Page 19 of The Thief

“Great!”

An awkward silence fell between us while I waited for him to order.

Maybe he means something else. Swell. Another weirdo who thinks this is a brothel.

“Listen, I work here as a server. Nothing more. I’m not sure if there’s a rumor going around town that I provide anything more than beverages and a smile, but that’s all you’ll get from me. So if that’s what you’re implying…”

He studied me closely before grinning, a throaty chuckle rumbling in his chest. “Your sense of humor has not changed.” The man set his business card on the counter. “Call me. I will not leave until I have what I want, Mercy Breedlove.”

A swell of terror came over me as I watched the stranger exit the bar.

He knows me.

What should have filled me with relief turned to dread, especially from the way he’d spoken to me.

I turned the card over. All it said was Argento with a phone number beneath it.

Bear appeared in front of me. “Do you know that guy?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

The card tumbled out of my hand and onto the floor. When I bent over to pick it up, I realized I was trembling.

Mercy, get it together.

After straightening up, I tucked the card in my apron. “Did I bring you your drink? I forgot it, didn’t I?”

He glanced over his shoulder at the glass of beer on his table, then turned to look at me, eyebrows slanting down. “You and I need to talk when you get off work. We’ll be here for a while,” he said, eyeing the door again.

Bear behaved like a security guard checking out the threat level. Showing me his handsome profile, he rested his arm on the bar and scanned the room.

Calvin entered the scene. After grabbing a whiskey bottle, he poured himself a glass. “Buy a jukebox, she says. No big deal.” He sipped the drink and sighed. “Now I’m out two grand with nothing to show but a pile of junk.”

Moments after Montana kicked the jukebox and walked away, it suddenly fired up like a record in slow-motion. When it got up to speed, “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard rocked the room.

Chapter 5

Calvin’s new jukebox was a sensation. The nostalgic tunes livened up the crowd and brightened everyone’s mood, including my own, which had been in a tizzy ever since Mystery Man had left me his card. Montana, Bear, Virgil, and Archer hung around until my shift ended, and not because they were keeping an eye on me. Well, Bear might have been. I caught him checking in on me at every turn.

The Rabbit Lounge had a lot of potential as a hangout for my pack. At Dragonfly’s, there were so many rooms to see and things to do that our group had split up. We were still getting to know one another, so bonding was important. My packmates were sharing stories, playing games, and laughing. There was so much laughter coming from their table that I almost wished I wasn’t working. Virgil even danced like nobody was watching, and nobody was. Since I wasn’t certain how much Sensor magic was in Calvin’s Wild Rabbit, I only served Virgil one glass, but by the looks of him, I had a feeling Calvin had slipped him another.

Once we got home, I volunteered to assist a very drunken Virgil upstairs.

“All right, Mr. Space Cadet. Time for beddy-bye.” I ushered him toward our bedroom hall.

Yes, we shared a hall. When I chose my room, I naively thought distancing myself from the couples would give me peace and quiet, but I never considered what living across from Virgil Nightingale would be like. He sang to himself, but I didn’t mind that as much as his affinity for walking around in his underwear. One time, he emerged from the bathroom with nothing on but a towel wrapped around his head.

When we finally reached his bedroom door, I let go of him.

Virgil, who stood a foot taller, hunched over while leaning against me. “Are we there yet?”

“What is that thing doing there?” I asked, staring at my door, which was across from his. “I didn’t put it there.”

Virgil leaned against his doorjamb, and his gaze fastened on the metal horseshoe. Then he blinked at me as if I’d said something shocking. “What’s your catastrophe?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m just wondering why there’s a dirty old horseshoe stuck to the wall.”

He cradled my head. “For luck.”

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