She studied him, then waved his escort over. Ash couldn’t hear what she asked, but Daryl nodded.
“You’re telling the truth.” She sounded surprised and he was slightly offended.
“So that next appointment?” He didn’t want to be a dick, but he’d spent all night waiting for the first meeting. He didn’t have time to wait that long again.
“Keep your shirt on.” She paused, looked him up and down. “Or, you know, don’t. I could use something pretty to look at.”
She smiled and he couldn’t resist smiling back. She was cute, but she didn’t rev his engine the way the Jack did.
How fucked up was that? Today he’d met two of the most powerful women in the city and was totally hot for one of them.
One could help him and one could hurt him. Actually, both could easily ruin his life—ruin Hope’s life. He had to figure out how to prevent that from happening.
“Soonest I got is two nights from now.” She flipped through an old-school paper notebook. If it had been a regular appointment calendar, he’d have hacked it to get an earlier appointment.
“That’s fine.” It wasn’t, but his options were rather limited.
He downed the last bit of alcohol. The warm burn hit again, this time followed by a head rush. Damn, was he drunk? He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten drunk. It was too damn risky, especially in his room at Tremaine Headquarters.
He enjoyed the rush for a second longer, then refocused. He had to get back. “Can you close out my tab?”
“Sure.” After she’d processed the payment, she handed him the chip.
“Is there anything left on that?” he asked.
“Sure is.”
He grabbed her hand and turned it palm up, then dropped the credit chip back into it. “Keep the rest as a tip.”
Suspicion flared in her eyes and the flush of anger colored her cheeks. She backed away quickly, dropping the chip on the bar top. “I don’t do that.”
“Do what?” He’d missed something.
“Whatever it is you’re offering a lot of money for. I don’t do that anymore.”
What the hell?“I wasn’t asking you to do anything. I was just leaving you a tip.”
“Then you want information on the Jack.” Her eyes wide, she remained pressed against the bar.
“No. Not that either.” Though he wished he’d thought of it. Too late now. Though it obviously would have been the wrong move.
“Then why did you want to leave me a hundred-credit tip?”
“Shit! I didn’t realize it had that much on it.” Ash grabbed the credit chip off the bar and shoved it into his pocket. If she didn’t want the credits, he wasn’t going to throw them away.
“I’ll see you in two nights then.” He started toward the exit.
“Hey, what about my tip?”
Ash turned halfway and shrugged. “That’s all I had on me. You said you didn’t want it.”
At the door, he slipped his hand into his pocket. Fingering the credit chip, he decided to spring for a ride instead of walking back to headquarters.
Chapter8
Taryn staredat the spreadsheet in front of her. She’d opened it an hour ago, intending to get some bookkeeping done. That hadn’t happened.
What the hell was going on?She didn’t get distracted, especially not when it came to the bar. Her focus on Razor Jack’s was legendary.
