He looked hungry.
How could he always be hungry?
“How long have you been taking advantage of me, Beckett?”
Maslow’s inquiry jarred me. Zephyr too, by the way his head snapped up. Now he didn’t just look starved, he looked guilty too. Worst poker face in Vegas. He’d give us both away.
“I beg your pardon?” I said.
“Don’t play dumb,” the wraith snipped. “I’ve seen the tapes. Talked to my bouncers. You think I wouldn’t notice you two sneaking in and out of the emergency exit like goddamn ghosts?”
I didn’t dare look at Zephyr while keeping my expression carefully schooled.
“Must have been riveting footage,” I replied. “Is that the kind of thing you were hoping to capture on your not-so-hidden cameras?”
“You mean a higher demon chasing tail like a horny teenager?” Maslow’s thick lips peeled back with his sneer. “It’s more shameful than salacious. Not to mention cheap. My ponies are pay-to-ride, and you’ve damn near worn the shoes off this one.” He motioned to Zephyr, who shrank in his seat. “So, unless you want this to get messy, I expect payment for services rendered.”
Given Colette’s comment about Maslow being a pimp with a cane, I was glad she wasn’t here to see this. But I wasn’t worried for my kneecaps, more angry at the wraith for turning his reckoning into mine. I’d gotten no answers and fixed nothing, and now I was on the ropes with Zephyr observing the whole ordeal.
I glanced at him. His red hair was pinned back withbobby pins, so there was nothing to hide the flush on his face, and his hands were knotted in his lap.
Setting my jaw, I squared myself with Maslow. “How much? I’ll cut you a check.” I reached into my jacket for my money clip and had barely gotten it out when the wraith shook his head.
“Put that away,” he said. “I want other things from you, Beckett. Surely you recall?”
The question hung in the air, and I floundered for only a moment before everything became clear.
“Fairmont.” The word felt like a curse.
“Bingo!” Maslow crowed. “You close that deal for me, and I’ll consider us even. Might even throw in a few passes for future use. You seem to have developed a bit of a habit.” He indicated Zephyr again, who I wished like hell had never been brought into this. Not when I was beside him rather than in front. I got the impression he’d endured enough of Maslow’s abuse without also suffering for my sins.
Still…
“I’m not touching Fairmont,” I said. “But I’ll pay. How much?”
“Depends.” Maslow pitched back, bridging his fingers, making a show of it. Then he smirked. “How many times have you fucked him?”
My grip tightened on the clip in my hand. “You charging by the orgasm?”
Maslow looked at Zephyr and repeated the question with gravel in his tone. “How many?”
Zephyr gaped. When he glanced at me, something in my chest twinged. “I-I don’t know,” he stammered.
Maslow slanted forward in his chair, palms on the desktop, brow low and dark over his eyes. “Lie to me again, andit’s your ass,” he hissed. “You’re lucky Mister Beckett is amenable, or I’d throw you back in the pit and drag out another slut who won’t try to swindle me.”
“What the hell, Maz?”
The twinge was nothing compared to the rush of rage that drove me to my feet. My glamour, the polished shell shielding my infernal form from the world, wavered. Just a flicker, but I felt it, and from the look on Zephyr’s face, he saw it.
That thing wasn’t me. That hulking, gray-skinned brute with its curling black horns and lashing tail, its cloven hooves and clawed hands. I had cut myself off from that devilish visage long ago. It was a suit that never fit, a skin I’d outgrown but couldn’t quite shed.
“Eleven!” Zephyr blurted, his voice sharp with panic as he flinched back from both Maslow and me. “Ten in the car and one in… th-the bathroom.”
“The bathroom?” Maslow laughed. “A crime of convenience, then.”
My anger vanished as I absorbed the fear in Zephyr’s eyes. He’d glimpsed a part of me I barely remembered, and it frightened him.
It frightened me too.
