The man beneath me is wiry and street smart, but I have righteous fury and a hell of a lot more bulk. I rain down blows, my fists connecting with satisfying thuds. He tries to buck me off, but I use every dirty street-fighting trick I know to maintain the upper hand.
By now, the lookout has either run off or told his boss what’s happening, but ironically, that’s the one thing I’m not worried about.
When I finally have the fucker subdued, I pick him up, bodily, and throw him onto the dining chair Linnea’s mother hastily vacated the moment I burst through the door.
It wobbles and threatens to splinter, but it’s good, sturdy wood, and I waste no time securing Reggie with a length of rope he must have brought along himself.
And I fucking love the irony.
“S-Sir?” Linnea’s voice is a mixture of confusion and disbelief.
I spare a glance at where she and her mother are now huddled on the couch, desperately clinging to each other.
“One last hurdle, sweetheart,” I tell her, guessing what’s about to happen. “Just be brave and quiet for me.”
She bobs her head like one of those nodding dog toys, her eyes wide and shocked. I want to hold her. To tell her everything will be alright, but like I said, there’s one last thing to handle.
Right on cue, a shadow from my past stalks into the room, gun in hand.
Shielding the two women with my bulk, I widen my stance and fold my arms, not in the least bit threatened.
“I thought we agreed not to tread on each other’s toes, Lex,” I say to the newcomer.
The three other people in the room have varying reactions to his appearance… or maybe to the fact we obviously know each other.
I keep my eyes locked on the man I used to run the streets with as a boy. He’s as imposing as ever - tall and broad-shouldered, with a face that could have been carved from granite.
"Thorne," he says, his voice a deep rumble. "Didn't expect to see you here."
I shrug, keeping my tone casual. "Just dropping by to visit an old friend."
Lex's eyes narrow as they flick between me and Reggie, who's still struggling against his bonds. "Funny way of visiting."
"You know me," I say with a humorless smile. "I like to make an entrance."
The tension in the room is palpable. I can feel Linnea and her mother cowering behind me, hear their shallow, frightened breaths. Reggie looks slightly sick.
And so he should.
The thing is, I know Lex well, and while he might be a loan shark, he’s always been anti prostitution, since his mother was one, and he saw firsthand a lot of stuff a kid should never see. We may not have kept up, but I don’t think he’s changed that much.
“So, what’s the story?” he asks, lowering his weapon, but keeping it in his hand.
“The story is, your… employee.” I point at Reggie. “Followed my… housekeeper back to my penthouse.” I gesture to Linnea. “Forced his way into my home, then proceeded to terrorize her. Then when she left for the day…” Yeah, I know I’m skirting the facts a little bit here. Sue me. “He assaulted her, right outside my building, and tried to drag her into his vehicle. He would have succeeded, too, if my concierge hadn’t intervened.”
Lex throws a narrow-eyed look at Reggie, who fidgets in the chair and looks everywhere except at his boss, but I haven’t finished with the little shit yet.
“What really worries me though, is how he’s been telling her he’s going to pimp her out to work off the debt, under threat of hurting her mother…” Lex’s eyes jolt back to me, the fury in them intense. “…and that he was here to sample the goods.”
Lex turns his head excruciatingly slowly back towards Reggie, and the heavy silence is thick enough to cut with a knife.
Reggie's face drains of color as Lex glares at him. I can see the gears turning in Lex's head as he processes what I've told him.
"Is this true?" Lex demands, his tone reeking of danger.
Reggie sputters, trying to form words. "B-boss, I can explain?—"
"I don’t want your shitty excuses," Lex snaps. He turns to me. "Thorne, you on the level with this?"
