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“It’s not that big of a deal,” I say, trying to wave it off.
“It is to me,” Jon insists. “My wife got in an accident and hasn’t been able to work, and I’ve been working two jobs to keep things going so I’ve missed a lot of my little girl’s firsts… I was happy to not miss this one. Real happy.”
I nod slowly, feeling weird because at the end of the day, was it really me who did any of this shit? It was Len. I never would have even considered giving them anything… because I’m a heartless asshole, just like Len said.
I need a fucking drink. “Yeah, that’s good… maybe you should take the rest of the week off,” I say.
He watches me for a moment. “You really think Norn’s going to get that ballsy?”
“He’s already killed multiple guards of mine,” I say. Most of them, I didn’t even know their name. I went to none of their funerals. I need to have Harker send some of my money to their families. It can’t bring them back but maybe it’ll help.
Jon hesitates but ends up shaking his head. “I just… I can’t. We have medical bills, and this job pays so much better than my other one.”
“And then someone shoots you in the head and who does your wife or daughter have?” I ask. “Use your paid time off.”
“I… didn’t know we had paid time off,” he says.
“I didn’t either,” I grumble as I turn around. “I need a drink.”
What the fuck am I doing? Even one person could make a difference and stop more from dying. But I’m the one who could keep anyone from dying if I sold to Norn. If I handed it over.
But then I’d havenothing. There would be absolutely nothing left of my life. I know Norn wants the casino to launder money he makes selling weapons. He’d reached out to me in the past, asking to make a deal, but I turned him down. Norn never gets turned down, so now he also wants the prestige that comes with it. He wants people to know that he’s knocked down one of the highest-standing men in this city. One of the richest. He wants to watch me squirm and give it all up to save my life. He wants the satisfaction that he came out on top.
I shake my head, pushing those thoughts back as I head to the bar, or more specifically, to a man who frequents the casino and my bedroom quite often. I slide into the chair next to William, causing him to look over at me.
“Hey there, handsome,” he says with a sexy grin on his face. “You’ve clearly been busy; I haven’t seen you around all week.”
“Dealing with irritations and the like,” I say. “Let me get you a drink.”
I wave to the bartender who already knows what to bring the two of us. William pushes his stool closer to mine and smiles at me. His hand rests on my leg as he looks at me seductively. “Anything I could do to help… relieve some stress? I’m sure there’s something,” he says with a wink.
“I’m positive there’s something as well,” I say as the bartender sets our drinks before us.
William’s hand creeps higher up my thigh as I lean into him. William has tried for years to get something more out of me, but I’m definitely more of an every now and then kind of guy. He’s attractive and nice without being irritating like Len is. He’s also an extremely alluring man, and while Len is attractive, this man has more of a… sexiness to him with his low V-neck and tight pants that leave little to the imagination. When he wants something, he knows just how to purr when he talks.
Why the fuck am I comparing him to Len? Damn Harker getting in my head about absolute bullshit.
“What’s wrong?” William asks as he lifts his hand, looking like he’s worried he’s offended me.
“What?” I ask, uncertain what he’s going on about.
“You seem off today. Why don’t I make it better?”
I watch him closely as his hand returns and see the watch around his wrist that I bought him. When we were walking to a hotel last week, he’d stopped outside the store and declared how much he wanted that watch but didn’t think he’d ever be able to afford it. It was nothing to me, so I bought it for him.
It was enough money to pay his rent for months. It cost more than the money I gave to the women that Len said I changed the lives of. Running my fingers over the watch, I turn it a little to face me. “You like that watch?”
“I do! I saw today they had different colored bands for it. I thought how neat it’d be to have different colors,” he says.
“How much are they?”
“I don’t know… a few hundred a piece. But wouldn’t red have looked much better with my outfit?” he asks as he tilts on the stool so I can get a look at his ass. Not sure why red matches his ass better, but a week ago, I would have handed him the money without a second thought and pulled him off to bed somewhere.
I lean back and see Jon talking to the bouncer and laughing at something he said.
“It’s funny how things work,” I say.
“What’s that?” William asks.
