Page 22 of Synnr's Ride

By the time she got back behind the bar, customers were lined up and Zilly was filling drinks as fast as she could. Hanna joined her and they had the line under control quickly.

"Nice work with those guys," Zilly said.

"Did you know they were handsy?" Hanna handed a pair of drinks to two waiting customers.

"One of them might have made a move the last time I walked by." Her eyes widened with worry. "Don't tell Morn, okay? If he intervened every time a guy got a bit grabby, we'd lose half our customers."

"You shouldn't have to put up with that." Hanna wondered if this was Zilly's naivety or something else.

The girl rolled her eyes. "No shit. But this bar has a reputation. If you're going to work here..." She let it trail off, and Hanna had to draw her own conclusions.

"Can I get another one please?" Jori asked. He finally made it to the front of the line. "How are you doing?"

Zilly stepped toward him, but Hanna cut her off. "I'm okay if this one gets a bit gropey." She leaned across the bar and kissed him on the cheek.

It's just for work, she reminded herself, even as his scent washed over her.

She heard Zilly's laugh distantly as she pulled away and poured a drink for Jori, whiskey for color, but mostly water.

"You should come sit with me and my guys," a man was saying to Zilly as she took his order.

"We're a bit busy here, sweetheart." She tried to take a step back, but he reached out and clamped a hand on her arm.

"Come on, we'll show you a good time."

Zilly struggled.

Before Hanna could step in, Jori tapped the man on the shoulder. And when the man glanced back at him, Jori leveled him with a punch.

The hush that fell over the bar was almost supernatural. Hanna didn't dare look over at Kark, but she hoped he was watching this.

Jori punched him again, this time in the stomach, and the man went down. Jori kicked him the rest of the way over.

"Are you okay?" he asked Zilly, speaking loud enough to project across the bar.

Zilly nodded, rubbing her fingers over her wrist.

Hanna heard a commotion and finally looked toward Kark. He was making his way towards them.

Once there, he clamped a hand on Jori's shoulder and grinned at Zilly. "Get this man a drink, girl! And someone get this piece ofbrazout of here!"

Hanna didn't smile at Jori, but it was a close thing.

They were in.

8

Jori had been trainedto withstand torture. He knew the techniques. He could disassociate and offer no actionable information.

But if he was stuck here for much longer, he might break.

Or Hanna might realize just how much she affected him.

The bar was empty of everyone except for Kark's crew. It wasn't technically closed yet, but word seemed to have gone out that business was done for the night.

And Jori was sitting at his table with Hanna on his lap, her arm around his shoulders, and her upper body flush against his.

They needed to do this for the job. Kark was happy with him for that act of chivalry with Zilly, and Hanna got to tag along as his woman. Even better, Hanna had warmed Zilly up so much that they kept trading banter.

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