“Let me closeout, and we’ll grab something to eat. Were you feelin’ anything in particular?” Fishing his wallet out of his back pocket, Bruiser cast me an expectant look as I shook my head again. He slapped two twenties on the bar before grabbing my hand, and warmth suffused my chest. His fingers fit so well between mine. “Thank you for letting me hang in here while you close up. I’m thinkin’ somethin’ heavy and greasy. You pulled a double today, right, Nicole? You deserve it.”
“I did, yeah.” He remembered. Something about that just tickled me pink, and I smiled broadly as we left the restaurant. “Thanks for not saying we should just grab some leftovers Cal has in the fridge. I want some hot food in my stomach, not some reheated stuff.”
“I imagine you’d never eat here if you had the choice. Spyder’s sister worked at a breakfast place, and after that, she never ate a bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwich again.” We stepped out onto the sidewalk, and I let go to Bruiser’s warm palm to pull my hair back up into a loose bun. My legs ached after my shifts, and I took a deep, freeing breath and held it. Stretching my arms over my head, I paused when greedy hands caressed up my sides. His eyes held mine captive as he eliminated the distance between us, and my face flamed from the intensity of his stare. “Listen, Nicole, we gotta talk about some things.”
“O-okay . . . we can do that.” The tension that straightened Bruiser’s shoulders didn’t seep away at my acceptance, and he slung an arm around my back to lead me down the sidewalk. We headed away from the parking lot, but I soaked up the setting sun and slight breeze. Shouldering my purse on my other arm, I unfolded my apron to tie it around my waist just to avoid carrying it. “Are you okay, Bruiser?”
I don’t know what I expected him to say, but his silence was damning, and I clenched my jaw hard. Tonight was beautiful, dark, the streetlamps illuminating our way more than the sun as it struggled to stretch across the sky. In half an hour, it’d be dark. I couldn’t shake the sensation that tingled the backs of my eyes.
“I’m gonna be transparent with you, baby. Shit’s gonna go down.” Bruiser palmed my side as we walked as if he had to touch me in some way, and I glanced over through wary eyes. He frowned, rubbing his mouth and chin roughly. “Anytime there’s trouble, there’s this period of restlessness. There’s the feeling that something’s gonna happen, but you don’t know what. And I’m in this period right now. When you take a defensive stance, you’re waiting for the other person to make a move, right? I really, really suck at it, though.”
“So, you can’t do something about it?” He shook his head, his expression tightening. The lines around his eyes and mouth deepened, and Bruiser raked his hand through his hair as we came upon a cross street. Tightening his arm around me, he jabbed the crosswalk button to rock back on his heels. But he didn’t look at me as he thought how best to answer.
“Spyder’s made the decision to be on the back foot. I hate it, but I won’t go against him. Warpath has had problems with those assholes for years and years over a bunch of unrelated, seemingly inconsequential shit. If it were me, I’d march my ass there and deal with it, but Spyder isn’t like that. He wants reasons to do shit that are more than just wanting to do it. I’ve told him it’s a mistake to wait until this gets bad, but he pulled the bullshit ‘just because they may’ card.” His frustration simmered in his tone, and I reached to put my hand on his chest. Bruiser grunted, his heart beating hard against my palm when he covered it with his own. “It’s strange. It’s almost like a lawsuit. You’re just waiting and waiting, and you know things are happening, but you don’t know what those things are. We know enough. We know where that little prick is, and we know if you cut the head off the snake, it may writhe around for a while, but it’ll die.”
“Is that literal?” Finally, Bruiser’s gaze caught mine, and a fire raged in them as he nodded curtly. My breath hitched, but I shook my head hastily and sucked in a huge breath. “Well, wanting to justify yourself and your actions. I get it. Spyder doesn’t want to feel guilty if he doesn’t have to. Like with that guy that threw himself under my car. It’s the natural course of action to run him over, and it’s his fault he lost his leg.”
I talked a big talk, but the words that escaped me made my stomach flip; I hoped it’d be an easier pill to swallow as time went on, though. And, hopefully, I’d never see that guy again.
“We’ve been hearing rumors that the Hellraisers are kicking up shit for a lot of people, though. I think Spyder’s ignoring the big picture to focus on his personal morals when, in reality, he won’t be the one capable of doing the job, anyway.” Flexing his fingers just under my breast, Bruiser urged me across the street, and I hummed softly as I stared at the passing, white lines. Did that mean he was gonna ‘do the job’? But my question had no answer as he blustered a sigh. “I dunno. I told him all this. I’m just venting, and I shouldn’t.”
“Did the person you kill . . . was it self-defense?” Bruiser
