His lips move across my cheek and he groans in my ear. “Are you serious? Finally, things are on somewhat of an even keel, and you’ve got to be in early? Who can I fire?”
“Cath and Roy.”
“Ah.”
“We’re going over the timeline and all the deliverables.”
“Oh yeah, I do remember something about that. I’ve got to report my stolen laptop to the police. Not that I’m holding out much hope of getting it back.”
“Ah, about that …”
“What?”
“I promised Cady you wouldn’t do that as a deal to get your phone.”
He starts laughing as he pulls back and looks down at me, shaking his head. “Badass,” he says with a grin.
I leave James in his boxers, mid-shave, and I’m half a block away from the apartment when I hear footsteps right behind me. Before I can even turn, a hand grips my shoulder.I am so goddamn tired of being accosted in the street.But then a voice snarls in my ear, low and intimate.
“She fucking left me because of you.”
Jake. His fleshy fingers curl around my neck. I open my mouth and close it again, gasping as his grip tightens. Fuck, I can’t breathe! This is one of those moments when you wish you’d taken the first aidandthe self-defense classes in high school. In fact, I’m sure I did do both. I lift my foot to stomp on his, and he chuckles, breath hot against my skin.
“You know all that self-defense bullshit doesn’t work if the person who’s got hold of you has got a knife, don’t you?”
He lifts a long, shining blade in front of my face, and my eyes widen on his hand. Holy shit, he’s insane! I’ve never seen him with a weapon of any kind. If you’d asked me, I’d have said he wasn’t dangerous and, overall, kind of stupid. Well, who’s the stupid one now?
“You thought I didn’t know where you lived, didn’t you? Fancy place, this. Been following you for a bit, watching you go in and out. Shacked up with your boss. Good move, girl. He’s gotta be making a mint to afford to live here.”
I gag a few times as I try to force some words out, and he tightens hisgrip, hissing in my ear again: “I had it good for a while, too, girlie, and you ruined it.” He gives a horrible gurgling chuckle. “Always knew you’d ruin it for me one day. You’d look at me with those big gray eyes of yours, and I’d think one day, I’m going to have to deal with that kid.”
“Jake,” I manage to squeeze out through his chokehold.
“Your mom and me had an understanding. I did what she asked me to do, and she turned a blind eye a lot of the time. Like I said, a good life. You gave her your money, and she passed it on to me.”
He’s clearly not stupid at all. He maneuvered my mom exactly where he wanted her, and she’s got a good radar for people. Somehow, he boxed me in, too.
“Jake,” I choke out, finally, as the pressure on my neck eases slightly. “N-not what you think. I pay rent here. They’re doing me a favor. It takes most of my pay.”
“Why you wasting cash on a place when you could be living with Jakey and handing it straight to him, eh?”
I can’t say it’s because he groped me; that’ll just rile him up. Even I’m not stupid enough to provoke a guy with a knife. Particularly one that might be high. “Close to work. I told Mom.” The pressure on my neck eases a little more. “There are emergencies sometimes—late nights. We’re on call when systems go down.” I’m making it up as I go along, but that sounds convincing to me.
He grunts. “And you couldn’t do a favor for little old Jakey, eh? That man of yours must have some serious dough.”
“It’s not his place either! He’s looking after it for a friend who’s gone abroad for two years.”
“Why don’t I believe you?” he hisses.
“If you let go of me, I’ll get James out here, and you can ask him.”
“You think I’m letting go of you, you bitch? You got away from me twice already, girl, and that is not happening again till I get my cash.”
“Jake. The company I work for is a small startup. Those kinds of companies don’t make any money until they’re bigger. It’s in debt up to its eyeballs, funded by a big financial firm.” I try to wave a hand toward downtown. I have no real idea how Williams Security is financed, but it all sounds plausible.
I swear, Jake didn’t use to go around intimidating people; he’s usually an appeaser. James went out to Queens and talked to this guy, and he thinksI’mmad for going out there. My breath evens out as my brain starts to come back online.
“What’s all this about, Jake? This isn’t like you, threatening people.”
