Page 21 of Shadow Man
“Wanna bet?”
There’s a sharp click as she follows me out and blocks my path to the basin. She’s tall and lithe, a wild-eyed sexy-as-hell Colombian panther, and she’s filling out her tight, white mini-dress in all the right places. Her pretty face is dominated by slanting cheekbones, red lips, and framed with a ton of silky, poker-straight, angelic dark hair… Still, I was right about one thing:
She’s trouble.
She looks it, she smells of it—her spicy perfume coercing my senses down a road less traveled. There’s an invisible halo hanging above her head that’s stained and tarnished. The red rose tattoo on her left shoulder is all twisted up in thorns, and her leather cowboy boots are giving off a boho vixen devil-may-care vibe.
Her eyes contradict her, though.
They’re so dark they’re almost black, with a sharpness and intelligence that cuts through the crap. They’re like a storybook for her true personality, and she reminds me so much of Eve that my heart screams in agony.
I go to step around her, but she mimics my actions.
“You want to disappear,” she states again, blinking slowly. “I can help you.”
“I’m onvacation.” I glare my second lie at her, but she deflects it easily.
“Oh yeah?” She goes to touch my hand and I flinch away, my bag smacking into the sidewall. “You know you have purple bruises all the way down your arm.” She gestures at them with a frown. “Fingermarks stain real harsh when they’re gift-wrapped by a sadistic asshole.”
I back away from her like she’s made of anthrax. “Screw hygiene. I’ll find another restroom.”
“I’m offering you a lot for something that’s gonna cost your ass all of five seconds,parcera,” she singsongs after me. “You do this, and I’ll put an invisibility cloak around you so tight, no abusivemalparidoswill ever find you again.”
Her confidence hits me with the same potency as her perfume—knocking me off balance and daring me to believe.
“Why would you do that? You don't know anything about me.”
“You got another option tucked away in your black overnighter?” She cocks her eyebrows, interpreting my bravado for what it is:as empty as my soul.“Afterward, I get you safe, and then I disappear. No questions. No comeback. I promise.”
I could waste hours assessing the pro and cons of this craziness, but it’s a weighted fight. I have nowhere to go, and even less money to do it on.
“Why do you think I’m running?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “You’ve got the hunted look. I’ve worn it myself a few times, but I’m happy to say it doesn't suit either of us… We share the same taste in men,” she admits with a sigh, her dark eyes grilling a backstory into mine.
There’s a pause. “Is it illegal?”
“To smack women about? Yeah,” she scoffs, “but it never seems to stop them.”
“No, my part in this deal.”
“Ah.” She folds her arms and leans her ass against the basin. “You want me to lie?”
“Nope.”
“It’s skimming a fine line.” She flashes me that wicked grin again. “But only for five seconds. That’s what we agreed, right?”
“Right,” I confirm, dropping my bag to the floor. “What do you need?”
“Your help,” she says simply.
That’s when I know she needs this favor as much as I need hers.
“How dexterous are you?” she asks.
“Dexterous?” I scrunch up my face in confusion.
“I need to settle a dare, but my stupid dress is getting in the way.”