Page 7 of Fire
“But you can keep that from happening, right?” Since Cash is the Reivers’ head enforcer, he’s been keeping them off my tail. “You can pretend you can’t find me.”
“Sure,” Cash says, and I take a deep breath of relief I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “I can stall for a while, but as you know, Digger is a crazy, unpredictable bastard. He might send another chapter after you or wake up one morning and decide to do it himself.”
“But—”
“Trust me. You don’t want them to find you without anyone there to protect you. It will make me scaring the shit out of you and burning down your cabin look like I came over for afternoon tea.”
I gulp and look around my place and, for the first time, realize how easily it would be to break into my crappy apartment.
Cash must read my sudden concern in my silence. “Relax, Evan. That’s why we sent Luca over there. He’s going to watch out for you.”
I’d been purposely ignoring Luca’s presence in my apartment, but now I turn back toward him, let my eyes travel over him, and perform a thorough inspection. This time, not with lust—well, maybe a little lust—but my main objective is tojudge his ability to go against the Reivers and keep them from killing me.
What I see is impressive. Very impressive. A body seemingly designed for power and strength.Is that enough, though?
“How can he protect me from the kind of threat you and Johnny keep telling me I’m under?” I don’t bother lowering my voice. My apartment is tiny. Luca will hear my words even if I whisper. “He’s only one man.”
Cash lets out a laugh that sounds more edged with irony than humor. “Look into some of the Reivers lore that I know you’ve collected over the years and you’ll realize Luca is the exact man you want going into battle for you with a bunch of Reivers.”
The journalist in me prods to question his assertion. “How can you be sure about that?”
“Because I’ve seen it for myself, and I think we’ve had enough interactions between us, both good and bad, that you know I don’t bullshit you.”
“We have,” I admit.
“Then do me a solid and play nice with Luca, keep up your part in this fight, and write your next article, so one day, none of us will have to worry about the Reivers being a threat to any of us ever again.”
He hangs up, and I’m left staring at the man looking at me a little too smugly now that we both know he’s not going anywhere.
It pisses me off, and in danger or not, I refuse to let him rule my life.
“We need some ground rules,” I tell him.
“Sounds good,” he says easily. “I’ll start.”
“Wait! I meant?—”
“I’m here to keep you safe,” he says, then stops speaking.
“And?” I wait for him to expand.
He shrugs. “That’s it. This is your home. You can set all the ground rules you want, and I’ll respect them.” He meets my eyes, and I ignore the way having all his attention focused on me causes my skin to warm. “Unless I think those ground rules of yours will put you in danger.”
“And then what happens?”
He shrugs. “I ignore them.”
Paying no attention to my sputtering reaction, he walks around my apartment. His examination of my personal belongings feels too intimate in the small space, making me feel exposed. When he starts moving my writing desk from its place in front of my window, he’s gone too far.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I demand while getting in his way and blocking him from moving my desk an inch more than he already has.
“Moving your desk.”
“I see that,” I hiss. “And why exactly are you redecoratingmyapartment?”
“So you don’t get a bullet in the head while you write your next brilliant article.”
At the word brilliant, my brain goes offline for a few seconds.Call it the cost of a lifetime of being hungry for praise and being denied it. Luca uses my distractionto sidestep me and move my desk to the half wall in front of the kitchen.
