Page 28 of Skewed

Chapter Fourteen

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That Vee had disappeared upstairs again made me nervous.

She knew people were after her, but what about the person who was after me? I was supposed to have been long gone from here by now, and out of the state—hell, even out of the country, if that was where my next job took me—but as time continued to trickle by, I knew my chance of my past catching up with me grew bigger.

The problem with killing people for a living was that you ended up with a lot of people wanting you dead.

I only had one option. I needed to convince Vee to untie me.

If she got too close, I could loop my strapped together wrists over the back of her head and try to strangle her with my forearms, but that would involve figuring out a way of getting her right into my personal space, and also getting her to put down the gun. If I tried anything while she still had hold of my weapon, she would kill me in an instant.

Unless I was worth more to her alive than dead. If I could convince her I could get her and her sister to safety, and that I had information on who was behind the couple of dead men currently decomposing in the corner, she might think twice before she killed me, and that could buy me an advantage.

Did I even still want her dead?

I had never wanted her dead. It was her father who wanted that, and I was simply being paid to make it happen. Only now, as I spent more and more time in her company, I couldn’t help but feel like I wanted to protect her rather than harm her. Could she really have done the awful thing I’d been told about?

Movement came from above, the creak of floorboards and thud of footsteps, and then she appeared in the open doorway of the cellar again. She was strikingly beautiful, and the sight of her made me catch my breath.

No, I didn’t want to kill her. But if I didn’t, I would have her father, Mickey Five Fingers, writing my death warrant as well. Not that I was holding too much hope of getting out of this alive right now.

“What happened?” I asked her.

“I got hold of my sister and told her to come home. I guess we’re packing our bags and getting the hell out of here.”

“What about the trial? If you don’t testify against your father, he’ll be out and he’ll come after you.”

“He’s come after me anyway,” she said, “and he’s behind bars now. Will it really make any difference if he’s locked up or not?”

“He won’t be able to continue with his work if he’s behind bars. You’ll have stopped that side of things.”

She stared at me with her dark eyes—eyes that could have belonged to that old famous movie star, Audrey Hepburn. “What do you care? You want to see me dead.”

“No, I don’t. Just because I was paid to make something happen doesn’t mean I want it to.”

She smirked. “So you’re a sellout.”

“That’s exactly what I am.”

We caught each other’s gaze again, the tension in the air between us almost vibrating. There was a connection there. I felt it, and I was sure she did, too. I could only assume she knew I was attracted to her, but did she feel the same way about me? This whole situation was too many shades of fucked up, but that didn’t mean the laws of attraction had suddenly ceased.

Vee let out a sigh and turned away, her hand clutching her mouth as she shook her head. “What the hell am I going to do with you? I could just leave you here to rot, you know. Someone would find you eventually. Probably.”

“Why don’t you let me help you?”

She stared at me again, and then laughed. “Help me? You’re supposed to kill me, remember?”

“I changed my mind. I’d rather help you. I know people who work in your father’s circles, remember. I could find out who’s on the other end of that phone, and take care of them for you. At least then you wouldn’t have to run. Not yet anyway.”

“Not yet?”

“Your father is going to learn you’re still alive, if he hasn’t already. The good thing about him is that it will take information longer to reach him because he’s behind bars. I can contact your father and tell him you’re dead and then kill whoever is behind the two dead guys for you. It would buy enough time for you to make your getaway, and if your father thinks you’re dead, you could still make a reappearance for his trial and testify against him.”

She nibbled on her mouth, her tongue flicking out over the plump flesh and her little white teeth pressing into her lower lip as she considered what I had said. I took the slightest sliver of hope in the fact she was thinking about it and hadn’t just cut me off.

Eventually, she spoke. “I can’t trust you.”

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