Fuck. He’d hoped to avoid this. Not because he didn’t want to give her the strict truth, but because he knew the truth would lead to other questions he didn’t want to answer.
“Don’t give me that look, Stunner. I deserve to know why you left without saying anything. More importantly, I deserve to know why you cut me off from you.”
OK, that got to him. When she wanted to know why he’d not answered her properly, he knew how badly he’d hurt her. Those big, golden-brown eyes of hers glinted with unshed tears, and she looked up at him with a childlike look of hurt on her face. In that instant, he was back to the first time he’d ever seen her. Beaten and broken, Cliff and Daniel trying their best to protect her. He’d done his best by her then, making it possible for the boys to get all three of them out of Kiss of Death and to safety. She’d been a frightened little girl then. Now she was a grown woman, but the look of hurt was the same. She couldn’t understand why she was being hurt then. She couldn’t understand why Stunner had hurt her now.
“Baby, the truth is, you need a man better’n me. You were grown. Off to school. I was the one clinging to you, and you needed to live your life. Like your mama said. Giovanni did a good thing, makin’ you apply to MIT.” He sighed, scrubbing his hand over his face, still having trouble with the lack of a beard. “You don’t need a scruffy, hardass biker in your life. You need someone like Giovanni or Azriel. That’s the world you belong in.” He shrugged. “That ain’t me, darlin’.”
She frowned, then tossed a pillow at him. “Asshole,” she muttered. “You really think I’m that superficial?”
“I -- what?”
“Stunner, I don’t want someone like the guys here. Sure, there are some who don’t fit the mold, and I appreciate that. But I want you, Stunner. Not anyone in Shadow Demons, or at MIT. You. I just want you.”
He pulled her into his arms, nuzzling her hair and neck. “You have me, baby. As long as you want me, you have me.”
Chapter Six
The next two weeks were the happiest of Suzie’s life. She taught her classes, put in her time with her students, and spent every single night with Stunner. The past two Friday nights, he’d insisted on dressing up and taking her to fine-dining establishments in both Cambridge and Boston. He’d dressed the part proudly, throwing his chest out when she tucked her hand into the bend of his elbow. Though he hadn’t seemed to enjoy the food, he’d insisted on her trying every single thing on the menu that interested her. Everything she’d left, he’d packed up, and they’d taken it to local homeless shelters. It had to have cost a small fortune, but he’d done it twice with plans on doing it again when the weekend rolled around.
The second she finished her tutoring in the lobby Friday afternoon, she bounded up the stairs and burst into her dorm excitedly. They stayed at her place on Fridays because of her tutoring. It made it easier on her to finish up anything for the weekend and still have time to shower and change comfortably.
One look at Stunner’s face, and she knew something was wrong. “Stunner?”
“I can’t take you out tonight, baby. In fact, we should go back to my place where I know that little punk, Jake, can’t get to you easily. I’ve got better security because I can surround the place with cameras.”
“Jake? What’s happened?”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. A gesture he was doing way too much lately. Until he started giving a damn about what Suzie’s colleagues thought of him, he’d never given a damn about his behavior. Now, it was embarrassing. “I may have gone too far with Jake a couple of weeks ago, Suz.”
“Did you hurt him? I mean, I haven’t seen him in a while other than in passing, thank God, but you didn’t kill him, and he’s not in the hospital. Right?”
Deciding to push just a little, to find out where her limits were, he asked, “How much would it matter if I did?”
She raised her eyebrows. “To me? Not at all. But I don’t want you in jail. I hear they have some rough people there.” She grinned.
“Brat,” he muttered. “Well, no. I didn’t touch him physically. I might have implied otherwise if he so much as looked in your general direction, but I didn’t actually touch him.”
“So? I don’t get it.”
“So, Jake told his daddy he’d been threatened. His daddy is Markus Salisberry. Apparently he’s a big deal… doing something. Don’t know. Don’t care. Anyway, Markus has a hard-on for Argent Tech. He’s currently trying to stage a hostile takeover of Argent using Alex, Azriel, and Giovanni’s association with ExFil and, more importantly, Cain as Bones’ president as proof they cater to unsavory characters. Mainly because, apparently, one of Giovanni’s protégés -- that would be you -- hired an ExFil operative -- me -- to intimidate Jake into leaving MIT. He also accuses me of ‘mistreating’ his son physically. Apparently, Jake has the bruises to prove it.”
“That snake! I’ll show the little fucker mistreatment!” She turned to go, but Stunner caught her.
“Just hang on, Suz.”
“I’m not letting him get away with this! Can’t Giovanni fight him?”
“Calm down, honey. You know Giovanni has everything under control. No one’s taking Argent Tech away from those three. Markus Salisberry wants to play hardball, he just bit off more than he can chew with the Shadow Demons. Might have helped if he actually knew they were the Shadow Demons, but still.”
That made her chuckle. Then she sobered. “So, what do we do?”
“About that? Nothing. But there’s more. Apparently, I’m being watched. Giovanni and Data
