Page 16 of Sinner's Secret

“Baz...”

“Money doesn’t motivate me.”

What does then?

“You act like an undercover cop trying to steer a civilian out of harm’s way,” she said, thinking out loud. “Or a veteran who hasn’t got his head quite back into civilian life.”

“I’m no kind of cop.”

“So, where did you serve?” Would he tell her, or would he avoid the question?

“The sandbox.”

His honesty kept surprising her. “Did you lose some people?”

“Yeah. Too many, and I don’t want to lose any more.” He glared at her as if daring her to argue with him.

“You consider me one of your people?”

“You’re a friend of Joe’s and your dad was a friend of Joe’s, so yeah.”

She studied his hard features and rigid posture. Why did he care about what happened to her so much? Or was it the nature of the crime that made him so angry? It was almost as if he felt personally insulted by the idea of human trafficking.

Nika sighed. “Okay, I’ll tell my team we need to meet at the station after my shift at the diner to re-evaluate the operation.”

Baz nodded, resettled himself in his seat, and got the cab moving again.

A minute later he pulled into a parking spot in front of the diner.

She opened the passenger door and put one foot on the pavement before turning back to look at him. “You’re really going to stay here until I’m done work?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” she asked genuinely confused.

He stared at the front of the diner. “Like I said before, no one gets to come into my neighborhood and go shopping for people like they’re steaks in a butcher shop.”

The fact that he wouldn’t look at her told her he was lying, or at least, not telling her the whole truth.

Could he have seen the results of human trafficking while he was in the military? That was entirely possible.

“You’re a terrible liar, but thanks.”

He nodded. “Close the door, you’re letting all the pollution in.”

She choked. “I don’t know, the pollution might be an improvement.” Nika got out and went into the diner. The place was half-full, and it wasn’t even dinner time yet.

She put her stuff in her cubby hole in the back room, then went to work.

Chapter Four

It was almost sunset. Baz could see the change in the ambient light despite the heavy cloud cover. Vampires wouldn’t burst into flames in sunlight, but the changes in their body chemistry and immune system did make them allergic to it.

Hives were the result of direct sunlight hitting their skin. Even his eyes itched. Uncomfortable, but not serious. Conspicuous. It made them stand out, a bad thing when you were trying to pass as normal.

Normal wasn’t sitting outside the diner for eight hours straight either. It was fucking abnormal. All he had to do was his usual routine, which was work as little as possible, spend time at Joe’s and time here. As long as Nika didn’t leave the diner, she should be fine.

He’d focused on her in a way he hadn’t done with anyone since his wife and son died, and that was disturbing. He’d tried to prevent the obsessive, possessive, and paranoid parts of human nature to come out in himself.

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