needed—distance.
He pulled his gaze away from her and stared
at the ceiling. “You will untie me now and I promise I won’t do
anything to hurt you,” he said casually.
She snapped back to what was going on, no
longer feeling the heat from his penetrating stare. She slowly
stood and wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans. “Listen to me very
closely. What’s about to go down now is that I’m going to roll you
into the courtyard, so everyone can see what I’ve done.” She raised
her arms and wrapped her dark, straight hair into a bun, tucking
the ends into her ponytail holder. She figured this wasn’t going to
be easy, since he’d woken up. “Then, I’m going to call the police
so they can take you to jail.” She peered down at him. “They’ll
like you in jail—you’re pretty.”
He snorted. “You might try to touch me, but
when you get closer I’ll kick you on your butt and subdue you. Once
I knock you out, I’ll find something to cut my bindings. Then I’ll
take you to the courtyard and show everyone what I’ve done to you . And no, in my scenario, I won’t be calling the police.
I’m taking a wild guess here, but I’m sure your neighbors would
like to have you for themselves for a while. Tell me, how is your
relationship with your neighbors? Will they untie you?”
She blanched at the thought of being tied up
while the gangbangers decided to take their revenge on her for all
the times she’d called the cops on them.
“Thought so,” he said with a smile.
“I’m going to knock that smile right off your
fucking face,” she seethed.
He shook his head. “While this has all been
really entertaining, I must get going. I only came here to drop the
dog off for Trudy. Now that I’ve done my job, I’ll be on my
way.”
Meisha took a step closer to him. “Trudy?
What have you done to her?”
He frowned. “I haven’t done anything to her.
She was attacked earlier. My brother and I got to her just in time.
She’s unharmed and with him now.”
She let his words settle in her brain.
Liar. The attack happened yesterday, not
today and it hadn’t been Trudy who was attacked anyway.
She threw her head back and laughed. “You
almost had me going. You’re just some low-life thug that spends
time watching television. You saw her drop off her dog and
recognized her from all the news channels. They’ve been running the
story all day.” She tapped the side of her head. “Nice thinking,
Rico Suave, but your story is a no go.”
“Rico Suave? You can’t be serious. I don’t
look anything like him.”
She tilted her head to the side. She could
see women falling at his feet. He was a handsome guy, with dark
brown hair, a nice build and a smile that could melt the panties
off a nun. “Well, you do, just a little. You have that Latin bad
boy look about you.”
He rolled his eyes. “This is some kind of
fresh hell. I hate Rico Suave.”
“I kicked your butt, tied you up and
threatened to take you out for a little public humiliation and
that’s what you’re grasping onto? That I compared you to a Latin
eighties heart throb?”
“One, I’m not Latin, I’m Hungarian. Two, how
do you even know about Rico Suave? What are you, like twenty years
old?”
“I’m thirty and I watch a lot of I Love
The 80’s on VH1.”
He sighed. “I have to get out of here.”
“I agree. Now tuck your head and hold on for
the ride. I hope you don’t get dizzy easily.”
“This is foolish. I’m not letting you roll me
anywhere. I told you, I’m only here because of a favor to Trudy. My
brother and I had a business appointment with her earlier. When we
got to her house two guys were trying to get at her. We chased them
away. Kristof took her back to our hotel to keep her safe while we
figure out what’s going on. Trudy asked me to bring Piper to you
for the night. If you don’t believe me, you can check my pocket.
She even gave me a key.”
Meisha looked down at his front pocket. Oh,
something