Page 47 of PortCity Killers

“Listen pal, I’m super fucking glad you’re a dedicated working man, cause you know what? So am I. I’ve got about a million things I have to do around here and not one of them includes dropping what I’m doing to go see him. Don knows where I work; he knows the shit storm I’m in, and if he wants to talk to me, he knows where to find me.”

I brushed past him, knocking him with my shoulder.

It barely fazed him, which only served to anger me more. I pasted one of my best customer service smiles and schmoozed over the problem table, switching the new girl to shadow Laylah and giving the duds to one of our older waitresses.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the man on the phone, nodding emphatically. Since it didn’t seem to bode well for me, not with the way he zeroed in on me, I did my best to scuttle back to the bar.

I almost made it, and might have if I didn’t have to navigate through some handsy customers in my too-tight uniform. But I did and so my attention was a little splintered.

When I had lost sight of the hulking man, I had thought it was because I had gotten rid of him, not because he was bending down to fireman-carry me over his shoulder.

A waitress screamed. Some of the customers shouted, their hands coming up to block my legs when I tried to knee the man in the face, but it was like doing a crab crawl up a mountain.

Azure cursed, but I couldn’t see what came of it, and all I could think of was holding my balance and hoping I didn’t faceplant on the floor.

In no training situation with Bryce or his guys had we gone over what to do when you’re thrown over a shoulder and hindsight was kicking me in the ass for it.

The air outside was hot and dank with no summer breeze to soften the blow. The man adjusted me, grumbling the whole way as he made for a large van in the back.

I kicked, screaming like a banshee for all it was worth because what the fuck else were you supposed to do when a man was hasslehoffing you off to goddess knows where.

Azure came barreling out of the back, skidding to a halt as they watched me be spirited away. They weren’t any bigger than I was, and they had way less substance to them physically, so I don’t know what they planned on doing that I couldn’t.

I was thankfully relieved of the burden to figure it out when a string of Spanglish expletives fluttered through my ears.

“What the hell are you doing?”

The man stopped, turning to find a very pissed off, very scary looking Don.

He immediately dropped me down, rather ungracefully I might add, and backed away his hands going behind his back like some sort of demented soldier, which I guess he was. I scrambled to my feet before Don could move closer to me, glaring daggers at both men.

Az was still in the mouth of the alley way, so I turned to them, jerking my head to the door, “Back inside.”

They clenched their fists, hesitating and likely pissed as all get out, but they left me to my own devices with a look of disgust. I knew the feeling.

“Might I ask why the hell I was dragged out of my own damn bar, Don?”

Don’s eyes widened. It would have been comical to see him caught off guard if it hadn’t been at the expense of my pride. I’d fought too long and too hard to earn a reputation around the bar to have some flouncy pool boy ruining it in one fell swoop.

“You were not supposed to be-”

“Don, I’ve about had it up to here with bullshit today. I’ve got a bar to run, a business to pick up because you damn well know I killed the only other person who apparently knew how to run it,” I lowered my voice, “At your behest I might add. And in the past forty-eight hours I’ve gone from being completely oblivious to your presence to being hunted, on the run, and, well, more intimate than I had ever planned to be with you.”

He cleared his throat, his eyes glittering. It was the same one that Bryce got when he well and truly wanted to truss me up and spank my ass, but Don would learn here and now that once the fire broke it was a goddamn infernal flood.

“It was a miscommunication, Alex, I can assure you-”

“If you think this is how I’m going to start my dating pool, you’re sadly mistaken, Don. I don’t have a good track record in much, but I’m going to keep that one spick and span. You want to take me out, then take me out like a normal goddamn human, not let loose your dogs and hope the dust settles.”

Don’s steps were quiet. I hadn’t realized how close he had gotten until my back was flush against the alleyway.

“If I had wanted to hunt you down, little Lexi, I would have done so eagerly, and you would have been a very willing participant.” The low growl of his voice had my fingers digging into the hard concrete of the wall behind me. He closed the distance quickly, his hand coming to corner me in the spot I’d foolishly placed myself, “I will deal with my men, but if you would, please reserve your fire for closed doors from now on.”

I swallowed hard against the gasp that tried to retch its way out of my throat. I couldn’t repress the shiver. His lip curled into a smirk that had my heart racing.

“Do we understand each other?” The menace in his voice dripped like poison down my belly, between my thighs.

I didn’t dare clench them together, not when he was looking at me like he knew exactly how wet I would be if he slid his hand down my inappropriately short shorts.

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