Page 47 of A Thousand Cuts

His lack of confidence must have been very funny. It was the first time he’d ever seen Ares crack a smile.

“Cane doesn’t leave debts unsettled. Try again.”

“This is recent.”

“It doesn’t matter if it was two seconds ago. If Cane felt he owed you, you’d know about it,” Ares said. He crossed his arms. “So are you sticking around or leaving?”

Liam was left floundering.

He hadn’t exactly thought this all the way through. While his head had been playing out scenarios of just what he was going to say when he got Cane face-to-face, he hadn’t factored in justhowhe was going to get there. Criminal underbosses didn’t exactly have an open-door policy. And Cane more than anyone wasn’t exactly what he would describe as ‘nice and chatty.’

His boyfriend, on the other hand…

“I’ll stick around,” Liam said. “Maybe salvage the night and make some money.”

Ares stepped aside and motioned him on into the darkness. “You might wanna take a layer off then.”

Liam pressed his lips together, holding his jacket tighter. “Thanks for the advice.”

Ares shrugged, dismissing him from his attention.

Liam slipped into the dark hallway, glancing over his shoulder at Ares nervously, like the guy was going to see straight through his skull into his brain. He turned the corner and sighed out his nerves, shaking his hands out before nodding to himself.

He just needed to find Hart. Find Hart, and get him to take Liam to Cane.

It wasn’t a secret that Cane and Hart were together. Liam wasn’t exactly sure about all the details, he only remembered seeing the cursebreaker hanging around and all the weird stuff that had been happening at the time.

It was what had led him to meeting Fix that night.

People screaming, him being pushed, him on the floor sure he was about to be trampled underfoot, and then a strong hand guiding him upward to safety. Protecting him.

Maybe it was stupid to put that interaction on a pedestal and hold it there. Maybe it made no sense to go looking for him to help with his curses just because his eyes were kind and his hands on Liam were firm but gentle.

That feeling of complete and utter safety was what had made him give Fix space in his life, limited as that space was. Fix had given him an out. He’d respected Liam’s rejection. Yet Liam couldn’t make himself make a clean cut. He felt like he had to keep that tiny whisper of a maybe for Fix, even though he knew he’d never let himself have it.

He couldn’t risk it. He didn’t know if he could survive it. There was something about Fix that hit him deeper, pulled him closer. A scratch from him could feel like a stab wound, he already knew it with certainty. Fix could take him apart and destroy him.

Liam wasn’t ready to give him that power.

He stepped into the main room, squinting against the strobe lighting.

Two men were slamming each other against the bars of the cage in the center of the room, people waving handfuls of money and drinks at them as they delighted in the violence.

Liam turned away from it, searching the heaving crowd and familiar dark corners for a three-piece suit and loafers. Cursebreakers, like criminals, didn’t keep regular working hours. Hart might not even be here tonight.

He scanned around some more, praying and hoping one thing could go his way. He might be the world’s most cursed, most unlucky person, but even he had to catch a break somewhere.

He spotted a perfectly coiffed head in the distance and moved quickly, trying to skirt through the crowd and keep him in sight.

He was so focused he didn’t notice the hand that snapped out to grab him.

He gasped and startled as he was pulled into a lap, lips immediately at his ear.

“Long time no see, doll.”

Liam shivered, but not with pleasure. It was revulsion crawling across his skin as O’Malley’s face flashed through his mind. Green eyes, a snide smile, and large hands that hurt. He tried to free himself and get back to his feet. “I’m not working tonight.”

“Plans change all the time,” O’Malley said, holding on to him without mercy. “Surely you can spare a little time for me.”