Page 23 of The Hitman's Virgin
This made Callie stop in her tracks as she looked toward Violet. Something wasn’t right, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
Violet looked back toward her, and she shrugged. “What more do you want me to say to you? You want me to ask about your life? You want to brag to me about how you got out of Guy’s Titties and don’t have to look back?”
Callie felt that guilt sweep up and take complete control. “I didn’t mean—”
“No, you didn’t, because like everyone else you look at us as if you’re better than us. Do you think I want to take my clothes off and have men drooling over me? Do you think I like it? My mom, bless her soul, told me if I didn’t take school seriously, I’d regret it.” Violet suddenly laughed. “She wasn’t wrong. You don’t think I don’t know how fucked up my life is?”
“I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just trying to make conversation. I’m so sorry.”
“Shit!” Violet said shaking her head. “I can’t do this. You’ve got to run.”
This made Callie frown. “What?”
“I don’t know what shit you’ve done, or who you’re involved with, but you’ve got to run. Leah always said you were one of the good ones and we had to watch each other’s backs, and now, fuck. I don’t want to do this.”
She was so confused. “I have no idea what you’re talking about right now.”
“What shit are you into, Callie?” Violet asked. “There are some bad guys. They came in earlier tonight, and they started … trashing the place. Beat the shit out of Guy, tried to get him to talk.” Violet laughed, but it was not an amused laugh. She sounded hurt, and a little hysterical. “All the time I’ve been working for him, I thought he was a sellout. That he wasonly interested in making money and didn’t give a shit what happened to us girls.”
Callie saw that Violet was crying and immediately went to her. The moment she was close enough, she wrapped her arms around Violet and felt the other woman shaking. This was not how she imagined Violet ever being. She saw Violet as a strong woman. A woman who didn’t give a fuck about the world, and was only after a good, comfortable life.
“You know, he didn’t say a word about you, even though they kept hurting him,” Violet said. “Guy took a beating for you, and he tried to get them to leave us alone. Leah’s there, and they’ve threatened her kids. They knew you’d come. They knew you were close. I don’t know how they knew, but they’ve got Leah, and they said if we didn’t help, they were going to kill her kids.”
Callie gasped and felt her gut twist. Leah loved her babies. It was why Leah worked at Guy’s Titties. This couldn’t be happening.
In a brief moment, she looked behind her, knowing if Violet had told her this, she could have gotten Evander to help. There was no time to go back. Violet looked terrified. She couldn’t just walk away.
Fear ran up her back. What could they want with her? She was nobody. There was no way she could leave Leah and Violet, and even Guy in the hands of thugs. She had no cell phone, no way of contacting Evander. She had no idea if he was even still there.
“What do I do?” Violet asked.
There was only one thing they could do, and Callie grabbed her hand. “It’s going to be okay.”
She had no way of knowing that, but she was not going to allow these women, or her ex-boss, to suffer. She had no ideawhat she had done to deserve this. All she knew was, she had to trust in Evander to come for her.
“Wait,” Violet said, pulling on her hand. “If you go to the bar, they’re going to hurt you.”
Callie took a deep breath because she needed to. She needed to get her senses together. Right now, it felt like every nightmare was merging into one. She was not going to let Leah suffer, or her children. She was not that kind of person.
“They have Leah and they’re threatening her kids?” Callie asked.
Violet frowned. “But we could leave.”
And she saw the real fear in Violet’s eyes.
“You can go,” Callie said. “I can deal with this on my own.”
She didn’t expect anything from Violet. Whoever these people were, they were looking for trouble. Callie had no money, nothing of value, and never crossed the line with anyone. There was no good reason strange men would want to hurt her.
“No,” Violet said. “I’m not letting you face this alone. I’ll deal with it.”
****
Evander made his way to the bathroom and quickly washed his hands, looking at his reflection in the mirror. It felt good to have all the shit off his chest. Callie knew the truth, and she hadn’t gone running for the hills. This was good news.
Running fingers through his hair, he made his way out of the bathroom, still completely naked. He saw Callie had put on her clothes, but as he looked around her small apartment, she wasn’t even here.
“Callie?”
