Page 32 of Clash

His head shot up, but I already moved away from the door, and was back to resting against my bike as I waited for her to come outside.

A few minutes later, the door opened, and by the stunned look of shock paralyzing her face, she was definitely surprised to see me.

“Hello, Gina. Leaving so soon?”

She looked petrified, gripping her son’s hand even tighter.

“I’m leaving,” she quickly stated. “And you can’t stop me.”

I held up my hands, leaning against my bike with a grin on my face. “I told you before that I wouldn’t.”

“Then why are you here?” she asked, her head swiveling from side to side nervously. She scanned the streets, almost like she expected someone to grab her. Nobody would touch her, at least not with me sitting out here.

Shrugging my shoulders, I moved away from my bike, casually strolling up to her with my hands shoved in my pockets. “I’m invested, I guess. That teddy bear was pretty expensive.”

Alex clutched his stuffed animal like I was going to take it from him.Don’t worry, buddy. The teddy is all yours.

“I knew it!” she screeched. “I knew you were going to try to extort me.”

“Extort?”

“Blackmail… call it what you want.”

I had to chuckle. Blackmail was definitely something I was very familiar with. Thoughts of my threesome with Shasta and Snyder came rushing back. I had to admit, a part of me did slightly miss Shasta, she was a damn good fuck, but for some reason, she didn’t get my heart pumping like the frightened street urchin in front of me.

“Blackmail can be fun if used for the right reasons.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to be one of your hookers, Clash. So, don’t even think about asking.”

I couldn’t hold in the laughter that belted out of me. She actually thought I was going to sell her ass on the street.

Fuck that! No man’s touching her unless it’s me.

This possessiveness shit is getting old. What the fuck is wrong with me? It hasn’t even been a week, and I’m acting like she’s mine.One kiss—one fucking kiss and she’s got my head all fucked up. It’s madness! Straight up madness I tell you!

“Why are you laughing?” she asked, shifting uncomfortably.

“I’m laughing because you actually thought I was going to try to pimp you out. What kind of man do you think I am?”

She took a step back. “Honestly, I don’t know. You really confuse me.”

“Confusion can be fixed with understanding, sweetheart. Maybe if you had stuck around my loft, you would’ve realized that I actually had a legit job interview lined up for you. Not that it matters, but the job was cleaning houses, not hooking streets. But I’m guessing your hoity-toity ass is too good for that shit, am I right?” I wasn’t about to tell her about Lela’s side hustle, especially since Lela told me not to.

She scoffed. “I’ll have you know, I’m a very good house cleaner. I just assumed that a guy like you…”

“Would what? Run a sex ring? Pimps girls out for fun? Sweetheart, I don’t need to pay for pussy, it naturally gravitates to me.”

“Mommy, what’s pussy?”

Gina shot me an angry look, and I had to stifle my laugh. “See, you’re already a bad influence on him and it hasn’t even been a week!”

Shaking my head, I laughed. “He’s a fucking parrot, Gina. All kids that age are. And, buddy, haven’t you ever heard the phrase pussy cat? It’s just what we call cats out here.”

Alex nodded his head. “Oh! I get it! Mommy, does that mean that pussy gravitates toward me too? You always say that cats love me, but not as much as you love me.”

Gina looked absolutely mortified. “You’re not helping this,” she scolded, giving me the evil eye.

I held up my hands, but hiding my smile wasn’t going to happen—this kid was fucking amazing. “Hey now, I tried to fix it the best I could.”