’d missed him, of course not, except that I should tell him, but only if I didn’t miss him. My brain was giving me a headache. “Chocolate. Where is the best place to get chocolate in Las Vegas? Thanks to your brilliant fighting, I have a lot of money to spend on it.” See? Flattery was seduction?
“What kind of chocolate is your favorite?” His soft eyes were melted milk chocolate when they weren’t pure mischief.
