“And your son?”
“Marquise but we call him Quise,” he interjects.
“Cute,” she comments. “Is Quise in Austin?”
“Nah. He’s in Fort Lauderdale.”
“How old is he?” she asks.
“Fifteen and trying to get his license,” he says with a proud nod.
“And he’s with your…?” she pries.
“My ex-wife.”
“Oh, you were married. How long?” she asks, then quickly adds. “If I’m being too nosy, you can stop me.”
“We trying to get to know each other. That can’t happen if we don’t talk. So ask what you want. I’ll answer, unless I can’t,” he says because he wants this with her. “I married young. I was twenty-four and Charis and I were married for five years. We’ve been divorced for four.”
After doing the math in her head, based on his son’s age, she asks, “So you were together six years before you got married?”
“Six? Nah. Where you get six from? We got engaged after one year.”
“But your son…” she says, then it hits her.His son is his stepson.“Oh, okay. You knew after one year,” she adds.
“I thought I knew but I was wrong,” he says and she leaves the subject of his marriage at her last sentence. She quickly changes the subject.
“So is this what you do for a living? Find and kidnap people?” she asks with a smirk.
For a moment, he contemplates giving her his normal Army Reserves cover, but because of their unique dynamic and initial meeting, he decides against it. For the first time, he’s going to tell a woman,her,the truth. She deserves it, and for this thing between them to work like he wants, he has to be honest.
“Nah. I find and kill,” he says plainly, then turns to see her facial expression. Her eyes expand slightly and her eyebrows peak then she relaxes, which makes him do the same.
Sunjiya’s calm reaction to his revelation surprises her.He’s a killer. I’m riding in a car with a killer but I’m not scared, not of him.She’s been around enough monsters in her life to recognize one but that’s not the man who rushed to save her during her allergic reaction and definitely not the man she freely gave her body to.
“How many?” she stumbles out.
“Fourteen,” he admits freely and her body stiffens.
It takes her a minute to digest his words, admission, and body count, a long minute. After, she lifts her cup and takes a long sip. Then she opens the lid and shovels ice into her mouth with the straw. As she chews, he glances at her to study her expressive eyes. They often reveal what her words don’t, and right now, they show she’s contemplative.
After eating a few mounds of ice, Sunjiya returns the lid to her cup and places it back in the holder. Then she shifts her body toward him. For a reason she can’t fully wrap her head around, she’s not alarmed by his admission or even scared. However, she does have a very important follow-up question. His answer could cause her to demand he pull over so she can get the hell away from him. Considering her past filled with neglect and abuse, some things are non-negotiable, no matter what.
“How many women and children?” she asks sternly.
“None, not one. I don’t take contracts on women or children. That goes against everything in me. I’m not built like that,” he proclaims, without any hesitation.
Thank God,she thinks but keeps her thoughts to herself. She does sigh audibly, relieved as hell.
“So if Marcelin wanted you to kill Tanjaya—” she begins but he cuts her off.
“Hard no. I barely wanted to take the contract to find her,” he says while shaking his head. “I didn’t feel right about the job from the fucking beginning and should have followed my damn gut and told him no.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. He would have just gotten someone else and that person would have been hired to kill, not find, her. And…” she begins. After resting a hand on his leg, she continues, “You wouldn’t have grabbed me by mistake.” She smiles wryly. “I would have preferred a meeting that didn’t involve a sedative, zip ties, and a gun but I guess a girl can’t be too picky,” she says with a titter.
Her now full smile solicits one from him and he even chuckles a little before saying, “I thought you were her. He didn’t mention a twin. Apparently, he doesn’t know you exist.”
“Most people don’t know there’s two of us,” she admits, then shrugs. “But we are always there for each other when needed. Tanjaya really needs me now, more than I thought. I just hope we find her before he discovers I exist. He’s been at that club in Jacksonville. For all we know, he has friends there. It might get back to him that I was there with you, the man he hired.”
