Page 44 of The Orc Boss

“Nothing. I spit in his face. I would never tell them anything that could hurt you, Ansel—”

He made a sound of displeasure that came from deep within his throat. “That’s what I was worried about,” he said under his breath. His expression hardened as he regarded me. “If you’re ever put in a position like that again, Skye, I need you to promise me you will never sacrifice yourself for me. Your life is more important than mine. You are worth saving, I am not. Never forget that.”

The car ride was tense after that. Ansel didn’t speak or even acknowledge me as he drove, choosing to glare at the road instead. I didn’t feel like speaking, either. It wasn’t until the abandoned buildings started spreading out farther and farther from each other, and I could see the water of the Chesapeake Bay growing larger in the distance, that I realized we weren’t on our way to the warehouse.

“Where are we going?” I finally worked up the nerve to ask.

“The bay. I told you I was meeting with Felix tonight. And I don’t have time to take you back, so I guess you’re coming with me.”

I felt a tinge of guilt. This may be the one and only chance Ansel has to get a leg up on his uncle, and I may have inadvertently blown it. Now that I had broken the silence and to get my mind off the guilt I was feeling, I asked another question. “How did you find me anyways?”

He gave me a brief sideway glance. “The necklace.”

My hand touched the small gem hanging from my neck. I didn’t intend to take it; I meant to leave it on the dresser, but I had gotten so caught up in the excitement of leaving that I had completely forgotten it was there. And thank goddess I hadn’t—this necklace had saved my life. But that didn’t mean I was letting Ansel off the hook so easily.

“So, I’m guessing this isn’t actually your mom’s necklace?” So much for never lying to me. Was the stone even real? It definitely fooled me.

“It is her necklace,” he insisted, as if that was the only explanation that he was willing to give me. After a moment, he added, “My dad put a tracker in her necklace, not because he didn’t trust her. My parents had a lot of enemies in this line of work. My ma wasn’t the type of woman to sit at home and knit while the men worked. She was always there on the front lines, helping us run the business. So, my da put a tracking device in the necklace to keep tabs on her when he was away, just in case anything happened.” He sighed. “A lot of good it did them in the end.”

“So . . . you knew about what I was doing to the bars, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” he said without looking at me. “I smoke every morning, Skye. I noticed the missing screw from day one.”

My cheeks burned with embarrassment. Did they all know? Had they all been laughing at me behind my back this entire time? “Why didn’t you say anything?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “Honestly, I wanted to see how far you’d go. I didn’t think you would take the entire thing off. I’m glad I don’t have to play dumb anymore because I have so many questions that have been bugging me like where did you get a screwdriver? How did you reach the screws at the top? That must have been hard.”

“It was,” I said in a long exhale, relaxing back into the leather seat behind me. “I had to stand on my tippy-toes and stretch my arm as far as it goes without dropping the screwdriver. My shoulders are still aching from it. As for the screwdriver, I stole it from downstairs. I knocked over a table of tools and stuck one in my waistband when Liam wasn’t looking.”

He huffed out the slightest laugh. “You’re resourceful; I’ll give you that. But if you’re gonna do that again, please bring a weapon with you next time. Anything to defend yourself, at least.”

A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. “We both know you’re not giving me a weapon, so I guess my only option is to stay put right now.”

I wondered if he believed that I was willing to stay. I couldn’t quite believe the words myself. His serious expression didn’t change, but he reached a hand across the console and gave my leg a soft squeeze. “Good girl,” he murmured under his breath.

Ansel pulled up to the location and parked the car and flicked off the headlights. I watched Ansel as he surveyed the dark landscape in front of us, probably looking for signs that this could be an ambush. I turned my attention to the window as well, following his gaze and trying to see what he saw. If there was anything amiss, I couldn’t tell. It was too dark.

Ansel must have decided the scene was safe because he eventually turned to me. “Skye, I want you to wait in here. I shouldn’t be very long. But,” he paused to hand me the car keys, “if anything happens, if you hear anything at all, I want you to get out of here. Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself.”

I gave him a jerky nod as he opened the door and stepped out. I watched him take a couple of steps away from the car, his hands tucked into his pockets, as he headed towards the dock in the distance. Moonlight glinted against the water—our only source of light—and if I squinted hard enough into the distance, I could see the outline of someone waiting for him at the end of the dock.

My heart pounded against my chest. Why did Ansel feel he had to carry the burden of the entire mission by himself? Demie and Liam had given up a year of their lives to support him, and from the sound of things, those two have spent that time sitting in the warehouse and twiddling their thumbs as they worried about their brother.

You want to stay and help Ansel,came the voice in my head. It wasn’t a question; it was a statement. I did want to help Ansel, as shocking as that realization was. Though I lacked the technical skills to be helpful, that didn’t mean I was completely useless. I had worked almost an entire year in corporate and had plenty of experience working with people, especially deescalating tense situations. That’s what happened when you worked for a high-powered company that relied on tech to do most of their jobs. If the program was even a little buggy, we could lose clients. There was nothing more stressful than trying to fix a program while your foaming-at-the-mouth CEO stood behind you and screamed at you to fix his computer.

Maybe I could help Ansel. Plus, Felix had said that I was the reason he changed his mind. Hopefully that was enough reason for Felix not to get upset when he realized Ansel had brought someone to the meeting.

I opened the car door and climbed out before I could change my mind. I hurried across the gravel parking lot to Ansel as fast as I could with a swollen ankle.

“What the fuck are you doing, Skye? I thought I told you to stay in the car,”Ansel gritted out underneath his breath. He immediately stopped in his tracks as soon as he heard me coming, but remained facing forward, his eyes locked on Felix, who was watching us from the other end of the dock as well.

Without turning, Ansel pushed me roughly behind his body. He wasn’t trying to hurt me, I could tell he wanted to shield me from the other orc. “Felix decided to help you because of me. I have a lot of experience dealing with people in tense situations. Let me help!”

“We aren’t negotiating some business deal—” He cursed under his breath. “It’s too late. I can’t send you back to the car without it looking suspicious.” He sighed. The gravel crunched as he crouched down, holding his arms outstretched behind him as a signal for me to jump on. “Climb up then. It’ll be faster for me to carry you.”

Balancing on my left foot, I jumped, wrapping my arms around the thick column of his neck. He firmly gripped the bottom of my knees, sending delicious tingles up my legs as he pressed into the ticklish skin there. He slowly stood to his full seven feet, and my stomach somersaulted. I was tall for my species—a whopping five-foot-eight-inches—but seeing the world from his perspective made me feel oh-so-very small. A feeling I didn’t get to experience very often.

He began to walk towards the end of the dock, grumbling under his breath, “It’s not the cigarettes that are going to kill me early, Skye. It’s you from all the extra stress you’re giving me. I’ve already lost years off my life, thanks to you. I can already feel the gray hairs growing.”

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