“That’s not fair!” I shouted, pushing him away as I struggled to get around him. He walked me against the wall and slammed his left hand over my head, leaning in hard.
“Be nice.” He bit his lip and lowered his eyes again.
I got scared. Sanchez stopped smiling and I cowered like a cornered animal, now understanding why they lashed out violently. He bent forward and licked the tip of my nose. I wrinkled my face, turning away from him.
“Five large, or one night with me and I’ll give you a discount. I’ll be real sweet. But if you don’t pay him what he’s owed, then I start taking fingers,” he said, lifting my right hand up between us. “Starting with the pinky.”
Faster than a heartbeat, Sanchez shoved my pinky finger into his mouth and clamped his teeth down hard. I tried to pull it out, but when I felt them lock on the bone, the threat became vividly real. This man didn’t really want to sleep with me—he wanted to mess with my head before he minced me up.
Sanchez closed his lips around my finger and eased up, so I quickly pulled it out and wiped my hand on my jeans.
“I’m not doing anything with you,” I growled. “When does Delgado want his money by?”
He tucked his business card in the hem of my skirt. “Saturday,” he said, backing up and stalking out.
“That’s in three days!”
As he opened the door, Sanchez glanced unapologetically over his shoulder. “Noon, Saturday. If you bring half the money, then I’ll… I’ll just take your pinky toe,” he said with a dark laugh, briskly walking out the door and into the night.
I slid down the wall. “Oh God, what did you get me into, Grandma?” I whispered.
***
That night, I made a desperate decision. I devised a scheme to deduct money from the company account to pay off Delgado. I had access to the account to pay bills and Lexi wouldn’t notice the transaction right away. My plan was to redeposit my own paychecks until I covered the amount withdrawn. I knew it was wrong, but I didn’t know what else to do.
When I got home, I refilled my wolf’s water dish and poured him some dog food I’d picked up at the store. He lapped up the water but only sniffed the food before scratching to go out. He was acting peculiar since I’d walked in the door. When I had first sat down, he wouldn’t stop smelling my right hand.
And growling.
Something deep, dark, and ferocious that made my stomach feel all fluttery and reminded me of how wild he might actually be. But his leg had improved, so out he went while I got on the laptop and transferred company funds over to my personal account.
It was one of the hardest things I’d ever done because I’d crossed an ethical line. I was stealing and could wind up in jail because of it, not to mention I was betraying Lexi.
Hermie and Salvador paddled around in their fishbowl without a care in the world. I stared between Sanchez’s business card and the one Maddox had left behind. I wondered if borrowing money from one shark to pay off the other would get one of them off my back.
Which wasn’t a bad idea.
I already owed Maddox more than I could possibly pay, but at least he wasn’t threatening my life or my fingers. If my grandma had borrowed frequently from the man, she must have trusted doing business with him.
My cell phone rang, pulling me away from my thoughts.
“Hello?”
“How’s my April Showers?”
“Hey, Trevor. Where are you?”
He sighed. “A Burger King in bumfuck nowhere. I wanted to eat inside, but a couple of rednecks were giving me the Deliverance stare. Did you ever see that movie? It gives me the heebie-jeebies about driving anywhere in the South. Not that I have much of a choice,” he said with a snort. “I got all my stuff packed up.”
“That was fast.”
“Yeah, I did it porn style. In and out.”
“Thanks for the visual,” I said, rubbing my eye.
“I’m headed back tonight.”
Shoot! I hadn’t cleaned. Trevor had visited my home only twice before, but I wanted to tidy things up and make it special since he had been through a rough breakup.
“How long is your drive going to be? If I’m at work when you get here, I’ll have to hide the key somewhere.”
“Don’t sweat it, babe. I’ll be there in less than an hour. Just wanted to give you a heads-up so you don’t freak out and pull a machete on me when I come knocking on your door. And by the way, don’t bother cleaning. I’m not the queen.”
I laughed and put my feet up on the sofa. “I have a new friend living with me temporarily, and I don’t know if he’s going to like you very much.”
“Huh?” His clipped tone was serious and a little pissed off.
“Careful,” I said in a teasing voice. “Jumping to conclusions is an Olympic event.”
“I want that on a T-shirt along with my gold medal. So, who’s this friend whose ass I’m going to kick?”
“A dog. Well, I think. Maybe a wolf.”