Page 18 of Cruel Debts
“When is this supposed to happen?” Hawke asked finally, shoving off the wall.
“Tonight. I told Minnie one of you would be over to pick the girl up before she opened tonight.”
That was in two hours. “You expect us to normie-proof our whole apartment in less than an hour, and then drive across town to the club, pick this girl up, and come back here with no time to prep?”
“Only one of you needs to go pick her up. And for the love of god, don’t scare the poor thing.”
I made a mental note to do exactly that. Might save us some time in the long run, educating her on why exactly she should listen to us and stay in the fucking dorm.
There were worse than us in this place. Crazier, too. She might not fare so well if she ran into the wrong ones. If we scared her early on, maybe she’d listen from the start.
Or maybe that was wishful thinking on my part.
Liam’s scowl looked like it was ready to consume him. “What the fuck happens if we refuse?”
“You can’t,” Lilly said pointedly. “You work forme,Sentry, not the other way around. And when I say you’re taking a job, you’re supposed to thank me and do as you’re told.”
I didn’t like it, but she was right. And that meant there was no point in dragging this out any longer.
“I’ll stay and help Hawke tidy up the spare room. You go down to the club and pick up the girl.”
Liam snorted. “Absolutely not. Let Hawke go pick her up. He hates cleaning anyhow.”
Hawke shrugged. “If it means I can get out of here, I guess I’m down.” He stuck his hand in my pocket and lifted the keys from me, winking as I just growled in irritation.
When he’d left the room, I turned back to St. Clair, who looked ready to dismiss us. “What do we know about the girl aside from what you’ve told us?”
“Not much, actually. Minnie says she’s too old to be a runaway, but still pretty young. And she works for her at the club, obviously. Something about still working her nights, with an escort from one of you, obviously.”
So not only would we be babysitting, we’d be frequenting the club several nights a week, maybe more. “She a dancer?”
“Painter, from what I hear.”
Painter.
What was it Minnie had said about her missing girl a few weeks ago?
“She took a private gig, and won’t be back for awhile.”
Maybe this was the girl I’d been looking for. The body painter who’d managed to sink her claws into me, the girl I couldn’t get out of my mind.
I raced out the door with a muttered apology to Liam on the way out. There was no way I was letting Hawke cash in on this opportunity without me.
If she were the girl I’d been looking for this whole time, I wanted to be there to see her with my own two eyes.
I might not understand the urge, but I understood to ignore it would be painful and pointless.
Liam would have to clear out the guest room on his own this time.
As it turned out,Liam caught up to me in the parking garage, just as I made it to the car and stopped Hawke from peeling out alone.
“Oh, hell no. You’re not sticking me with the cleaning job alone, asshole.” He threw a punch in my direction, but I dodged him easily, my scowl returning with a vengeance.
“Someone has to do it,” I pointed out. “Why not you?”
Hawke chuckled at our argument as he started the car, revving the engine in the background. “Are you two lovebirds done arguing about whose turn it is to do the chores? We have somewhere to be.”
Liam rolled his eyes so hard I was afraid they might stick in the back of his head. “Says the asshole who never cleans a thing in our dorm.”
