Dark Secrets(59)

Unless K was right. Unless he was in.

In which case, that sucked.

Because it was going to hurt like a bitch when she ripped him out.

"You got us," Xander amended, obviously having planned to go full-on cheeseball on her before. "Remember that, okay?"

"Yeah," she said, swallowing hard, her own saliva burning like acid down her throat as she slid out of the booth and walked out the door.

Outside, she took a couple long, deep breaths, letting the air sting her lungs, looking for the anger, knowing it was the only thing that could soften the sharp pain of disappointment, of betrayal, in her chest.

They were right; she had them.

And, what's more, she had herself.

Those things had always been enough before.

They would just have to be enough again.

She straightened, lifted her chin, and yanked open the door to Lam.





TWELVE





Danny





Shit was not good.

Really, that was the only thing he knew when he saw Faith walk back into Lam.

He had obviously misread her leaving with them. He figured they were just going to go have a cup of coffee or some dinner and talk. Maybe they'd ask her about her hands. Maybe they'd give her a similar lecture like the one he had given her- about how accepting help didn't mean she was weak. They were good men. They cared about her. And no matter how capable she was, they had to worry about her sometimes.

But apparently whatever they had to talk about had pissed her off.

It was clear in everything about her- the set to her shoulders, her tight jaw, her lifted chin, her purposeful steps.

He was prepared for her to come behind the bar and slam around, maybe obsessively clean shit until they closed up.

He hadn't been prepared for the reality of what actually happened.

She moved behind the bar, walked right up to him, and said in a quiet but forceful tone near his ear, "You're fucking fired."

With that, she stormed to the other side of the bar and refilled a guy's gin and tonic while he stood there for a long second, sure he misheard her.

But when she walked behind him to go grab a lime, she hissed under her breath, "What the hell are you still doing here?"

"Faith," he said, his guts twisting painfully, something very akin to dread. And he was about ninety-percent certain the dread had nothing to do with failing another job and everything to do with, by failing that job, fucking over a woman he was almost unreasonably interested in. 

"No."

"Faith," he tried again, voice softer, reaching out for her elbow.

He should have known better, he really should have.

Faith wasn't the type of woman you touched when she was pissed.

But he was too busy worrying about what the fuck he could have done to piss her off enough to fire him.

So when she twisted, grabbed his arm by the wrist, yanked it backward and up between his shoulder blades hard and high enough for him to curse at the shooting pain in his shoulder then slammed him against the bar, yeah, he hadn't been paying close enough attention to react until it was too late. Until the right side of his face cracked against the solid wood of the bar, a spill of alcohol stinging his eye.

Then her body curled over his and despite the burning of his eye and the pain in his shoulder and the bruise that was surely forming on his cheek, he felt a rush of desire at feeling her hips press into his ass, her breasts press into his back.

But then he felt her warm breath on his ear where she hit him with the gut punch, "I know."

His stomach pitched to his feet at that.

She knew.

She fucking knew.

That was why Xander and K were there.

He wasn't stupid. He hadn't gone into this operation blind. As soon as he knew Faith had a connection to Xander, K, Gabe, and Corey, he had their files pulled up. Xander investigated and he was expanding. K helped out when he wasn't busy saving women from bad situations, training them, then getting them new lives.

But them handing his true identity over to her could only mean one thing- she asked them to run him. She never had trusted him. He had no right to be offended by that. None at all. He had been hiding a lot from her. He had given her more than he usually gave women though. More than was probably smart. But she still knew something was up.

"Faith, dear," Vin's voice said from the front of the bar, standing over him slightly. His voice was casual, unconcerned, like this was nothing unusual. Knowing Faith, it probably wasn't. "What did we say about martial arts at the bar?"

"He's done," she told him, pushing off of him and stepping back as he straightened again.

He swiped the booze off his face and looked at Vin who was looking between the two of them with what could only be described as a 'knowing' look in his eye. Like he knew they were fucking. Like he thought they were in a snit. "Faith, you've got to give these guys a chance."