“Naturally,” he mutters.
“Acting like you’re above it, Colson? You’re a moth to my flame, too. Youlikethe violence inside me. Admit it.”
“I wouldn’t put it that way.”
“Honesty before everything. You know I’m unhinged, and you keep coming back.”
“I don’t know why I can’t keep my cock away from you, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about. Talk about the bar. Now.”
I lick my lips. “Working at that bar, I got… a reputation.”
Rayne raises an eyebrow. “What reputation?”
“I kept the place under control.”
“The fuck does that mean?”
I bite the inside of my cheek and reach for one of my butterfly knives nearby. It makes me feel better to have something in my hand.
“If a fight broke out, I’d jump over the bar and put an end to it.”
Rayne gives me a dubious look. “So you thought you were the Batman of your little pub, didn’t you?”
“No. But the customers started to think that. One night, I defused a situation between people who turned out to be one step shy of the mafia and a man who owed them money. They noticed me.”
“Everyone notices you.”
I look him up and down. “Especially you, king.”
He gives me an upward nod. “You’re not going to distract me. Tell me more.”
“I didn’t know they were a crime family at first, but I had a feeling. They started asking me to do things for them. Store mysterious boxes behind the bar, feed them information about patrons, all sorts of little weird shit.”
“Why did you do it?”
“Because it felt dangerous, Colson. It made me feel alive.”
He gives me a hard stare. “Youwantedthis?”
“At first. It only went on for about a year. And then there came a time when I really got sick of it. They tried to make me a pawn, and I’m not a pawn.”
Rayne nods. “You’re a king.”
“Guess we both need to feel like we’re royalty in our own little worlds,” I tell him. “I didn’t need their money. I’d rather protectmyself. And eventually, I refused to give them information about a particular person.”
“What person?”
“My father.”
Rayne furrows his brow. “They knew your father?”
“My father visited me in London. They were very quick to realize how wealthy he is. And they wanted a piece of it.”
“So you protected your own father from being robbed?”
“Bingo.”
“Damn, Hunter. Who says you don’t value your bloodline?”
