Page 13 of Bad Men

“And how exactly do you plan on fixing this?” I retorted, body leaning in as if to grab her and shake until sense kicked in. “Do you have the money?”

Her gaze darted away a split second before returning with hot resignation. “No.”

“Can you get the money in a week?”

This time, her chin lowered until she was studying her fingers once more. “No.”

“That is the length of time we give people,” I went on, feeling like I was finally getting through to her. “We give them a week, break their kneecaps and wish them the best. Is that what you want?”

The heartbreak and sadness shimmering across the surface of her eyes kicked me in the gut when they lifted to my face. “You know it’s not.”

“Good.” I sat back. “Let it go, Mia.”

For a second, just one, I almost thought she was going to listen.

“No,” she whispered. Her top strained across her chest with her deep inhale. “I can’t let it go. I can’t let you pay for our mistake. I can’t let my father … it’s hard enough paying Eduardo. We can’t afford to pay you, too.”

“We don’t want—”

“We’re not a charity.” The bite returned to her tone, to her eyes. “We don’t just accept free things, and no one does anything from the goodness of their hearts.”

“Maybe they do,” Davien stepped in. “Maybe we’re feeling … giving.”

“Why?” She rounded on him, breaking me from her spell. “Why would you do that? You don’t know us.”

Davien looked to me. His features were blank, but I hoped to God he wasn’t waiting for me to answer that. I had absolutely no idea why we were making this exception when we’d never done anything like it in fifteen years. If I set aside the lie I was telling myself, I knew it was because of Mia, because we didn’t want her to suffer, but I was a liar and all I could make myself believe was future leverage if we needed it, which, I guess, made her point.

“What do you have in mind then?” I asked instead. “If you don’t have the money and can’t get it in seven days, what exactly is your plan here?”

I could almost see the drive of nails sealing in her fortitude when she opened her mouth. “What do you want?”

Those words again. She really had no idea what she was offering, but she’d started this. I was curious to see how she planned to end it.

“You know what we want,” Dav murmured, voice a husky whisper laced with steel.

The muscles of Mia’s throat bobbed once. Her gaze swept from him to me with her question already reflecting across their surface.

“You too?”

It was a game now, a bold challenge dangling like a carrot in front of my face. My brain couldn’t process what was happening. I wasn’t sure she understood what Dav was asking. If she did, she couldn’t possibly know what that implied. But she was watching me and her scent … fuck, her scent was everywhere, muddling my thoughts, coaxing me to submit.

“Yes.”

She drew in a breath. Her fingers folded together primly in her lap. She reminded me of someone at a job interview trying to think of a proper answer to a difficult question.

“Okay,” she whispered at long last.

Dav and I exchanged glances.

“Okay, what?” Dav prodded.

Her chin lifted. “Me. You can have me. All of me. Whenever you want, however you want. I’m yours.”

Dav sucked in a breath. Or, maybe, it was me. It was impossible to tell when blood was rushing through my skull, muffling all rational thought. I wasn’t even thinking when Dav captured that pert little chin of hers and forced her face to his.

“Don’t,” he warned her in a voice I’d never heard him use before. “You have no idea what you’re offering.”

Without breaking their tangled gaze, she reached for the fabric of her skirt. Her fingers dragged it up until the material was a white puddle in her lap.

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