Bow Down(10)

I shook my head, surprised all over again at this. “What do you want from me?”

“I want your help.”

“And why would I do that?”

She stopped and I turned toward her. She stepped closer to me. “Because I can give you things.”

I took her hips and pulled her roughly against me. She looked surprised and I smirked down at her. “I can take that whenever I want it,” I said.

“Maybe,” she said softly. “But I can give you other things. Money, power. Together, we could take over this city.”

I felt a chill run down my spine. My cock was hard as fuck as she spoke. I pictured the two of us together, hand in hand, ruling over Chicago. I’d take her as my own and have her whenever I wanted as we dominated the city together.

But I didn’t know this woman. So far, she’d mainly lied to me and misled me about who she was. The Spiders were notoriously dangerous, and although I didn’t mind violent, I tended to use it only when it was absolutely necessary. The Spiders, on the other hand, had a reputation for brutality that I wasn’t comfortable with.

Still, there was something about this woman. I admired her beauty and her strength. It took a lot of balls to come to a stranger with this sort of proposition.

“Maybe,” I said. “From my perspective, you’re the enemy of my friend and a liar. How can I trust you?”

“I can show you,” she murmured. We were inches apart, our bodies hot in the dark, cool park.

Just then, a shadow stepped up from out of the bushes and walked toward us. I glanced over and saw a dirty man wearing a ragged jacket and dirty jeans, his face smeared with oil. He had a wicked smile on his face.

“You two,” he barked. “Money, wallets, jewelry. Now.”

I turned toward him. “Excuse me?”

He brandished a knife at me. “Give me your fucking wallet, you rich piece of shit.”

I glanced back at Louisa. She seemed as calm as I felt.

I stepped toward the man and my heart began to beat.

“I’ll fucking gut you,” he warned. “Stay back.”

I moved fast. He tried to swipe at me with the knife, but I easily blocked his wrist, catching it and turning it. He screamed as the knife fell from his grip. I turned and slammed my elbow into his nose, snapping his head back.

I kicked him in the knee, sending him to the ground, before giving him two more swift kicks to the face. He wasn’t moving. I didn’t think I killed him, but it was entirely possible.

I took a deep breath then cleared my throat. “Sorry about that,” I said.

“Dangerous neighborhood,” she answered, smiling.

“We have dinner waiting for us.” I offered her my arm again. “Shall we?”

She took my arm and we walked together back to the restaurant.

I didn’t know what to make of Louisa Barone. She’d given me a lot of information to think about. She claimed to lead the Spiders, which made her one of the most powerful people in the city, though still a relative upstart. She was in a war with her own father, who was an early supporter of mine.

But fuck, she was seductive. The thrill of knocking that mugger to the ground was ringing through my body as we walked back together.





6





Louisa





I had to admit, I felt a thrill run through me watching Wyatt take care of that mugger. I was never really worried, particularly because I had a gun hidden up my dress, but there was something incredibly exciting about a man that could handle himself like that.

I never expect Wyatt to be the physical sort of man, but I should have guessed. Just looking at him, you could tell that he spent time in the gym. He was muscular and tall, and looked almost like a football player.

Back at the restaurant, Wyatt’s chef friend tried to hide his annoyance as best he could as they served us the meal. It was an incredible mixture of contemporary Spanish food with an Italian flare, and I had to admit that it was the best meal I’d ever had. It helped that it was prepared for us by a world-class chef in his own restaurant, and we were his only customers.

Conversation was normal. Wyatt spoke of growing up in a working class poor family, and talked about his slow rise through the ranks. I talked a bit about my own childhood, though it was harder to go into details, since Wyatt wanted to avoid that sort of talk in the restaurant. I understand his paranoia, though I thought he was going overboard.

Afterward, we had another glass of wine as the staff disappeared into the back, presumably to eat the excess food the chef no doubt had prepared.

“Lovely night,” I said to him.

“Perfect meal. Perfect wine.”

“Do you think you killed that man?” I asked him casually.

He laughed. “Probably not.”