Page 20 of Mob Knight

“You can pretend like hearing her name doesn’t bother you, but I saw you together the other day. I saw you chatting on the sidewalk, and I know she’s the one who pushed you out of the way, so you wouldn’t look like a piece of moldy Swiss cheese today.”

“I thanked her for making sure there wasn’t a shootout here on the streets while kids were out playing and coming home from school.”

“Yeah, I heard she tackled you and knocked you down the stairs. I thought you were more solid than that. Maybe you’re getting flabby in your old age.”

This fucknut is older than me, but it’s obvious there’s nothing flabby about either of us. I cock an eyebrow and roll my eyes.

“What’s it matter to you whether I spoke to her?”

Pablo assesses me for way too long, and I’m uncertain if his mind is as blank as it usually is, and he’s trying to unnerve me, or if he’s really thinking about how to answer that question.

“She’s not who you think she is, Cormac. I’d stay away.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Consider that a neighborly tip.”

“There’s nothing neighborly about you. What’s it matter to you whether I know Jocelyn?”

I’ve asked twice. I won’t ask a third.

“It doesn’t matter to me, but it will matter to you. I’m telling you it’s a mistake to have her anywhere near you.”

“If I didn’t know better, Pablo, I’d think you sound possessive.”

He laughs at that, but the man hasn’t given an actual laugh in at least twenty years, so it sounds rusty at best. It’s more like a cackle.

“I’m just giving you a warning. Don’t come to me later and make me tell you I told you so.”

“You’ve got to give me a better reason than that. But it’s not like I’m going to see her again soon.”

He juts his chin to the left, and I look over my shoulder. Sure as shittin’. Joey’s walking out of an apartment building. It’s the nicest one on the block, far nicer than the one she left just before we met.

Her shock isn’t a surprise, but her dismay hurts. I watch as her head turns each direction, and her gaze sweeps the street. She pauses as she spots Pablo’s SUV and his men standing nearthe vehicle. She turns her attention back to Pablo and me, and it’s as though I can hear her thoughts from here. She looks like a rabbit ready to flee, trying to decide which is the fastest way to get back into her warren. She opts for spinning on her heels and rushing into the building she came out of.

“Doesn’t look like she’s so pleased to see you,amigo.”

Pablo’s voice is nothing short of a sneer. I resist the urge to slap it off him.

“She didn’t mind talking to me the other day. Maybe she doesn’t mind seeing me, and it’s your ugly arse she’s avoiding.”

“I don’t know. The last time I spoke to her, she didn’t seem to think I was so ugly. At least not the way her eyes kept skimming over me.”

He’s trying to goad me, and it’s working.

Thank God for my stoicism.

“When was that? Six years ago? Wasn’t that the last time you spoke to her?”

“Hardly. It was yesterday.”

That’s a gut punch, and he knows it. I look back across the street and shrug.

“Well, then she’s all yours.”

No, she’s not!

My brain screams to me, but I want to see Pablo’s reaction. The smug bastard grins again. I’ve never wanted to punch him so much. But if Joey’s lied to me or changed her mind about Pablo, then I’m barking up the wrong tree. I’m not interested in pursuing somebody—period—let alone someone who’s not interested in me.

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