Page 38 of One Love

Shaking my head in disbelief at his boldness, I sigh. I won’t deny that even though this could be a fruitless task, it could also not be.

Dmitry pulls some items out and moves to the front door as he installs one of the cameras just above it, his back to me once more. Stepping up beside him, I grab the handle of my dagger, still stuck in the door frame, and yank it out.

“What’s your deal, Dmitry?” I walk toward the kitchen counter in this open-plan space and perch against it, placing the tip ofmy knife on the surface and spinning it to see how long it stays upright.

“I love how you say my name. It’s sexy.” He finishes with the camera above the door and takes another out of his case, heading for the corner of the room.

“Deflection. How original.”

He laughs as he connects the camera to I don’t know what. I thought these kinds of setups would be a lot easier than he’s making it look.

“Wanna play a game?” His eyes connect with mine for a second and he grins before he continues to do his tech-geek thing.

“No.” I put my dagger away and pull out my butterfly knife to play with. I could go home, leave Dmitry to it, but I won’t.

“Come on, twenty questions. I’ll go first. What do you look for in a man?”

It’s my turn to laugh, quietly of course. “If we’re playing twenty questions, I’ll be asking them, okay?”

“Sure thing, Little Demon. That’s one, nineteen left to go.” He moves toward the stairs with another device and I follow, leaning back against the railing at the bottom and flipping my butterfly knife around.

“How did you get that scar on your face?” Might as well make use of my time in this shitty little house.

“Ooh, you don’t hold back, do ya?” He chuckles and looks right at me, his face turning serious, his pale eyes narrowing on mine. “Okay. I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to laugh.”

Now I’m really curious.

“Nope, can’t promise not to laugh at something. If my natural reaction is to laugh and I do it by mistake, then I’ll have broken my promise and I don’t do that.” I shrug. It’s bullshit, of course. Keeping my emotions in check comes almost as easy to me as breathing, but I’m still not making a promise I may not keep.

“Fair point.” He still looks completely serious, straight-faced as he begins to speak. “When I was at college, I did a little hacking into a small bank, nothing major, but I was caught by the police and knew I was going straight to jail. Thing is, I got let out on bail very briefly and I didn’t wanna go back and become someone’s bitch for having a pretty face. Because you’ve gotta admit, my face is pretty.” He winks, yet again, and I swear I’m going to poke a matchstick in his eye so he can’t do it again. “Anyway, Z was my roommate at the time, we got completely wasted and he offered to help me. Turns out, what was supposed to be a cut through the eyebrow to give me an edge ended up with a slip of the knife and ta-da!” He shrugs and heads back downstairs to grab some more things from the now near-empty cases.

“That’s kinda badass. Stupid as fuck, but did it work?” I follow him all the way upstairs and watch him install a camera at the end of the hall.

“Actually, yeah. That and the fact that I’m ripped and gave some very lucrative investing advice meant I was mostly left alone. Made some friends, got into some fights, established the hierarchy. I survived, so there’s that.” We go toward the one bedroom up here, the one with a rotted single mattress in the center of the room.

“How long were you there?” I continue to play with my butterfly knife, the movements calming.

“Couple of years. That’s four questions, sixteen to go.” He reaches up to the top of the wall with his latest camera and I can’t help peeking at the skin showing between his black T-shirt and jeans.

“Are you really counting down the number? What happens when it gets to zero?”

“Yup. When it gets to zero, you win a prize.” He wags his brows at me suggestively and I roll my eyes again. At this point, there’sno denying where my daughter gets her attitude from. “That was two more questions by the way, only fourteen left.”

I growl at him under my breath and he fans himself. “I love it when you get growly, Little Demon.”

“How would you get rid of a dead body?” It’s something each of my Reapers has given me the answer to, by doing rather than telling, but still, I’m curious.

“What happened to questions like, what’s your favorite color?”

“Dmitry, if you want a girl to ask those kinda questions, you’re in the wrong place.”

Slowly, he turns his head to look at me. “Oh, Little Demon, I’m never in the wrong place with you.”

“Really? That’s cheesy as fuck, Dmitry. Just no.” It’s going against everything I know about myself, but the way he is with me doesn’t make me want to run away. He’s growing on me. Like a weed, but still.

“Yes, really. And I’d probably buy a pig farm like Brick Top. A pig can chomp through bone like butter.” Finishing up with the final camera, he pulls out his cell and I’m assuming this is where all the video feeds are being streamed to.

“Who the fuck is Brick Top and why isn’t he my friend?” I smile, because he sounds like the kinda person I’d like to know.

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