At the Stars(48)

Dante looks around. “You got other options? Maybe sit down and have a beer with this guy?”

“No.” I rock my knuckles on the bar. The pain helps me drown out the chatter in the bar. Focuses my thinking. “Whoever this guy is, I need him gone. Whatever reason he’s still around, it’s not good. Eight years and someone’s just now looking for me? It’s not for any reason that I want to know about.”

“You and I go around with him once, he’ll think twice about staying in town,” Dante says.

It’s true. I know exactly what Dante is capable of. He’s fought longer and harder than I have. His time in prison isn’t too far behind him, and who knows what he learned while he was inside.

I smile at Cassie, who’s talking into the mike right now. Her words sound sweet, even though I’m too buzzed on adrenaline to understand what she’s saying. “Why are you offering to help me?”

Dante slaps my shoulder. “We both got chewed up and spit out by that shit-machine, brother. Anyway, I like Cassie. Before you get the idea to put my lights out, I don’t mean I’m gonna snake your girl. I mean she’s helped me out and deserves to have the favor returned even if you’ve got serious damage.”

“Thanks. I think.”

He laughs. “Look alive, buddy. I see him creeping by the entrance. You got a plan?”

“Yeah. I’ll head into the kitchen and down the stairs into Delia’s shop. You tell him you think you saw me there, offer to lead the way. Once we get him into the shop, we’ll have a talk.” I crack my knuckles. It wouldn’t be pretty, but I’m prepared to throw down if I have to.

I hated fighting. I didn’t mind being in the ring so much, but I hated all of the other shit. The training, and the demoralizing head games. Dante and I started out fighting in illegal bouts, and sometimes you had no idea what you were about to go up against. It always paid to go in prepared.

Like now. This guy, he could be some flunky, or he could be well trained. We’ll find out.

I pound fists with Dante and start toward the kitchen while he makes his way through the crowd. I wait a few seconds, long enough to hear the first few sweet bars of Cassie singing “Hotel California.”

She’s playing that one because I asked her to. Damn, she’s amazing. The lights from the stage shine on her face, and watching her, I can hardly believe she was nervous.

I’m about to disappear into the back when a hand wraps around my arm. I smell the perfume first, something powdery and strong that I recognize right away as LeeAnne’s before her lips brush my ear. “Come over later. Nate’s working the midnight shift.”

I feel sick inside as I pull that grasping hand off of me. I used to take pleasure in losing myself in what this woman had to offer, but I never expected it to go on. I look at her face and realize maybe she had different expectations. “I mean no judgment by this, but I think it’d be good for you to try and work things out with your husband.”

I leave her with her jaw on the floor, and with me hating life even more than I already do. I break into a run as soon as I’m on the other side of the kitchen door. This fucker’s making me miss Cassie’s set, and for that, I’m really pissed.



Jake

I don’t recognize this guy, which is good. If he looked familiar, like some old buddy of my stepmom’s—or worse, some guy she’d fucked around with—I think this might be harder. Mariana had her ways of getting her claws into people.

Believe me, I know.

“So I need to know who you are and why you’ve been looking for me.”

Silence.

“What, you got nothing?” I pull my shirt off as I approach the guy, stopping short of his reach. Dante’s got him in a chair, holdin’ him back for me, just to be careful.

The guy gives me nothing except a first-class, quality stare down. Then he gives one to Dante.

I snap my fingers to get his attention back over to where I am. “Buddy. Eyes on me.”

My head buzzes, and part of me loves the feeling. I hate how much I love it. That high when you’re amped up to fight. It’s partly why I quit. Chasing the dragon would’ve eventually knocked my brain out of my skull.

“Listen to me.” I grab the guy’s hair, forcing him to look at me. Willing him to listen and walk away, while all of us still can. “Did Mariana send you? Because let me tell you, that bitch is a parasite. You go back and tell her you didn’t find me and we’ll both be better off.”

My stepmother is the first person I think of because she threatened me the day I walked out the door. When I lived at one of my old addresses, she tracked me down and sent me the birth announcement for my sister. Like she needed to remind me she could find me if she needed to. It’s why I changed my name. It’s also a better option than Arlo Specter, who I want nothing to do with ever again.