Page 16 of Empire of Savages
Alex
“We’re going out tonight,”Bliss said as I brought the garage door down for closing. The day had been slow—barely any bookings and zero drop-ins. I hadn’t been able to find a glazier open, so Bliss and I had covered the hole in a sheet of plywood and prayed it was enough of a deterrent for any other would-be thieves or vandals.
“I think I’m still drunk,” I mumbled, my stomach still a little queasy from last night. Bliss seemed to be unaffected, able to party multiple days in a row. I was not so lucky. Unzipping my coveralls, I stepped out of them and hung them on the toilet door hook. Jesus, it felt good to be out of that stifling material, but it was a necessary evil to save my clothes from being covered in grease all the damn time.
Bliss popped her head out of the office. “Then you need hair of the dog.”
“Pretty sure that’s just a morning cure,” I shouted back to her.
“Nope. It’s an anytime cure.” She tugged at my hand, giving me her best pleading face. “Please. For me?”
“Pretty sure you used up yourfor mepass last night.”
She grinned, flashing her straight white teeth. “Oh, please. I get at least five of those per day. Come on. It’ll do you good to get out.”
Trying to forget all the shit in my life did sound good. “Where are we going?”
“A friend of mine invited me to a party.”
“Who is this friend?”
“Just a friend,” she replied in a sing-song voice. She spun me around and pushed me toward the spiral staircase led to my apartment. “Now, go and get ready. I’ll lock up on my way out and meet you back here in thirty. Wear something slutty.”
“I’m not wearing something—” The door between the office and the garage slammed. “—slutty.” I started up the back stairs, wondering why I didn’t say no to this. I had no interest in going out and getting wasted again. My body wasn’t built for repeated alcoholic batterings anymore. But Bliss wasn’t the kind of woman you said no to. I should know.
Opening the door to my apartment, I went straight to the kitchen sink to scrub the grease from beneath my fingernails. Once I’d managed to get most of it out, I stripped out of my shorts and t-shirt and started the shower. I didn’t want to go out tonight, but the thought of staying in my apartment was becoming less and less appealing. The phone call from Maddox last night had me shaken. He wasn’t the kind of man you said no to, and I knew he wouldn’t stop at the phone calls or bloody bricks through my windows. He’d start showing up here soon enough, and I didn’t have the strength to face him yet. Going out with Bliss was the lesser of two evils, really, and at least I could keep an eye on her while I was at it.
After showering and rubbing lotion on my arms and legs, I wandered to my closet and started flicking through the outfits. Pursing my lips, I looked at what was on offer, then sighed. My wardrobe consisted of jeans, jean shorts, and funny cat t-shirts.There was nothing in there that was party appropriate. Maybe because I hated going out, and Bliss damn well knew it.
From the kitchen counter, my phone chimed with a message.
Bliss: I already know you don’t have anything to wear so I’m going to make this easy on you. I’ll be over in fifteen with a dress.
I didn’t bother to text back. Besides, any response I could possibly give her wasn’t going to work. She was tenacious, and if she wanted something, she went out and got it. Dumping my towel, I slipped into my underwear, then drew my robe over my shoulders, tying the sash at the waist. I had fifteen minutes to kill, so I sat down on the couch and started looking over the paperwork that had made it back to the coffee table once more.
Maddox’s money wouldn’t magically materialize no matter how hard I wished for it, so I had to find a way to make it. Bliss was my only employee. I needed her to run the office and field the phone calls, so there was no way I could fire her.
I stared at the papers. Another look over the invoicing for suppliers revealed another possibility. If I stopped using dealer and manufacturer recommended parts, and switched over to the generic ones, I could save myself a lot of money. Not enough to make up the deficit, but enough to maybe make Maddox back off a little.
I didn’t want to skimp on quality, especially not when my customers knew me for that quality, but these were desperate times. First thing Monday morning, I’d make the calls and switch over to the cheaper parts. I’d just dropped the last invoice to the table when the buzzer rang.
I opened the door without bothering to ask who it was, then sat back down. When I heard footsteps on the spiral stairs, I shouted out to Bliss that the door was open.
“You shouldn’t just buzz people in without knowing who they are, baby.”
My shoulders stiffened. My blood ran cold. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Maddox filling the doorframe. Jesus, fuck. My own stupidity was going to get me killed. Licking my dry lips, I asked in a quiet whisper, “What are you doing here?”
He stepped inside. Malice bled from him, and I watched the way he rolled out his neck and shoulders, the movement shifting the jacket of the expensive suit he wore. Dark eyes studied me, calculating weakness. The thing was, he already knew all my weaknesses—both physically and emotionally. A fact he liked to throw in my face repeatedly.
My attention shifted to the movement over his shoulder. There was another man here. A huge mountain of a man with a bald head, wide shoulders, and arms thicker than my thighs. Dressed all in black, he watched me with cold, dead eyes.
“Don’t worry about Reaver,” Maddox said offhandedly. “He’s just here for… motivation.” He laughed and walked farther inside. “You’re looking good, baby.” Maddox’s voice crawled with lust, his dark eyes eating up my exposed skin.
I hugged the robe more tightly around my body. “What are you doing here?”
“I want my money, Alex, and I want it now.”
My heart raced, the blood pounding through my ears. “I already told you. I don’t have it. And breaking my goddamned windows isn’t going to make me get it any faster.”