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“I thought you said we had an appointment?” I hiss at Des.

My mate doesn’t look at me, instead shaking his head at the man. “You know better than to mix business with pleasure, Collin.”

Guess that’s the seer. Color me unimpressed.

The Bargainer waves his hand idly, and the clothes the woman is trying to put on fit themselves to her body. She yelps, then scrambles from the room.

“Damnit,” the man says, watching the woman leave before turning his attention to Des. “You could’ve called.”

He has a point—after all, forewarnedisforearmed.

“My clients always say that,” Des says. “Problem is, when I call, they have a bad habit of disappearing, and I have a bad habit of finding them and adding interest to their bill. Really, this is better for all parties involved.”

Collin grabs his discarded shirt and slips it back on.

“What do you want?” he asks, disgruntled. He buttons up his shirt and leans back against the desk.

Going to need a Bible and some holy water to clean the deeds off that piece of furniture.

I feel the breath of Des’s magic leave him. A moment later, it slides the seer’s shirtsleeve up, revealing two jagged tally marks.

I step forward, instantly curious. It’s rare to see one of Des’s clients with more than one of his tattoos. Probably means that Des trusts Collin.

“Remind me again how many months you’ve had these?” the Bargainer asks.

The man pulls his sleeve back down, fidgeting with the cuff; I get a glimpse then of how young he really is. Mid-twenties maybe? And now that I’m looking for it, there are indications that he’s uncomfortable in the clothes he wears.

After what we walked in on, I wasn’t expecting that from this guy.

“I’m willing to pay off my debt,” Collin says. “Just tell me what you want.”

Now I hear Collin’s rough-around-the-edges accent. A scenario takes shape: a kid with promise but not a lot of options approaches the Bargainer. The Bargainer sees something of himself in the young man, so he helps him a little more than his other clients. And thus the young seer has an inspiring rags-to-riches tale and only two debts to show for it.

Collin’s eyes move to me, and there they catch.

“Who’s this?” He asks with a tad more interest than is professional.

“It doesn’t matter who she is. What matters is what you can do for her,” Des says.

The seer’s face turns cocky. He gestures for me to come forward.

“Wash your goddamn hands first,” Des growls. “You’re not touching her after having your fingers in some broad’s pussy.”

Collin raises his eyebrow but gets up. “I see our time apart hasn’t made you any nicer.”

Des’s eyes flick briefly around the room. “I see our time apart has made you richer.”

The seer grunts. Giving me a little nod, he leaves the room.

I turn to the Bargainer. “Why are we doing this?”

Really don’t want to be here.

“Cherub, I personally promise that if Collin does anything you don’t like—”

I open my mouth.

“—other than foreseeing your future—”