Page 153 of Fuckboy Psychos (Scarlett Force 1)
“I won’t be eating, but I assure you that I have no problem if you do.”
Huh.
I shrug and accept the menu when the waiter brings it over, ordering a pricey appetizer of bacon-wrapped scallops right off the bat. Not even sure what a scallop is, exactly, other than that it’s seafood, but fuck it. I’ll try anything twice.
“What’s going on, Alexei?” I ask, surprised at how comfortable I feel with this guy despite the fact that we barely know each other. I robbed him at gunpoint once. Watched him stab Pete the Moron in the leg. Blackmailed him into taking me on a date. What help could he possibly need from me? “We both know you didn’t call me just to ask me out.”
My voice sounds a little odd, not like me at all.
I murdered a goon today and here I am, all girl-hurt because this hot guy didn’t ask me on a second date. What the fuck is wrong with me?
Alexei’s gaze swings my way, and he offers up the barest hint of a smile.
“If circumstances had been different, I would’ve asked you out again. You’ve intrigued me, Scarlett Force.” I can’t quite hide how pleased I am at his words, shifting slightly in my seat and putting an elbow on the table. I rest my chin in it, and Alexei’s smile widens just a tad before falling away completely. “If anyone else had kissed me the way you did, I might’ve stabbed a needle into their spleen.”
I don’t find his words to be false bravado. Actually, I believe him more than most people when they make threats like that. Not only did he stab Pete, punch Dale in the solar plexus, and kick Wayne in the face, but he also stopped Aspen from hitting me, moving before I even got the chance to.
Yeah, he’s a bit of a badass.
I believe that he would’ve stuck that needle in me that day if I hadn’t moved away from his car. I can appreciate that. The guy sets boundaries and then follows through with making sure they’re respected. The world would be better off if we could all do that.
“So that’s why you called me today? The kiss? It was an accident, by the way. You didn’t want me to kiss you, and I wouldn’t have under normal circumstances. I’m sort of big into consent, you know?” I don’t tell him that I was frazzled because of that idiot, Aspen Kelly. That’s far too personal to share.
Alexei almost smiles again, but it’s like the expression fizzles away before it can come to fruition.
“I’m not upset by it,” he tells me, turning his head slightly to watch a man and woman making their way across the restaurant to a table in the far corner. As far as our spot, we’re the only people around. The restaurant is fairly empty. Alexei looks back at me, mouth tightening as he considers his words carefully. “Scarlett—”
He pauses as the waiter returns with my drink—they make cherry cokes here, too, but they call ‘em Roy Rogers, apparently. I accept it with a murmured thanks, dragging it in front of me as I watch Alexei’s face scrunch up slightly.
He closes his eyes and exhales, breathing through the reaction, and then opens them again.
I’m at least pleased to see the way he watches me suck on the straw. Even if the idea of touching this glass or this straw grosses him out, I’m not sure that my mouth does. Or at least, it doesn’t skeeve him out nearly as much.
“Scarlett, what?” I ask, leaning back in my seat with my drink in my hands. Would’ve been nice to get some booze but I can’t risk using my fake ID at a place like this. “Just spit it out, Grove.”
He exhales and then leans forward, careful not to touch the surface of the table as he does.
“Last night …” he starts, and then his face just breaks. It’s like watching a small crack in a windshield slowly turn into a spiderweb before it shatters entirely. “Last night, someone murdered my father.”
Um.
I blink at him, my mouth parted around the straw, adrenaline spiking through me.
“What?” I whisper back, looking around to make sure there’s nobody nearby before I lean forward again. “The hell are you talking about?”
“Someone murdered my papa,” Alexei breathes, and now I can see it, how close he is to coming apart completely. More like … he’s about this close to having a violent meltdown. Whoever happens to be in his way when he finally does is going to suffer terribly. “They’re looking for me now, too. I …” He trails off and looks behind him, surveying the room yet again before turning to me. “I came here to see how widespread the corruption was, to see how deep it ran before I made a decision.”
