“That’s it?” I hollered after the man. “That’s all you’re going to tell me?”
He glanced over his shoulder, almost like he was startled to hear me talk again. “Brick, do take some parting advice. When someone gives you an out, make sure you fucking take it.”
As the van sped away, I stood in the parking lot, my mouth opening and closing like a fish. Who the hell would bail me out? I racked my brain, trying to think of someone from the old days, maybe an acquaintance from the fighting world, but none of them had enough money to do something like this. And anyway, I doubted anyone so much as remembered my name, outside of thinking of me as the guy whose boyfriend tried to rob the boss.
I thought maybe there had been some mistake. Maybe someone had tried to pay off a different man’s debt, or maybe it was a trap after all. Maybe this whole thing was one big fucking trap, and I was the shortsighted asshole who walked right into it.
But then my phone beeped, startling me out of my thoughts. I pulled it from my pocket, ready to see some twist, another demand for another fight. Instead, it was a message from Ezra.
“Meet us at the Steel Rose? Tonight at five?” He followed it up with a string of hearts and flowers.
Fucking hell,I thought.I should have guessed.
