Page 13 of The Handyman

“Why are you so good to me, huh?” she asked.

My brows knitted at the rhetorical question, or was Riley really expecting an answer? WhywasI so good to her?That’s easy.“Because I want you to like me—duh. I don’t screw around with my relationships, you know. Plus, you owe me. I got you donuts you didn’t even ask for. I’m an entitled, rich white guy that expects to fuck when I so much as glance in your general direction.”

She laughed again.

Such a pretty, light laugh that I couldseriouslyget used to. I stood up to start unbuttoning my shirt.

Riley’s expression was really pure. She didn’t necessarily look happy, but there was this peacefulness about her that radiated from her pores like a furnace on high.

“Seriously, though, Riley. I figured you can’t do that if you think I’m only doing this out of pity. I’m not. I’m doing it because I wanna fuck you on a regular basis.”

“Did you treat your last sub like this?”

Walking around the bed to jostle open Riley’s gym bag, I grunted lowly as Sarah’s fuzzy image blossomed in my mind’s eye. She and I weren’t really compatible, but a blowjob was a blowjob, so…“No. I don’t treat anyone like this.”

Her eyes widened at my admission.

I arched a brow quizzically.

Slowly sitting up, Riley reached to rub her hair.

Pure affection wiggled between my ribs. Taking out her dress, I grabbed my own clothes that I’d thrown in her bag with a small smile tilting my lips.

10

Reece

“What’s up, Vanessa? I’m in the middle of dinner.” Vanessa rarely called me; most of her communication was via text or email. Leaning back in the booth to frown, I hung my arm over Riley’s shoulders as a slight ruffling tickled my ear.

“You got a job request, and I’m not sure what to do.”

My brows rose high in surprise and I almost choked on my own spit at that. Sliding out of the booth, I ignored Riley’s curious glance as I strode for the patio doors. “What job?” My jobs ranged from grabbing people to cleaning up messes and everything in between. I was a handyman, good for anything and willing to do anything for the proper price. There wasn’t a job I wouldn’t do, as my main client was Carlyle Santino and I trusted him not to fuck up my security.

“One of the requests pinged a contact in your phone, so Jerry took it down and sent it to me. I double checked, so I thought you’d want to know about it. Someone took a hit out on your girlfriend.”

My vision blurred briefly as I tensed, and Vanessa went quiet as my brain tried to figure out that last part. Disbelief raged in my chest, and I cleared my throat roughly to stop it closing altogether. “What thefuckdid you just say?” Growling menacingly, I automatically glanced over my shoulder to watch Riley pick at her pasta. “Who requested it?”

“I don’t know, yet. We haven’t gotten to that stage. Did you want me to assign you the job?”

I scoffed roughly at the question.

Vanessa rustled through the phone as she switched ears. “The person wants proof sent to a burner. Do you want me to keep an eye on it— see if it comes online?”

“Yeah. Send the confirmation. Find out who the fuck did this. And, Vanessa—” Inhaling deeply, I flopped my head back and exhaled slowly in a futile attempt to calm down. The frigid air stung my lungs, but I was raging too hot. “I have a feeling Brighton at Black Cat can help. He still owes me, so if he gets slimy, tell him we’ll be even.”

“Ok.”

I hung up, covering my mouth to hide my snarl as I started to pace furiously. All requests were pending until approved, but if that dick of a man found our dark site, he probably made the request on others, too. Frankly, I was pretty well-known, but it wasn’t like some idiot with a gun would look too hard into a job.

Most guys would do some PI work to cover their asses, at the very least, but not all. Money was money was money.

“Shit— why now?” Anxiety zinged down my spine to stiffen my legs, and I paused at my own grumble. “The guy hasn’t even tried to get back into Black Cat. . .”

Beating a woman despite knowing it’s against the rules means he’s confident that he can scare her into keeping quiet.But that was almost all I knew of the situation, which meant I had to ask Riley about it. Even not showing up, I didn’t know if that was out of the ordinary for this guy. Maybe, he was a once-a-weeker like Riley, or he was just going because his friends were, and they got bored when he got banned.

“Damn.” I headed back inside, rolling my shoulders to stop them from looking so stiff. Glancing through the restaurant, my eyes narrowed into slits. Slowly walking the short distance back to our booth, I sat down and propped my elbow on the table to hold my chin on my fist.

Riley paused her eating with her fork buried deep in her bowl.