Page 21 of Cruel Debts
Port Wylde had been dealing with some pretty big issues lately, and we’d actually gotten a contract from someone within the office of the mayor, of all people, to deal with it directly. The police’s hands were tied, Port Wylde being what it was, but people were disappearing. Women, specifically. And it was putting a dent in the morale of the whole city. Tourism was taking a hit. Nobody wanted to visit a city where women were snatched off the streets and never seen again.
I flipped the invitation open and hissed.
These fuckers were holding human auctions right under our noses.
“What is it?” Liam asked, and I wordlessly passed the invite to him, my blood boiling.
The fuckers were operating onourturf. They were selling humans at auctions on our doorstep, for fuck’s sake.
That was about to end.
“Who the fuck do these pieces of shit think they are?” He chucked the invite across the room to Hawke, shaking his head as he gnashed his teeth together. “The audacity.”
“I want them taken care of just as much as your boss does,” Minnie muttered, her own face reflecting our irritation. “Make it happen.”
“Oh, don’t you worry bout that. We’ll take care of these sleazebags.” I tucked the invite in my jacket and stood slowly, reaching for her bag at the same time as she did. We bumpedforeheads, and I didn’t miss the little swear she let out at the pain as she reared back, rubbing her temple.
I took the bag and slung it over my shoulder in victory. “Let’s get going. The longer we’re here, the longer you’re exposed.”
She nodded slowly, her frown deepening. “Minnie?—”
Minnie leaned forward and hugged her briefly, a soft smile on her lips. “I’ll see you in a few days, girlie. Don’t be late for your first shift, okay?”
The girl smiled softly and nodded, her eyes unfocused and staring. “I won’t be.”
Hawke peeled out of the room first, his mask still firmly in place as he stormed straight through the main entrance, understanding his job as the designated attention catcher. Liam and I escorted the girl out the back door, using the distraction as a chance to escape entirely unnoticed. When we got to the car, I slipped her bag onto the floor in the backseat, indicating she should follow it in.
I didn’t expect her to stand there and stare at me like I’d grown a set of horns or something.
Without a word, she marched to the front door and yanked it open, taking the passenger seat as Hawke rounded the corner into the alley. He looked furious, but he had the keys, so I just shrugged and took the seat I’d intended for the girl, wondering how it’d play out when Liam?—
“Oh, hell no. I don’t ride bitch. Get in the back, pipsqueak.”
Hawke slid in the driver’s seat and grinned, settling in for a temper tantrum the likes of which we probably hadn’t seen in a long time from Liam. But we didn’t anticipate that Liam had met his match in the feisty little ball of energy packed into a barely five-foot frame.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see your name on this seat.”
Her voice was low, but there was a hidden layer of distaste and irritation in it that overrode what common sense shemight’ve possessed. She stared Liam down like she could see through those stupid goggles he’d put on when we walked into the building.
Maybe she could.
“Listen, I don’t like to manhandle women, so maybe you could make it easier on both of us and just crawl into the backseat where you belong.”
“It’s just a seat,” Hawke started, but I shook my head, stopping him in his tracks. This was on Liam to solve, not him.
Let him fight it out.
“Alright, bitch, if you don’t move, and now, I’ll move you myself.” As if to prove it, he leaned in, his hands inching toward the girl. “I’ll give you five seconds.”
“One,” she said, leaning in closer to his face with a grin of her own. “Two.” Her eyes met his, held them captive, as she stuck a hand on his chest, her finger digging into his pecs. “Three. Uh-oh, mister big bad scary man, looks like your intimidation tactics don’t work here.”
“Four,” he growled, his voice a growl.
Don’t do it,I silently pleaded with her, but it appeared she, like Hawke, sometimes didn’t know when to hedge her bets.
“Five,” she purred, sticking her foot on his abs and shoving him out of the way of the door as she slammed it in his face.
She locked the damn thing, sticking her tongue out at him from the other side of the window.
