My head jerks back in shock, surprised as fuck that she offered to come with me. “Fuck yeah. Come on, angel, go put your shoes on,” I say, feeding into whatever has come over her.
She gives me one quick bob of her head before swirling around and dashing into the room, almost as if she takes too long, she’ll change her mind.
As I wait for Amira, I start searching my phone, scrolling through the trending news, when a call interrupts me.
“Hello?”
“Aye! What are you doing tonight?” Ash asks, screaming over the sound of raucous laughter.
Is this fucker at the bar already? It’s only one in the afternoon.
Deciding that’s an issue for another time, I answer quickly, seeing Amira come out of the room.
“Umm, nothing. Why? You need me?” I fucking hate handling the drugs. It reminds me too much of my ma and pops, but it’s what’s putting a roof over Amira’s head and food in her stomach, so if Ash has a job for me, I’ll fucking do it.
“Yeah. I found this dive strip club last night, and it's swarming out of its mind with college kids and down on their luck, middle-aged men. So we’re going and bleeding them dry.”
“All right. See you then.”
“Ash?” Amira asks, reaching past my shoulder to grab her bag off the hook beside the door.
“Yeah. We gotta hit a spot tonight.”
I consider asking her if she wants to come with us for a moment, but the thought of Amira in a strip club, surrounded by drunken assholes trying to put their hands on her, makes me see red.
Amira slips under my arm as I hold the door open, trampling down the concrete path to the car while I make sure the house is secure.
Once we’re seated in the Camaro, I blast the heater, so Amira stops shivering in her seat and pull my phone out of my pocket, searching for barbershops with some actual ratings.
I’m in need of a haircut, but I’m not willing to go to someone who will hack my fucking head to bits.
“All right, let’s go,” I say, putting the car in drive, wincing when I hear the tires squealing against the curb.
It’s cold but not too icy, so I roll down the windows, smiling when Amira instantly pokes her head out. A soft tilt pulling at her lips as the wind blows across her face.
There's a lightness in my chest whenever I see Amira genuinely smile. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen enough. Typically, her smiles are tainted, smudged with her grief, shadowed by the constant haunting of her thoughts. But the moments when she gets a reprieve from her mind, I see the girl I fell in love with so long ago.
Letting my hand go from the wheel, I drop it to her thigh, splaying my fingers along her jeans, the tips brushing along the thick seams of the denim.
I can feel her skin pebble underneath my touch and the heat of her core singeing my skin as I drag my palm farther up her plush leg.
From the way she’s squirming in her seat, I know she’s fucking wet. I know that pretty pussy is throbbing for some attention, but I don’t move any closer. I’m trying to give her gentle nudges in my direction, not scare her by being too forward. So, at this moment, my fingers pressed up against her center are enough.
We’re on the road for about an hour before I pull up to a small shack of a building on the other side of the freeway. The red, white, and blue barber’s pole spinning on the outside is the only thing letting me know that I’m at the right place.
“Let’s go, angel,” I say, stepping out of the car, barely dodging the oncoming vehicle speeding toward me.
I flip him off as he passes by, blowing him a kiss as he screams a‘fuck you’over the roaring of the freeway.
Walking around the back of my car, I place my hand on the small of Amira’s back and push her toward the entrance. The inside is fucking packed, leaving not many places for Amira and me to wait.
A space opens up moments later, and I don’t let my palm leave her until she’s seated on one of the black faux leather chairs.
“You don’t want to sit?” Amira asks, ready to jump up from the seat on my say so, just like Gabriel fucking trained her to.
Stupid fucking bitch. He’s lucky he’s already dead, or I’d have no fucking problem fucking gutting him the way I should have in the first place.
“No, angel, sit down.”
