Page 11 of Break a King (Five Kings 3)

“I would.”

Taking a sip of wine, I keep my words short and to the point because I’m going to let her run the conversation until I can work her out.

She pulls something from the oven and sets about spooning it onto two plates and heads across and hands one to me with a flourish. “Here you go, pasta a la Lexi, guaranteed to blow your mind.”

“I’m sure you make that a habit?”

My sardonic drawl causes her eyes to raise and I say bluntly, “I’m guessing blowing people's minds goes with the job description.”

“Not really, too messy for my tastes. I prefer pressure points, lethal injections and snapping someone’s neck, rather than guns. Too much laundry and just so you know, I hate laundry.”

She raises her glass to mine and says in a sugary voice, “To keeping you alive.”

“I’ll drink to that.”

We touch glasses and as she wraps those lips around it, I think back to earlier and how good they tasted.

“So, Hunter, just to bring you up to date. I found my room, 10/10 for design detail. I’m guessing you had zero input but your designer must have won awards or something. Anyway, I spent the afternoon arranging my things that the guys delivered.”

“The guys?”

“Reapers, baby. I had them bring my stuff along with the extra security measures. Nothing moves in this apartment without alerting me immediately. It’s all done by movement filters that buzz on my wrist watch, so if you even take a piss in the night, I’ll know about it.”

“Have fun then.”

I shake my head and feel a little concerned that all of this has been arranged behind my back because Lexi couldn’t obviously give a fuck about running things by me first, adding itself to the list of everything that irritates the shit out of me on a daily basis.

“So, do you have the information I requested?”

“All on here.” I push the memory stick toward her that Miss. Baxter prepared earlier and she slides it into her back pocket.

“Bedtime reading.” She smiles sweetly, and it strikes me how innocent she looks. I don’t understand what draws a woman into this world and decide to do a little digging.

“So, tell me about yourself and what made you into a hard-assed assassin? I’m pretty certain they didn’t offer that up as an option at careers week.”

For some reason, my words cause something to spark in her eyes that almost looks like regret and then she sighs and says sadly, “No, I don’t suppose it is but once you’ve ended a life, it gives you a certain kind of experience and when you have no other options that interest you, you kind of stick with what you know.”

“Meaning.”

I stare at her with a dark look and she raises her glass to her lips and takes a long gulp before saying huskily, “If I tell you, I may have to kill you and as that would be counterproductive to the reason I’m here, it’s never gonna happen. Now, how’s your food?”

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