Simone palmed the knife and slid it into her sleeve. A quick glance around the room proved that Brighton was right. People were shifting nervously at the sight of the weapon, and at least two of them were on their phones. Maybe talking to police.
Time to go.
“Good luck, Brighton,” she offered as she headed for the door.
Marcus was right on her heels. “What about our deal?”
“What deal? You offered me a job. I’m turning it down.” She shoved her way out through the door. The cool night air sucked some of the heat of anger from her cheeks.
She made a beeline for her motorcycle, which was parked nearby.
“If you’re not going to help me, then give me back the boots,” he ordered.
She laughed as she mounted her bike. “Sure. I’ll get right on that.”
Brighton grabbed her arm. Until this moment, she’d pegged him for a suit. Normal, boring, law-abiding. Soft.
His hand on her arm was anything but. Strength radiated through his touch, shackling her biceps. She could break his hold, but not without getting off her bike and exerting some serious effort. And drawing a crowd.
“Please,” he said, his voice ringing with the kind of desperation she’d heard only from men who knew they were going to die. “I need your help.”
Simone looked up at him and instantly wished she hadn’t. There was pain in his eyes. Loss. Grief. She could have been looking into a mirror.
Her resolve started to crack, and damn if Marcus Brighton wasn’t smart enough to see it instantly.
“I have a place we can go and talk. Just give me a few minutes of your time. Hear me out. If you still think I’m out to get you, then I’ll find someone else. Somehow.”
The way he said it made her wonder if he even had a plan B. Maybe she was his only shot.
There’d been a time when that would have made her feel good, but now all she felt was sad. If she was his best shot, then he was in a world of hurt.
“Fine. I’ll listen. But I’m not making any promises.”
He nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. “My place is right around the corner. Big black RV. Follow me?”
She did, riding her bike along in his wake as he jogged away. The streets emptied out fast as they moved away from the university campus. He’d parked behind a neighboring office building that was closed for the night. Security lights gleamed off a massive RV that sat like a monolith in the vacant lot.
Simone paused as she rolled up beside the vehicle. Nothing was stopping her from riding away. She had one perfect knife in her possession. It wasn’t a bad haul for as little effort as she’d exerted. Sure, it was stealing, but any pangs of guilt she’d had about that act had been burned out of her years ago. Life changed. So had she.
“You coming in?” he asked from the doorway.
What harm could there be in listening to what he had to say? She really couldn’t think of anything he could have in there that would scare her, or any sticky situation she couldn’t handle.
Unless he had a Fractogast chained up inside, which seemed beyond unlikely.
“Why the hell not?” She sighed as she climbed in.
The place was littered with tools. Rolls of stiff leather stuck out from a wooden box. Bottles of dye were stacked neatly on a wall shelf, secured with bands of elastic. A workbench took up the space along one wall, and on it was a strip of leather held in place with wire loops. The length of the belt was nearly complete, making her fingertips tingle with the need to touch.
An array of metal stamps sat in a neat row. The ends of them had raised symbols, but those shapes bore little resemblance to the finished image worked into the leather. She could only guess what the belt would do, but whatever magic Brighton used to craft his wares was potent stuff.
He started moving toolboxes and bins of metal bits to make room on a built-in bench. “Sorry for the mess. I never have company.” He waved to the now free seat.
“I’ll stand, thanks.” By the door, with her fingers on the handle.
He tossed the purse he’d made to her specifications on the spot he’d cleared, and then stared at her. The light in here wasn’t as bright as it had been in the café, but even so, the intimacy of the small space heightened her awareness of him. One subtle sign that he was going to hurt her, and she’d tumble out through the door.
So far, all he’d done was stand there, watching her.
He had intense cobalt blue eyes, like sunlit glass. His hair was buzz cut, more a dark shadow than anything. Standing this close to him in such a small space, she realized just how big he really was. Not a hulking brute, but certainly more intimidating than he’d seemed in the brightly lit café with plenty of people around as witnesses.