Page 42 of One for the Money

“Hey, just because I’m happy being a beta bitch doesn’t mean I’m any less dangerous. If you really think about it, not being in charge of shit gives me more freedom to play outside the lines,” Erik argued.

Nodding, I walked up to him, grabbed a fistful of his shirt, and pulled him down so we were nose-to-nose. “Careful there, Big Red, you’re sounding an awful lot like prey pretending to be a wolf.” Pushing up on my tiptoes, I whispered in his ear, “Wolves don’t believe lines exist. Only prey lets themselves become trapped in something so trivial.”

He groaned as I nipped his ear before dropping back on my heels. “Little siren, you are addictively fucking dangerous.”

“Keep talking like that, and you might just see how addictive I can be,” I warned with a wink as I backed up toward my closet. “I’m going to get dressed, and then I need to eat some damn food before I get hangry. Trust me, nobody likes me when I’m hangry.”

“Wait… did she just quote The Incredible Hulk?” Erik asked Bear, but I didn’t wait to hear his response.

Done with being trapped in the house, I skipped across the gravel driveway to the garage. It was dark out, but it wasn’t late enough that we couldn’t find a restaurant to eat at. Erik’s sedative had knocked me out for a few hours, so I felt like I’d gotten a second wind that only a nap could provide. With the power of makeup and a strategically placed bandana I’d wrapped around my head, there was no sign of how rough the past few days had been.

“Come on, you guys,” I called over my shoulder. “I’m going to waste away from hunger.”

While I was thrilled to be leaving the house, Bear wasn’t.

“What about the hit Serena put out on you?” Bear reminded me.

“So,” I said with a shrug. “If I didn’t leave the house every time someone wanted to kill me, then I’d never see the outside world. You’re armed, I’m armed, and Erik can keep his head on a swivel.”

“Why don’t I get to be armed?” Erik frowned. “Also, how long do you expect me to wear this damn shock collar?”

“Because you might be a highly-skilled special operative who’s playing the long game and getting me to trust you so you can kill me,” I answered. “Baby steps, Big Red. I’m letting you come tonight instead of locking you up, but the collar stays as a bit of insurance. Now you just need to prove to me I didn’t make a mistake in taking you at your word.”

Both men came to terms that I wasn’t going to be talked out of this, so Bear relented. “Fine, but we’re taking the G-Wagon.”

“Deal, now let’s go,” I urged, leading the way.

Once settled in the SUV with Bear behind the wheel, I started to look up places, trying to decide what I wanted to eat. My current level of hunger was at the point where everything sounded good, and I couldn’t make up my mind.

“Fuck, why is this so hard?” I grumbled.

We stopped at a red light, and Bear looked at me. “Fine, if it’s too hard to pick, then I’ll just surprise you.”

When the light turned green, he made a left into the older part of the city. “Wait, are you going to that one pub the owner named after his daughter's favorite cow? What was its name…” I tapped my chin, trying to dig up that file in my brain's cataloging system. “Oh, I got it, Mootilda. Damn, they seriously have the best burgers. Guess it seems fitting they’d name it after the cow that started the business.”

“What?” Erik blurted, grabbing the back of my seat to pull himself forward. “Are you saying he butchered his daughter's favorite cow then tried to make up for it by naming the restaurant after her?”

I raised a brow, surprised he’d feel so offended for the daughter. “It’s not his fault she didn’t understand the purpose of the cows when he bought them. Personally, I think it was a rather nice thing for him to do.”

Then a thought crossed my mind I hadn’t considered. “Hold up, Big Red, you’re not a vegetarian, are you?”

“Would that be a problem?” Erik asked, trying to hide his smirk unsuccessfully.

I searched his face intently until I was satisfied with the conclusion I landed on and turned to face forward once more. “Feel free to tease me, Big Red. I enjoy a good joke but don’t ever fucking lie to me. The only thing that will earn you is a painful death and a new home six feet in the ground.”

Erik chuckled, sitting back in his seat. “You know, by the time you believe I’m not gonna betray you, I think I’m going to miss my hourly death threat. They’ve become something I look forward to.”

Rolling my eyes, I slid down in my seat and kicked up my feet on the dash. “It's saying things like that that proves you were never really a sheep.”

“Guess that makes me a baaa-boy,” Erik said, causing me to groan at his terrible dad joke but got a snort of laughter from Bear, which proves it was total man humor.

Bear indeed took us to Mootilda’s, where I stuffed my face with the biggest, juiciest burger of my life. It had been a hot minute since we’d come here, and I needed to add this to my list of regular haunts. The server brought over another round of beers and pulled a note from his pocket.

“A guy asked me to give this to you,” he explained when I didn’t take it right away. “Said you looked busy but wanted to make sure you had this information.”

Swallowing the bite I’d been chewing, I quickly took a few gulps of beer so I could talk. “Did he leave a name?”

“No, just pointed to you and gave me a hundred bucks to make sure it got to you right away. Oh, and he said this round was on him, and I got to keep the change,” the server shared.