Chapter 7: : Chapter 7

“Hey, that’s her, isn’t it?” Hawke says, nudging my arm. But I’d already caught sight of her from across the room the moment she stepped out from the kitchen. She’s now leaning against the bar, wearing a short black dress and high heels, her long legs crossed at the ankles. I can’t help but stare at those legs… so fucking tempting. She was equally tempting two nights ago in her black ballgown with the slit up the side.

Hawke and I stand at the entrance of the below-average restaurant while Ford parks the car. I haven’t waited to be seated in a restaurant since… ever.

She looks exactly how I remember her. I purposely memorized every inch of her face and sketched it countless times. I sent one of the sketches and her first name to a family friend, Will Walker, who is a renowned tracker in our inner circle. He’s eccentric, though, applauding my artistry and that perhaps I should’ve chosen a better path than following my father’s footsteps. I don’t know why he’s suggesting it, considering he gets his hands just as bloody.

It took him two days to find her, and I’ve now discovered everything I need to know about this little vixen who stumbled into my life by her own stupidity.

“So what are we planning to do here again?” Hawke asks, leaning in. No one asked my intentions when I let her go, and Ford was the only one I trusted enough to drop her off without conversing with her, as I instructed. Hawke has a big fucking mouth.

I ignore Hawke because I don’t answer to anyone, and besides, I haven’t yet decided what I’ll do with her.

A waitress approaches us, but it does nothing to draw my attention away from the lioness who is talking with the bartender. My teeth grind as I burn a hole in her back with my stare. How has she not noticed me yet? For someone who has heightened senses, I’m certain she must be ignoring me on purpose. I’m starting to wonder if it’s a good idea to strangle the life out of her after all.

When the waitress offers a suggestive smile and goes to speak, I interrupt her. “We will only be served by Jewel.” She’s taken aback and looks over her shoulder at her colleague. But she shrugs and leads us to a booth. She’s speaking, telling us something about daily specials, but my gaze is focused on the lethal creature staring at her manicured nails while she waits for the bartender to make drinks.

She wasn’t lying about her first name. Her full name is Jewel Diamond, which is funny, really.

“Anything else I can get you before I leave?” the waitress asks, still holding a suggestive smile. One that, unsurprisingly, Hawke reciprocates because he can’t keep his dick in his pants. I don’t judge; I just prefer to find the limited few women who can handle my tastes.

I don’t even glance at the waitress as I ask, “How would you describe Jewel?” I put a fifty on the table and slide it toward her. When I do look up, she’s smiling as she takes the bill and slips it into her bra.

“Well, she doesn’t work for her tips. She’s pretty cutthroat and probably not a great server, but she hasn’t been fired yet,” she tells me before she turns and walks away.

“She looks so innocent. Are you sure she’s actually trying to kill you? This all feels pretty mundane to me,” Hawke says just as Ford walks in and takes the seat beside him.

Hawke was more than a few drinks in the night of Michelle’s party, but even he remembers watching me pull a knife from my fucking leg, a wound I’ve managed to hide from everyone as I consciously step through the little love bite. I refuse to show vulnerability.

If Dutton hadn’t already been close and skeptical of her presence that night, she might’ve very well slipped away. So, yes, besides this little façade of waitressing, she is deadly.

But I not so subtly remind him, “She broke into my house, put a fucking rat in my drawer, and took photos of me fucking other women. I doubt she’s innocent.” I tap my finger on the table as I wait for her to notice us.

“So she has skills,” Ford says. I resist the urge to punch him. “So why don’t you just kill her?”

“I have my reasons.” It’s true a lot of people have tried to kill me over the years, and I often deal with them swiftly and efficiently. This situation was different; I needed a lead to find her client. If I kill her now, I’ve got nothing. And with tension building around the families as to who I might align with and take as a wife, it’s very possible someone is trying to kill me to break an alliance and damage my family’s reputation. It’s exactly why I won’t tell my parents that someone is after me. I will claw my way to the top, because in my mind, all of it is already mine.

Jewel turns finally, tray in hand, with four drinks balanced on it. The waitress we previously spoke to leans in and whispers something into her ear. Her gaze cuts in my direction, and I can see the raging storm flaring in those wild tigress eyes. I can’t help the twitch of my lips, delighted in the palpable hatred she oozes when looking in my direction.

Her nose tilts higher as she walks in the opposite direction to deliver the drinks, nowhere near as friendly as the other waitress. Perhaps she wasn’t so wrong about Jewel’s personality.

I revel in the sound of her heels coming to an abrupt stop at our table.

“Has anyone told you two you look like Tweedledee and Tweedledum?” she asks the twins.

“What the fuck?” Ford hisses, offended, but Hawke laughs as he slaps his hand on his chest.

“I’ve been called worse,” he admits.

Her mouth twitches at his response, and I fucking hate it. As if sensing the tension, Hawke clears his throat and quickly looks at the menu.

Her glare then cuts to me. “What can I get you? I don’t think this establishment has much of what you’re used to. Unless, of course, you like cheap whiskey and beaming hospitality.”

Oh, so we’re playing that game.

I suddenly pretend to be very interested in the menu. “What do you recommend?”

Her plump lips press into a thin line as that frown makes its disapproving appearance.

“Nothing, it’s all shit.”

“Your waitress friend was right; you’re a shit server,” Hawke says, and she turns to him and smiles. The skin over my knuckles turns white as I curl my hands into fists, irritated he’s yet again grabbed her attention.

“Sure am, but your tip is automatically included in the bill. So it works. What can I get you three?”

“How about a side of rat?” Ford says, and her grip on the tray only momentarily tightens. But I give it to her, she’s quick to recover. And I’m so interested in everything about this woman.

“Sorry, all out. But if you give me your address, I can have something personally organized for you,” she deadpans. “You know, exceptional hospitality and all.”

Hawke looks away, trying to hide his smirk. If the fucker wasn’t snorting like an idiot, encouraging her, perhaps she would better be able to read the precarious position she’s in, but I still think she’d be unfazed. Does this woman have a death wish?

Fuck me, even Ford seems mildly amused.

“I have a feeling you already know it,” Ford says, shrugging. “I’d prefer if you start with kittens and puppies. That’s where I started anyway.”

Her jaw drops, and he looks up at her with a flat expression.

“That was a joke,” he clarifies.

She scrunches up her nose, not entirely believing him. His humor is so dry that I’m not even sure if he’s joking.

She sighs and props the tray on her hip casually. “I see Will was able to track me after all.”

I lean in, intrigued by this beautiful and lethal woman. And I should not find anything sexy about a woman who leaves dead rats in my drawers.

“So you’ve done your homework.” She does everything to not look in my direction. She’s smart enough to know the twins work for me, but it doesn’t make them any less evil or intimidating.

“Why do you sound impressed?” Hawke says out loud. He does that a lot—says shit in front of people he shouldn’t.

“Don’t be so flattered. It’s part of the job. Do you think I’m truly dimwitted enough to involve myself in any way with the most powerful family in New York without doing research?” That irks me. She didn’t say me, but my family. Aren’t I her only target? If it’s anyone else besides me that she’s after, that changes this entirely, and I won’t let her out alive. As if feeling the lethal tension beneath the surface, she looks me up and down with a frown, as if disapprovingly. “Now, if you would so kindly place an order before my other asshole customers start to complain, that would be great.”

“I want a burger with extra bacon,” Hawke says. We all look at him, and she seems shocked that he actually ordered. We all are.

She shrugs and says, “Okay, anything else?”

“Sit,” I tell her, nodding to the empty seat in front of her.

“No,” she replies with a sickeningly sweet smile. “And anything for you?” she asks Ford.

“Cake,” he says. As I go to speak again, she turns her back on us and walks away, her heels clicking as she goes to the kitchen.

“You ordered fucking cake?” I bark at Ford, unable to unleash this rage within me from her ignorant behavior. “We didn’t come to fucking eat; we came to interrogate her.”

“Hawke ordered a fucking burger,” he says defensively. “And you had the chance to interrogate her two nights ago and let her go free, so unless you plan on gunning down everyone here for more alone time…”

The elderly woman behind us gasps in shock, and I roll my eyes.

“Come on, it’s not that bad, and besides, I’m hungry,” Hawke says, tapping his belly and rubbing it. The man has the appetite of a fucking beast because he lives in the gym and eats everything in sight. “Don’t get your panties in a twist because your woman won’t do as you say.”

The moment my gaze lands on him, he realizes he stepped too far. “I’m sorry, boss.”

Fucking idiot.

“What else did Will find on her?” Ford asks, once again pulling his dumbass brother out of the line of fire.

I clear my throat, reiterating that this is a serious matter. She’s got a hit on me, for fuck’s sake.

So why the fuck didn’t you kill her?

I’m irritated by my own logic.

“She’s been on her own since she was a teenager, and her father was a sniper for the Air Force,” I tell him, distracted as she walks back out with a tray of food and delivers it to the table next to us, not once glancing our way. The old woman who overheard our conversation is quick to ask for the bill and a to-go bag.

Jewel doesn’t seem affected by our presence, and that irritates me more than I thought it would. Men fear and revere me. Women worship and throw themselves at me. This woman treats me with such contempt even with the knowledge I could and should kill her. Shouldn’t she be more grateful to me?

“Oh, look, pretty boy made it,” Hawke exclaims dryly as Dutton enters the restaurant. Dutton looks around the place as if it should be blown up immediately, and admittedly, I share his sentiment.

“Why are we here?” he asks, taking the seat Jewel was leaning against. The chair looks far too small for his broad shoulders.

“And she’s back,” Ford mumbles as Jewel comes over with a slice of chocolate cake and sets it in front of Ford.

“Oh, that’s why we’re here,” Dutton remarks, unimpressed.

She folds her arms over her chest, unenthusiastic at the newcomer. My nostrils flare, and I think it has more to do with the hint of her musky floral perfume that wafts in my direction than anything else.

She smells like fucking dessert.

“Dutton, anything I can get you?” she asks, her hand going to her hip.

“Besides an explanation, no, dear.”

“You and me both.” She sighs miserably and then walks away, and he arches an eyebrow and watches her go.

“Stop staring at her ass,” I grit, and the group falls silent.

“I’ll have it known I was staring at the tenacious sway of the hips of the woman who clearly does not give a fuck that you’re in her workplace. Do you want to explain why we’re here?”

I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to invite these fuckers. I should’ve come on my own. We have other business to attend to afterward, though, so I thought a pit stop was a brilliant idea.

“I came here to give a distinct warning and make an evaluation of little miss assassin, but then these fuckers order dinner and dessert before I can finalize my threat.” I cut Ford a look. “Are you seriously stupid enough to eat that? What if she poisoned it?”

“No problem, my dude,” Hawke says nonchalantly. “One of the first things Anya taught us was to have a resistance to poison.”

The table falls silent before Dutton daringly encourages him to explain. “Pray tell.”

“Well, we built an immunity by poisoning ourselves over time, obviously.” Hawke looks dumbfounded that Dutton even asked.

“You know, you really put into perspective how great my upbringing was,” Dutton says casually.

Hawke chuckles. “As if any of us had a normal upbringing. Maybe that’s why the only woman to make boss’s cock twitch is the same woman who’s trying to kill him.”

“You just really don’t know when to shut your mouth, do you?” Ford berates under his breath as he puts a spoonful of the cake in his mouth.