I then reread what I’d written over the last week on what I was tentatively calling my memoir. Afterward, I talked to Bruce, who was working late. He asked me how I felt about Dillon.
“I have some strong feelings for him, but I’m not sure what they mean,” I said.
“Mmm,” Bruce returned. “You’ll know if you get this tickling feeling in your stomach anytime you see him or hear his voice, or when you’re not with him, you’ll itch like a drug addict needing that fix for him.”
I laughed at Bruce’s description of how he’d felt when he met his wife.
I certainly had all those feelings when it came to Dillon. But I wasn’t going down that road yet to love.
One day at a time. Date first.
Once I’d finished my conversation with Bruce, I grabbed my bag and left. I had Dillon and Marco Holdings on the brain and had forgotten to snag my phone from the charger.
Argh!
I didn’t have time to go back to the news building. It was clear on the other side of the city. So I ambled back toward the entrance, when I spotted a black Jeep that looked exactly like the one I’d seen parked at the house on Bleven and Third. Surely, it couldn’t be the same one. Nevertheless, I stood at a parking meter with horror hurtling through me at the notion that Hooknose had followed me.
The Jeep stopped at a red light about a quarter of a block from me. The street sign up ahead read No Right Turn On Red. When the light changed to green, the Jeep banked right.
Curiosity was a bitch. I jogged up to the corner past the restaurant. When I rounded the edge of the building, I bumped into a wall of muscle, almost knocking the breath out of me.
I would’ve kneed the man in the groin if it weren’t for him saying my name. “Maggie?”
I glanced up, losing sight of the Jeep. “Dom?”
Sirens were going off in my head, blaring,caution, caution, caution, more because of the Jeep than Dom.
“It looks like you’ve seen a ghost,” Dom said.
I knew the Jeep was long gone, and my pulse slowed a smidge, but the bad feeling was seeping into my bones.
“Funny running into you,” I said.
He swept his gaze over me, his diamond earrings twinkling in the headlights of an oncoming car. “Fi works at Tapas.”
I hadn’t seen her. Then again, I’d only been in the restaurant for a second before I dashed out. “Oh.”
He offered me his elbow. “Come on. I can get us a great table.”
I took his arm as though I were dating him and not Dillon. Dom had an aura about him that pulled me in. He was handsome with a powerful badass quality. I wasn’t afraid of much except dark alleys, and Dom didn’t push any of my fear buttons. But the untrusting side of me was waving a red flag.
“You’re awful presumptuous.” I scanned the streets up and down, looking as far as I could for the Jeep.
Dom let out a deep chuckle. “And you’re mighty pretty.”
A normal girl would get sucked into his biker charm and blush all kinds of reds and pinks. I was Maggie Marx, former gang member, albeit my gang had been a group of kids who’d protected each other and their neighborhoods, not a gang involved in drugs, guns, and possibly sex trafficking. The city had changed drastically over the years. At one time, the mafia had had a hold on the city, and I would guess they still did. But gangs were multiplying. The commonality between gangs and mafia was bad shit. The difference between the organizations was that the mafia had an old-school mentality about family and didn’t prey on women. I only knew that from Ted’s time on the streets. On the other hand, the new era of gangs had a moral code of doing whatever it took to make money.
I should thank Dom for his compliment. I had an important question for him, though. “Any signs of Grace?”
He placed his rugged and calloused hand over mine. “Nothing. Fi hasn’t seen her either. I hope she’s okay.” He gazed out into the somewhat busy street as though he were remembering a lost love.
“You like Grace.” It was more of a statement than a question.
We reached the entrance to Tapas. A lady in a sharp business suit hurried in.
He unhooked my arm from his. Those bottomless eyes had a filing cabinet full of secrets. “I do like Grace.”
“Dom, if you know where she is, tell me.”
