"f.u.c.king am I?"

I tried to scowl, but she grinned at me.

"You can earn that money, too," I said. "As soon as you're up for it. You don't even have to have any other clients."

She gave me a strange look, like she wondered what the h.e.l.l I was suggesting. I wondered myself until I heard it come out of my mouth.

"Just stay here," I said.

So much for keeping it only about the s.e.x.

Immediately, the atmosphere between us changed, electrified, and heated the air. Bridgett's tongue darted over her cut lip as she processed what I had said.

"You want me to...what?" she asked. "Stay here and be your personal wh.o.r.e?"

I paused, thought about it, and decided that yes that was exactly what I was suggesting. It made sense, in a way. She was here often enough before, and she wouldn't have to worry about bills and food just f.u.c.king me. That way, it was still just about the s.e.x.

More than anything, I'd sleep better if she was here every night, and I couldn't help but see that as a positive thing.

I looked in her eyes.

"Stay here," I said again. "No bills, no pimp, no worries."

"You're asking me to move in with you."

I hadn't quite thought of it like that.

"I'm saying, instead of me picking you up on some other street corner, you just stay here, and I can f.u.c.k you whenever."

"You can't be serious."

I watched her look at me and saw the last thing I wanted to see the desperate need for it to be true. She wanted it. She wanted to stay here to live with me not because it was convenient, but just because she wanted to.

"It doesn't change anything," I told her. "This is still what it is."

"You don't even try for anything else," she said quietly.

She was right, of course. I didn't.

I wouldn't, and I won't ever.

My fingers moved a strand of her hair away from the bruise around her eye.

"I don't have anything else to give you, Bridgett," I told her. "This is all there is."

There was just no way to make it something it wasn't.

Chapter 11 Painful Betrayal.

"You better git yer a.s.s over there," Jonathan informed me. "I didn't get the deets, but Mario was on edge and Rinaldo wasn't sayin' a d.a.m.n thing. I read through his email but didn't see nothin' there."

"You hacked the boss's email?" I rolled my eyes at the phone as I slid into the back seat of the bus. "Are you crazy?"

"What? It ain't hard the pa.s.sword's always Luisa' with a number after her name. He just increments it every month."

"Why does he do that?"

"I told him it was safer to change it every month instead of leavin' it the same."

Another eye roll before I hung up the phone. I could have sworn he did that kind of s.h.i.t just to prove he could get away with it. I remembered that I hadn't given him the Save Ferris T-shirt yet and made a mental note to toss it in my car when I got home.

It was the first really hot day of spring, and the jacket I wore to conceal my Beretta was too warm for the afternoon sun. I rolled the sleeves up, but I was still sweaty and uncomfortable. I wished I had driven myself for once, but I jumped off the bus and walked the three blocks to Moretti's office.

Mario was there and Terry was just leaving. Rinaldo was standing behind his desk, waiting for me. He motioned for me to come in the office, and Mario stood just to one side of Rinaldo's desk chair. He gave me a nod, which I returned as I stood at-ease in front of them both.

Moretti didn't waste any time.

"You want to tell me why you decided to take out a pimp on my payroll?" Rinaldo asked simply.

"No, sir," I replied. I wasn't surprised by the question I kind of a.s.sumed it was why Jonathan had told me to high-tail it over here. The only real surprise was that it had taken a week for him to call me out on it. I'd made two other kills for him during that time and had been glad to get back to sniping.

"You know his whole stable is all over the place now a bunch of trained birds scattered to the winds and looking for a cage to nest in. It's not my favorite line of business, but now some of his property property I had a vested interest in is lost."

I looked up at him carefully but couldn't see any actual anger in his face or posture. He wasn't thrilled, but he wasn't all that p.i.s.sed off, either. I hadn't expected him to be, but I had still prepared myself for the conversation.

"My apologies," I replied. "You want me to pay for it?"

Rinaldo laughed, and the tension in the atmosphere died down.

"No," he said, "I had another task in mind. Something more along the lines you're most comfortable with achieving. I've received some troubling information that a woman has been giving information about my business to Greco's men. No one seems sure exactly who she is, and I'll need you to find that out and take care it doesn't happen again."

"Yes, sir," I replied.

Rinaldo handed me the picture, and I tried not to show any reaction in my face as my mind starting jumping around and doing flips in the air.

"You sure this is the target?" I asked. I tapped the edge of the picture with my forefinger. "This girl?"

"You think my sources are unreliable?"

"No, sir," I replied. "I'm just...not sure what they'd want with her."

Rinaldo stared at me through narrowed eyes.

"Evan, do you have something to tell me? You know this b.i.t.c.h?"

I was going to have to play this very carefully.

I kept my expression completely lifeless, shrugged one shoulder one time, and then looked to Rinaldo's face as I tossed Bridgett's picture back onto the desk.

"I've been f.u.c.king her," I said simply. "So finding her isn't an issue."

Rinaldo's eyes narrowed and his eyebrows tried to meet each other in the middle of his head.

"Explain," he said quietly.

"She's a hooker."

"A hooker?" he repeated.

"Yes, sir."

His face darkened, and his jaw tightened. He took a step over to his desk chair and sat down heavily.

"She belonged to that pimp you killed, hmm?"

"Yes, sir."

Rinaldo leaned forward over the desk and pulled at his cuffs to straighten them.

"You better tell me everything," he said quietly.

I didn't like the tone of his voice, not in the slightest. It sounded way too much like the tone he used right before he exiled me to Arizona, and I did not want that happening again. The very thought of him being p.i.s.sed off disappointed in me made my skin crawl.

"There isn't much to tell you, sir," I informed him. "I'm one of her regular clients. I pick her up on the street; she comes to my apartment. I f.u.c.k her, and she leaves. That's it."

"Until something happens and you kill her pimp."

"He crossed a line," I replied steadily.

"Beat her up, huh?"

I nodded my head once.

"Is this the same girl I hear you took out on the town?"

f.u.c.k.

"Yes, sir," I admitted.

"Sounds like she's more than just a hooker you f.u.c.k."

"No, sir," I replied. "That is all she is."

He eyed me meaningfully for a moment, and I couldn't help but see it for what it was fatherly concern for me. I liked that he did that, even if it was annoying at the same time. I had the feeling it was the way fathers were supposed to behave, and it made me feel strangely warm inside. I'd seen him do the same thing with his daughter on occasion.

And with Nick, for that matter.

"We'll see," he finally said. "Regardless, there's been talk that this girl is feeding information to one of Greco's boys about heroin shipments coming in from up north and about the Russian connection who came up dead the other day. Information you are privy to hearing."

My eyes met his, and I knew immediately what he was thinking.

"No," I said definitively. "No, sir. I do not discuss business while I'm f.u.c.king wh.o.r.es. Absolutely not."

Our eyes remained locked together as he seemed to be deciding something most likely my fate. His chest rose as he took in a sharp breath and then huffed it out through his nose.

"All right, Arden," he said.

I hated that he was back to calling me by my last name. I glanced towards the door to make sure my face didn't show how I felt about it.

"You find out what's going on here," Rinaldo said, and he tapped his finger against the surface of his desk. "If what I've been told is correct..."

His voice trailed off, and I leveled my gaze at him.

"I will take care of it," I said.

I tried to keep my voice completely steady completely normal. I didn't though. The very last syllable dropped as my throat went dry. It was enough for him to notice.

"Getting close to a girl," Rinaldo said, "can be a good thing. If you were someone else someone less complicated the worst that can happen is you don't work out. You're a complicated man, Arden, and you are in a complicated position. b.i.t.c.hes make it even more complicated."

"I'm aware, sir."

"You're aware," he mocked. "Will that change anything when someone finds out you give a s.h.i.t? What better to hold over your head than a warm c.u.n.t, huh? You take better care not to show your affection for her. You've done a s.h.i.t job on that front with that pup of yours."

His dark eyes darkened further as we stared at each other.

"You know Greco will use what he can to get at me," Rinaldo reminded me. "You are a good way to get at me. One of the reasons that makes you ideally suited for your job is because you have no attachments that could be used against you to get to me. You were always careful not to show your affection for the dog in public. You aren't as careful anymore."

"I'll remember that," I said to him, "but that still won't happen."

At least my voice stayed steady this time because if I thought about it deep inside, I wouldn't give Odin up. Not a f.u.c.king chance. I'd blow them all away first.

"You like this girl," he said.

"She's a wh.o.r.e," I replied.

"And my wife used to dance on a pole in one of my clubs," he retorted. "Married twenty-five years now with Luisa in our lives. You think that doesn't concern me sometimes?"

"I know it does, sir."

He paused significantly, and I didn't move.