“Good question,” he said. “Deborah Slater has money, connections, and debts she could call in. What do you have?”
If Slater had gone to Jonah Carrow for help, the answer to that question would have been easy. She hadn’t, though. In her head, she’d gone to some stranger who might or might not have any idea what was going on. So why had she decided to ask him for help last night?
“Nothing,” Jonah said after a second. He shrugged when Levi looked unimpressed. “I’m new in town. I’m not a player. I’ve no money, no connections, and no dogs in this fight. At a guess, I’m the closest thing to a neutral party she could see.”
Shiloh shifted position. “What gave her the idea you’d not just think she was crazy?”
The key to a good lie was a little bit of truth. Sometimes, though, you just had to toss in a chunk of the stuff.
“Because I’m from Babylon,” he said. “Crazy or cursed is what we learn instead of stranger danger.”
It took a second, but finally, Levi smirked.
“What the fuck. Like you say, you’ve no ties to us, so if you fuck it up, I won’t lose face. And maybe you’re the opportunity the bird talked about.” He reached back and slapped Shiloh on the stomach with the back of his hand. “You and Witch fill him in on how Debbie fucked us over and how she can make it right. Make sure he understands the stakes.”
Shiloh flexed his hand. Blood seeped through the cotton in splotches.
“I think he’s clear on that,” he said.
“Make it crystal for him,” Levi told him. “Before he makes the mistake of thinking we trust him.”
That hadn’t even crossed Jonah’s mind, any more than he’d trust them.
Shiloh pushed Jonah up against the wall. His hand was braced flat against Jonah’s chest, the spread from finger to thumb reminiscent of Levi’s tattoo. He was close enough that Jonah could feel the heat of his body through their clothes.
“You lied to me,” Shiloh said, his voice low and dark.
It wasn’t a question, and he wasn’t wrong. Jonah could have tried to spin a story that covered his ass, but he’d only ever been an OK liar. Workmanlike. It had been Ram who could make people doubt their own name, never mind whether or not they’d found his hand in their wallet.
“Yeah,” Jonah said. “In my defense, I didn’t think you’d ever know. Then it turned out I was in over my head, so here I am.”
Shiloh closed his eyes for a moment, as if he needed to decide if he was annoyed or amused. His jaw clenched, the muscle tight under tanned skin, and then relaxed as amusement won. The corner of his mouth curled up in a dry, brief smile.
“You’re lucky you’re cute.”
Jonah snorted at that. Cute was subjective, he supposed, but lucky?
If nothing else, at least he knew they didn’t suspect who he really was. Jonah had always lived down to his name.
“Yeah,” Jonah said. “You should see me when I get all scrubbed up.”
Something dark and raw and hungry flashed over Shiloh’s face, as if he’d just thought of something filthy. It made Jonah flush in response and his stomach clench.
Then the heat was gone, shuttered behind a watchful expression and two-tone eyes. Shiloh studied him for a moment and then straightened his arm to push himself off Jonah.
“I don’t mix business and pleasure,” he said. Witch tossed him a bottle of beer, and he caught it midair. “It gets messy.”
Jonah licked his lips as he watched Shiloh walk over to a table in the corner of the bar.
That’s the best part, he thought, but managed not to say it out loud.
Jonah took a deep breath and rubbed his chest absently; the memory of that bone-and-muscle weight on top of him settled straight to his balls. The urge to show off fidgeted along his nerve endings and in the bones of his hands.
Something small buttidy. A whisper in his ear or the cold chill of a finger down his back, the snap of Witch’s bottle in her hand.
Hex-craft wasn’t easy to flirt with. It was death and blood magic, and the outcomes always tasted of that.
It was probably for the best. Jonah peeled himself off the wall and cracked his knuckles. He wasn’t here to impress anyone. In fact, after this was over, with any luck none of them would even think of it again.
