Page 6

She got smart in her delivery, bringing them to the opposite side of the table from where I’m sitting.
Chloe is gorgeous with thick hair that her tight ponytail doesn’t disguise, and dark green eyes. She’s got a decent rack, but her ass is fucking fantastic and watching her walk away from my table over and over was a treat.
She finishes with the bartender, who gives her a goofy smile as she shrugs on an old leather jacket and unties the apron, stuffing the cash into a pocket on the inside of the jacket.
She takes one bill out and puts it in her regular pocket. Noted. I rise from the table, skirting around the wall to avoid being seen.
It’s got to be close to two in the morning and only one waitress remains, attempting to shuffle her last customers out the door so she can leave.
Keeping to the shadows, I follow Chloe out onto the street. I keep far back, the tap of her high heels making her easy to follow.
We move from the downtown bar into the slums of Vegas where vagrants set up entire camps on the street.
It’s a shit neighborhood and no woman should be out on these streets alone.
I watch Chloe until she turns onto a street full of rundown apartments and then I stop, waiting to see which one she enters.
But that’s when I see the shadows shift.
My muscles tighten and I stop, narrowing my gaze.
Chloe senses it too and she turns, just as a man jumps out of the shadows.
“Give me all your money,” he barks, waving a knife.
“What the fuck, Darrel?” she huffs even as she pulls the bill from her outside pocket and holds it out to the guy. “If you don’t knock this off, I’m calling the cops.”
“Fuck off, Chloe.” He snaps the bills from her fingers and waves the knife. “You call the cops the next time, I’ll slit your throat.”
I’ve heard enough.
I’m moving again, not disguising my steps this time. I don’t know what I want from Chloe, but I am sure as shit not going to let her die until I figure it out.
The guy hears me and spins, holding the knife out in my direction. Not slowing my stride, I bat the knife from his hand then grab him by the throat.
His stench hits me, the smell of a person who hasn’t bathed in a long time. He’s thin. Frail.
Probably an addict. Vegas is full of them. He crumples to his knees. “Don’t hurt me,” he whimpers sounding completely pathetic.
“Give the lady back her money,” I grit out between clenched teeth.
“It’s fine,” Chloe says holding up her hands. “It’s no big deal.”
I think back to when she put that one bill in her pocket. The one she gave this guy. She knew he was going to rob her. She planned on it. How much does he steal from her?
I reach down and grab his wrist, squeezing until the mother fucker opens his palm. It’s a twenty. “How often do you give him a twenty-dollar bill?”
“How do you…” She shakes her head. “What are you even doing here?”
My lips are thin over my teeth as I give the guy a good shake. “Get the fuck out of here. You steal from Chloe again and I’ll slit your fucking throat.”
I let go.
The guy lurches to his feet, falls, gets up again, and stumbles away. He’s left the twenty on the ground and I pick it up, holding it out to Chloe. She doesn’t take it. her eyes are wary as she takes a step back.
“How much money has he taken from you?”
She shrugs. “It’s not a big deal. He uses it to eat sometimes.”