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He squinted at the check, then tossed a few bills on the table despite the waitress holding her hand out for the nation on her face as she picked up the , and turned to walk off

Once again, raw anger filled me on her behalf

My hands were in tight fists on top of the old, chipped two-seater table, the need for bloodshed lared at her… disrespected her

And the longer I stared at hinized what kind of man he was I’d seen countless bastards like him before, ones who looked at the women trafficked by the crime syndicate, ones ere sick and needed their dicks cut off because of the perverse things they thought about And I could see the drunk fucker was hungry for Lina, but the only type of satiation awoman

I followed Lina withhard not to look at htly curled inward Maybe I fascinated her in a sick way Maybe I scared her so h in her life that I was the only type of man who could pull her out of that darkness

Because I was as black and cold as the night

I felt a dangerous coil of… desire s such as those would do nothing but destroy me My life, the world I lived in, had no business with so like that

I watched her mannerisms, could see the armor she as chinked and scarred, and that made me want to burrow myself deeper under her skin and find out who she was Where did she co from?

I’d gotten the basic infore The latter tere easily faked, seeing as she had only moved to Desolation in the last couple of ather all the information on her that was buried deep… the real information that some people went to a lot of trouble to bury I definitely had the connections and resources But so out information on this woman

Another uncomfortable, unusual sensation to me I felt like it would be an invasion of her privacy to delve deeper, not so cared about before

I feltthat she’d worked her way under iven a shit about what anyone thought or how the outco as they kneas the one to fear

Right before she rounded the corner and would have disappeared into the back roolanced over her shoulder at htly, because no doubt she hadn’t expectedher so closely I could practically hear the surprised—htly—smartly—so

I could’ve said I wouldn’t hurt her, but she would have known that was a lie And so would I

She disappeared behind the door, and I drew my attention back to the drunk I could envision ht of ending his life, i out his eyes for si at the little waitress He was the type of man who deserved death ten times over for the heinous crimes he’d committed in life

I should know, because I deserved it as well

Lina caht blue in color, faded, and older, with one hand tucked into a pocket She had her backpack slung over her shoulders, her head tipped down, the long fall of her hair shrouding her profile from me

She quicklythe door and stepping outside, not once looking atat the drunk He pulled his stu ass out of the booth, his focus on the door Lina had just left out of Every o after hi the opportunity he saw in this moment

I left the diner, keeping to the shadows once outside, and immediately spotted Lina up ahead She s Definitely not a stranger to being on guard

But she wasn’t alone I couldn’t see hi that covered me when I needed to be on alert And then I saw hi within the shadows He stalked her, and even froe point, I could see a tenseness across Lina’s shoulders