“He left youalone?”
I winced at his shout, pulling the phone away from my ear. “Joey’s here,” I tell him quickly. “And he said he’d be back in five minutes.”
“I’m almost there, Little Owl. Thirty minutes, tops.” I heard the sounds of traffic in the background of the phone call.
“Please don’t speed.”
He chuckled darkly. “Giving me orders, Little Owl?”
My eyes widened as I realized what I’d said. “No, Sir. I mean, I did, but I didn’t mean it like that. I just don’t want you to speed and either get hurt or get pulled over just to get here faster. I’d rather you arrive alive.”
This time his chuckle held promise. “I’ll forgive you this once, Little Owl, but only because I feel guilty enough as it is for running late.”
“It happens,” I told him. Or at least, I’m told it does. Since I didn’t have a nine-to-five or really any form of a traditional life, I couldn’t say that from personal experience.
“We will exchange numbers tonight,” Master Mal said just as I heard a commotion behind me. “What’s that?” he asked.
I turned on the bar stool, putting my back to the counter. I swallowed hard. “Um, Master Valentino is dragging Dominique into the main room by her hair.”
Dominique was walking, but Valentino’s tight hold was definitely in charge of where she was going.
“Good,” Master Mal said gruffly. “I promise, Little Owl, I’ll be there soon. Please give the phone to Joey.”
I turned around again to see Joey was standing right behind me. I passed him the phone.
Joey accepted it and then immediately straightened. “Yes, sir! Of course, sir! I promise, Master Mal, I’ve got my eye on her.” He nodded, even though Master Mal couldn’t see it. “Sure thing, I’ll take care of it right now.”
Then he held the phone out to me again.
I took it with a shaky hand. Then watched as Joey picked up the phone on the wall next to the kitchen door to make another call. “Um, Sir, why is Joey calling a pizzeria to place an order for a white pie with mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and balsamic?”
“Answer me truthfully: have you eaten tonight?”
I fidgeted on the bar stool. “No, Sir.”
“That’s why. The pizza will take some time to arrive, but hopefully it beats me there. Our reservation upstairs still holds and we can bring it up if needed.”
I vaguely recalled telling Master Mal my favorite food was pizza last night. The gesture was so sweet and completely unexpected. I felt a little off kilter about it. “Thank you, Sir.”
“Once I verify Dominique’s punishment is to my satisfaction, it’ll just be you and I for the rest of the night, Little Owl. Be ready.”
Chapter Nineteen
Mal
I stormed into the club.When Valentino called me and told me my little owl looked ready to cry…? Fuck, that did something inside of me. Something dark and twisted churned, demanding retribution. And for what? So Dominique could play the brat and get punished?
Not this time. She’dhurtmy little owl in her game.Thatwould not be forgiven. Valentino assured me that her punishment would not be one she enjoyed.
He better fucking hope it wasn’t. Otherwise,Iwould have to step in—and I guarantee neither he nor Dominique would like those consequences.
One of the waitresses, Donna, was sitting at the front desk. She jumped at my entrance, her eyes going wide. I did not bother to sign in or stop by the lockers to drop off my phone. The only reason I didn’t have my gun and badge on me was because they were already in my car safe from starting my drive back to Juneau.
My day had turned from crappy to shitty in the span of minutes. Not only did Mira and I have to go back to Atelihai Valley, but I now had a pile of files that we’d taken from the police station that we would have to go through tomorrow. Carrwas reassigning some of our other cases to different agents, as none of us had a good feeling about what was happening in Atelihai Valley.
And unfortunately Mira and I were at the mercy of the ferry schedule to get us back, making me late for my date with my little owl.
I hurried into the main room, my eyes immediately going to the bar. There she was, sitting at the end with that fucking sexy mask, eating a pizza and chatting with Joey. One of the other bartenders was taking care of the other patrons while Joey was occupied.
