I nodded, “I don’t hurt anybody but bad people, too.”
A slow smile spread across her face as she continued to lock eyes with me. Damn it! I just got my damn dick to calm down but now this fool was up and active again.
“Y’all two need some alone time?” Jay asked, staring in between us.
Addison quickly broke our contact before she cleared her throat. “Anyway, I need to head back. I don’t want my driver getting suspicious. I’ve already been gone over an hour.”
I nodded in agreement and looked over to my cousin.
“Don’t worry big cuz, I’m already on it.” Jay said, examining the scalpel he kept in his back pocket.
“Thanks. You be careful, love you kid.”
“I’m not a kid anymore, jeez.” Jay rolled his eyes before trading the scalpel for a saw out of his bag of tools. I wasn’t the only one with favorites. I turned to walk towards the exit, when Jay called after me. “Aye, I love you too. Nice meeting you, Addison. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you more.”
He waggled his eyebrows before heading towards the back of the warehouse where I kept an industrial meat locker. Addison lightly chuckled before she walked past me towards the exit.
“Your cousin is funny.”
“Yeah, a damn comedian.”
She giggled some more, and I couldn’t help but to smile too. We fell into a comfortable silence as we traveled back through the tunnels. I found myself glancing over at her from the corner of my eyes with every other step. She had me intrigued and I wanted to get to know her more, but that would be a terrible mistake. Did I find her attractive? Hell to the fucking yes, but this was all business. My father told me time and time again that I should never mix business with pleasure. Then again, my deadline to find a wife was approaching fast and the fact that she had Reaper blood in her veins made me want to throw out my father’s logic. I shook my head. No, she wouldn’t want me. Not in that way.
“So, Seojun, how is it that you own an entire realty company, but put bullets in people’s faces like you did Dash and Z?” Addison asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“I could ask you the same thing, Ms. Bachelor’s Degree Graduate.”
She threw her head back and laughed, causing an echo throughout the tunnel.
“You were stalking me, Seojun?”
I huffed out a chuckle, shoving my hands into the front of my hoodie. “Let’s just say, I make sure that I do a thorough background on everybody.”
“Mmm.” she hummed with a quick nod of her head. “Well, with my studies in psychology, I’ve always been fascinated with the human mind and reasoning behind why people acted the way they did.”
“When and how did you become transfixed with that?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I blame it on my mother. She is selfish and conniving. As I grew up, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why. I mean, my nana and grandpa were the most generous, loving people I knew. Hell, my nana would give you the shirt off her back and cook you a home cooked meal, but her daughter, on the other hand, would never!” She smacked her lips before shaking her head. “She wasn’t always like that.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. She used to be really nice up until my ninth birthday when grandpa died. I didn’t understand when I was younger, but I found out my grandpa was a very powerful man. I know my mom was the only child and a daddy’s girl, so his death must’ve hit her hard. At the same time, the person who gave her everything she wanted was now gone. So, she chased after wealthy men in hopes of replacing her dad.”
“Damn. I’m sorry to hear that, yeobo.”
She shrugged. “I’m over it. I’m more concerned with my grandma. She has always been there for me and I owe her everything.”
I nodded my head because I understood exactly where she was coming from. Granted, my mom was actually sweet and loving like Addison’s grandmother and I would’ve given her the world if she asked. Unfortunately, she left me and my dad in the middle of the night. She chose drugs over her family but instead of getting clean, she left. It was the most selfish thing she had ever done.
“Anyway, that’s how I got into psychology. I wanted to understand my mother. Not in a sense that I wanted her love and affection, but more of what made her make the decisions that she did. Also, I wanted to understand why my sympathy meter was broken.”
I gave her a puzzled look. “Your sympathy meter?”
She nodded. “Yup. Sometimes it works, but most of the time, it doesn’t. For example, it works when I see people genuinely needing help or who have been hurt. Like, I have no problem with apathy when it comes to my best friend and nana. However, if someone is intentionally evil, like Z, then it’s broken. I don’t feel any remorse if I or someone else hurts them. Even when he was crying, I didn’t feel anything. I say all that to say, I didn’t have a problem mashing Tiffany into Z so many times. My broken sympathy meter wouldn’t allow me to feel penitent. He deserved it for what he did to all of those men and women.”
I smirked as we reached the door the led back into the alley. “I guess my sympathy meter is broken, too.”
I opened the door and held out my hand, gently pulling her through. Her foot slipped on an empty beer bottle, causing her to trip. Stepping forward, I caught her in my arms. She stared at my lips and then up into my eyes before she smiled.
