He stalked out of the bar and when I could no longer see him, I turned to Blade. “What the hell was that?”
Raising his brows, he asked, “What? No thank you?”
“I don’t know who the hell you are, and what the hell you’re involved in, but I figure it’s not a good thing a debt collector like that asshole thinks I’m your woman.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Him thinking you’re my woman is the best thing that happened to you tonight.”
“Fuck!” I was so angry at this whole situation and the fact I had no control over any of it.
“Trust me, Layla, he won’t be back to bother you.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
“The guy I mentioned, Ice? He’s a drug dealer and the amount of money Mario owes him is enough to get him killed if Ice feels so inclined.”
Holy shit, who the fuck is this man standing in front of me to know all these shady people?
“So you’d have enough sway to convince Ice to do that?”
His stare told me everything I needed to know even if he chose not to answer me. “Let’s just say you’re safe and leave it at that.”
My head began to pound. “Why would he be after my business partner? Like, what kind of shit does that mean Dale’s gotten himself into?”
“Horses.”
I placed one hand on my hip and ran the other across my forehead while I expelled a long breath. “Jesus, I knew Dale liked to gamble here and there, but I never realised he had a problem with it. I should have, though.”
“Why?”
“I’ve worked with him for years, and then, about twelve months ago, he asked me if I wanted to buy into the bar. I knew he did that because he needed money, but I thought it was to help his ex-wife out. Then, two days ago I discovered he’s been stealing from the business. Little bits here and there that I didn’t miss or notice, but now there’s no cash left in our bank account and it seems he’s done a runner.”
“He played you for a fool, huh?”
“Yeah, and I can’t fucking believe I didn’t see it.”
Jess and Damian had stayed quiet through this whole thing but Jess interrupted us now. “You’re not a fool, Layla. You trusted someone who took advantage of that trust, but it doesn’t make you a fool.”
“If I ever see him again, it won’t be pretty,” I muttered.
Jess grinned. “I can imagine.” She knew me well. Knew I gave people one chance only. If they fucked with that, I didn’t go back for seconds.
Blade’s phone rang and he walked away to take the call. I went back to helping Jess and Damian get ready to close the bar. We were almost done and I couldn’t wait to get out of here tonight. The stress of the last two days had started catching up on me, and all I wanted to do was sleep it off.
When he finished with his call, Blade came back to me. “What’s your phone number?”
“Why?”
“I’m gonna check in on you, make sure Mario’s not giving you grief.”
“I can take care of myself, Blade,” I answered, annoyed.
“Yeah, I saw that.” His sarcasm was not lost on me.
“We don’t need to exchange numbers.”
Frustration crossed his face, but he remained patient. “Humour me, okay?”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, fine,” I snapped and rattled off my number to him.
He saved it on his phone and then sent me a text message. “Now you have mine, too. Use it if you need me.”
I could imagine there were plenty of women who would kill to have that phone number. Blade was a good-looking man and had a mysterious sexiness about him, but there was no way in hell I would ever be using that number. However, I nodded in agreement. I figured he wouldn’t leave until I agreed to that.
“Good,” he murmured, and began to walk away from me.
I let my gaze drop to his ass. He had a great ass and the jeans he wore hugged him, accentuating it. My gaze travelled up his body. He was wearing a black t-shirt and black leather jacket. The memory of how hard his chest was came back to me, causing desire to shoot through me.
“Drinks are on the house next time you come in,” I yelled out.
He turned back to me, and with a flicker of a smile, said, “Finally, she says thank you.”
Fuck, he read me well. “Yeah, yeah,” I said, waving a dismissive hand at him.
He gave me a chin jerk. Still no full smile, but he didn’t strike me as the kind of man to give out too many of those. “Catch you later,” he said, and then he was gone.
Jess yelled out from the table she was cleaning, “He’s hot. You should so call that number.”