“The open back shows off my ink.” She moves her hair over one shoulder to show him.
“It does,” he says with a tight smile.
“How many can I get?” she asks, her eyes alight with excitement.
“Whatever you want.”
She claps her hands together and scurries away. I look at Nix with a brow arched in amusement.
“Speaking of sugar daddies…”
His laugh is uncomfortable. “It’s not like that.”
I tuck a black dress over my arm and shake my head. “Right.”
“Really. She’s…much younger than me.”
“Uh-huh. Like five years ever stopped a man.”
“Ten years to be correct and I found her when she was a kid. She’s never been anything more than a little sister to me. Will you be at the club tonight?”
I shrug.
Nix clears his throat and follows me to another rack. “I’d like to get to know you better without Hassan around.”
“Moving in on his piece? You think that’s wise, Nix?”
He moves closer and leans down to speak in my ear, his warm voice brushing across my skin like a tender caress. “I get a feeling you’re not actually his piece, Kennedy. I haven’t figured you out yet, but color me intrigued.”
I have to keep myself steady, no matter how off-balance I feel right now. Nix unnerves me in a way training didn’t prepare me for. I look up and meet his eyes.
“I get a feeling that bimboisyour piece, Nix. So run back to her and break out your charge card.”
A flicker of anger passes over his face, but he rights it quickly. “She’s not a bimbo.”
“Of course not. Women who prance around department stores in revealing dresses asking their older male benefactors how many dresses they can get are usuallybrimmingwith deep thoughts.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think I detected a hint of jealousy there.” Nix puts a hand on the small of my back, and a shiver of awareness runs up my spine.
“I’m not—”
“She and I are not together,” he says, leaning down to speak next to my ear. “Never have been, never will be.”
I just nod, unsure what to say.
He speaks again. “Come to the club tonight. I want to see you.”
And then he turns and leaves without another word.
My heart is still pounding like a drum. I’m rattled from having my cover blown. It was stupid of me to agree to go shopping with Amara. She’s just a casual friend I met in a spin class. From now on, I’m shopping online.
I am going to the club tonight, but not because Nix told me to. With Hassan gone, I can work other leads that I have to ignore when he’s around. Leads like Nix.
He caught me off my game just now, but I’ll make up for it. Tonight, I’ll delve deeper into the man who has eluded law enforcement and start building my file on him.
Nix wants to learn more about me, but in doing so, he’ll be revealing himself to me, too. He’ll find out that two can play at this game.
Tonight,I’m platinum blond. With my fair skin, it’s not my best look, but I’ve been eyeing this long wig of tiny braids since Liv bought it. It reminds me of the girl I was before I died it black.
