Asa (Marked Men #6)(37)

I was also having an issue with Avett.

She hadn’t shown up with any more black-and-blue marks, probably because there was no way Darcy hadn’t told Brite about the showdown with their daughter. There was nothing like an angry father that looked like an ancient Viking warrior, or a modern-day warrior for that matter, to get a handsy boyfriend to back off. But she was sullen, withdrawn, and acted really skittish and jumpy anytime I spoke to her or one of the other staff approached her. I had hired one of Dixie’s friends to work the floor with her and two part-time bartenders to relieve Rome of his shifts during the day. One was a preppy guy still in school that would fit in with the college crowd on the weekends and the other was an older guy that had been around the block a few times. He was a retired Army Ranger and was just as gruff and no-nonsense as Rome, even if he was probably twenty years older. He would be a good fit for the grizzled and grumpy day crew that lingered at the bar. Avett had gone out of her way to be rude to and dismissive of everyone. I was starting to wonder if she needed a good old-fashioned spanking to make her act right instead of getting her ass canned. I just couldn’t figure out what her deal was.

On top of her generally piss-poor attitude and penchant for snarling at anyone that got too close to her, she had asked for her paycheck early and then an advance on her check for the following week. Rome was a nice enough guy to cut her one early, but when he told her no way on the advance she had freaked out. I’d never seen a mostly grown woman throw a tantrum like that, but I was used to watching people, used to reading what was really behind their actions, and I could tell it was an overreaction fueled by fear not greed. Something was going on with the pink-haired handful and it was something not good. I would bet good money it all tied into that shithead boyfriend of hers.

Tonight, when I had cashed the bar out and tried to show the new guy what to do, it had taken three tries of counting out the drawer to realize the drop was a couple hundred dollars short. I counted it, counted it again, and then had the new guy count it twice. Two hundred and twenty bucks was gone, and the only way for it to be missing was for someone to have taken it. The new guy was freaking out, swearing he didn’t give anyone the wrong change, and it took fifteen minutes to assure him that I wasn’t blaming him for the shortage. I also reminded him that there were cameras covering pretty much every single inch of the bar, and that if he ever did want to try something shady, the eye in the sky was watching.

I made the drop short, left a note on Rome’s desk for him to call me in the morning, and briefly told him my suspicions without naming names. I couldn’t imagine Avett was stupid enough to take money out of the till knowing she was being watched, but I also knew firsthand just how brazen and bold desperation could make a person.

I only had a few minutes when I got home to make the place look presentable, not that it ever was going to look like anything other than a dump, but I tossed the clothes littering the floor into the hamper, changed the sheets, and made sure there weren’t any dirty dishes in the sink. I shouldn’t care if Royal thought I lived like a pig, but old habits died hard, and being seen as lacking even if it was simply all I could afford grated on my ego.

I looked at the clock on the microwave and realized I wasn’t going to have time to take a shower if she showed up right at three, so I poured some scotch into a plastic cup and tossed it back. I think I was nervous that she wouldn’t show. It was stupid. This was Royal. She chased down danger and jumped feetfirst into the fire on purpose. A soft knock hit the door right on time.

I pulled it open and then grunted in surprise when she swept past me with obvious impatience. She had a giant purse on her arm that she threw on the recliner and then turned to look at me with a deliberate toss of her long hair. She had on shiny black heels, and her hair was down and glimmered like a luxurious pelt. All she seemed to have on was a black peacoat that was belted at her waist and hit her right in the middle of her bare thighs. There were endless miles of bare legs on display and that sent every thought I had fleeing and all the blood in my body rushed to the part of me rising in readiness below my belt. I felt my eyebrows shoot up to my hairline as I shut the door behind her dramatic arrival and leaned back against it as my heart slid all the way to my knees and then back up.

“So you finally have a coat on.” I couldn’t keep the humor out of my voice even if the timbre changed as she turned to look at me with heavy-lidded dark eyes.

The corner of her mouth kicked up in a sexy little smirk and I wondered if she would hurt me if I tackled her to the floor with zero finesse.

“Not for long.” She lifted her hands to the top button and watched me as she popped it open. I felt my breath freeze in my lungs, and every single thing in the world hinged on her moving down to the next button on that coat.

“Couldn’t sleep again?” I asked. She shook her head slowly from side to side and her fingers moved to the second button. She kept her eyes locked on mine as she slipped it from the hole.

“I was asleep. You woke me up.”

I wanted to put my hands in her hair and I wanted to put my mouth on that tantalizing trail of skin that she had bared on the top of her chest. I thought maybe it would hurry her little game along if I narrowed the playing field a bit. I was a master at playing games … and winning. I reached up and tugged my shirt off over my head in one move. I tossed it on the recliner and felt a swell of masculine pride when I saw the pulse at the base of her throat flutter in response. Her fingers moved on the third button and circled it. She also took a step back toward the bed, which had me automatically moving toward her.