Page 48 of Needing to Fall
The corner of his lip tipped up. “Dinner, it is.”
I had never traveled much out of my surrounding area, so when Lynx pulled up to a tan, brick building with windows on every side of it and lights flashing, I was excited. Yes, I was excited about going to dinner. Something so mundane that most people do regularly and didn’t think twice about. For me, on the other hand, it was new, an adventure.
There I was, a twenty-one-year-old woman, and going out to dinner was exciting. I didn’t let the thought seep in, though, because I was letting in the good, instead. I didn’t want to ruin the moment. I couldn’t.
The sign flashed Sully’s,and underneath it was a billboard listing some Italian dishes. Since I didn’t cook much, I only had spaghetti when Andi made it and brought it over or when I worked late at the diner and grabbed something to eat in the back before heading home. It dawned on me how closed off my life was, something I was going to change.
Lynx parked the truck and came over to my door, helping me out of his monstrosity.
“You know, if you downgraded just a bit, I could actually get in and out of your truck without so much effort,” I teased, not shying away from him. No, I liked it. I also liked the glint in his eye from amusement directed at me.
He leaned in close, and I didn’t move. “Babe, then I wouldn’t be able to help you in and out of it,” he flirted back.
Holy crap. I wasn’t overcome with panic or the need to get away from him. No, I was … comfortable, something I had never truly been.
“I love it when you smile,” Lynx said, reaching for my hand then lifting it to his mouth and giving it a soft kiss. My belly fluttered as the fire in his eyes burned brightly. “Come on; let’s get you fed.”
The inside of the restaurant was quaint. It almost looked like the diner I used to work in, and that made me relax even more. Lynx sat across from me in the booth, the waitress came, and we ordered.
There was something niggling me in the back of my head, so I had to ask Lynx, “What do you do for a living?”
“A little bit of everything.” His vagueness wasn’t going to happen. I lifted my brow for him to continue. “I told you I’m good at finding information. People come to me to find what they want to know, and I get it for them.” He shrugged.
“So, like a PI or something?”
He chuckled. “No, babe. More like an independent contractor.” He held out his hand across the table, and I didn’t hesitate to put mine in his. “Sometimes, I do good things, sometimes, not so good.” His hands tightened around mine. “Many people know my skills and pay top dollar to get them. I’m no saint, babe. But I’m not involved after I give my clients what they need. I don’t touch whatever it is they do with the information.”
“So if a pimp is looking for his cash, you go and find it?” I really only had my experiences to relate to, so I was going with it.
This time, I got a full-out laugh. It was a beautiful sight to see so close and an even better feeling that I had made him do it, despite not knowing what the hell he was laughing at.
“No, babe. You need to think higher: government officials, CEOs of fortune five hundred companies, real estate moguls, investors. They pay a lot for me to do what I do. I don’t deal with common thugs.”
Wow. He must really be good at what he does to get that high up on the financial food chain, which meant Lynx had money. Hopefully, he didn’t think—
“No, I don’t think you’re after my money,” he stated bluntly.
“How do you do that?” I said in a huff as he squeezed my hand again.
“It’s written all over your face. You tell me so much just by a look.”
I did?
“Yep, you do,” he answered with a grin.
“You should have become one of those psychiatrists they made us talk to.”
His lip curled in disgust. “Fuck no. I’ve got enough of my own shit.”
“You could have used your talents for good and not evil,” I joked. Damn, it felt so nice to do that: to let that part of me go and not close it up so tightly it suffocated, to really feel alive.
“I do both, babe. It’s the way of the world.”
I knew he spoke the truth. I had seen enough evil to know there were so many different types of it: different levels, different degrees.
When I got home, Andi was already asleep, and for the first time, I smiled while falling asleep myself.
I woke to the shower running. I couldn’t believe I had slept the whole night through without waking up even once. In the hospital and even here, I couldn’t get through the entire night. By some miracle that night, I had. I didn’t know if I had Lynx to thank for that or the overwhelming feeling that there was some good out there.
