Page 14 of Hannah and the Hitman
“For when you call me later and tell me what happened. Either you’re going to get kneed in the balls or arrested. Or both. If you need to get bailed out, can you make sure it happens before six because I have plans tonight.”
“Fucker.” I ended the call. Was I as dumb as Dax thought? Probably. We didn’t date everyday women. Hell, we didn’t date. Period. I had tons of enemies; friends and relatives of those I’ve killed. If they knew who I was, where I lived, I most likely would be dead. Anyone I cared about would also be dead.
I was dangerous in more ways than one. For a woman in my life, or bed, a service that was more transactional than anything else was the safest way to go. No one who wanted me dead would kill an escort solely because I spent a few hours with her.
Was I being selfish coming here? Hell, yes. But I couldn’t help it. This feeling was insane. Irrational.
A craving.
Except I was a total pussy, hiding from her. What if she saw me and wanted nothing to do with me? Fuck, I sounded like a seventh grader in the cafeteria at school. I needed to get my shit together. I didn’t come to Coal Springs to be like this. I knew firsthand that wasn’t the kind of guy she craved.
I needed to spin this shit around. I took a deep breath.
“I want her,” I said to myself in the quiet confines of my SUV, which meant I was going insane. Inevertalked tomyself. “I’m going to have her. Find out her name. Make her smile. Make her come. Once I get my fucking balls back.”
Because I could kill a man and sleep like a baby afterward, but it seemed I couldn’t stalk a woman without acting like an idiot.
6
HANNAH
I walked out of the library with Mrs. Metcalf as she told me all about the community nature walk she was going on tonight. Organized by the city, the group was headed to Mallory Cave to watch the bats fly out at sunset to eat their weight in mosquitos and do whatever the heck bats did at night.
“You sure you don’t want to go?” she asked, pulling her sunglasses from her purse. It was a bright, cloudless day. “It’s open to all ages.”
I locked the main library door, then turned. “No thanks.” I went once as a kid with my family, but we’d been asked to leave since Briana tried climbing into the cave and Perry wouldn’t stop talking. “Mosquitos love me. I’d be covered in bug bites in five minutes. Plus, I’ve got a new book.”
She didn’t put up a fight about me wanting to spend theevening reading, or the mosquitos. As a fellow librarian, she understood the power of a cozy couch, sweats, snacks, and an amazing story. I read fast and would be finished before I went to sleep, no matter how late the hour.
“What’s the title?”
Turning from the building, I tucked my library keys inside the little pocket in my purse as we went down the walk. “Alien’s Runaway Bride.”
I glanced up and across the street. Squinting against the sun’s glare, I saw a fancy SUV with… I blinked. What? No. For a second, I thought it was the man from the plane last week, but there wasn’t anyone in the car.
“–only imagine that plot.” I hadn’t heard half of what Mrs. Metcalf had said. “I’m more of a cozy mystery reader myself, as you know, but you’ll have to let me know how it is. I might borrow it.”
Thinking I saw the middle seat-sitting fake billionaire romance reader set my heart to racing. Suddenly, it was very warm out.
“Hannah?”
I blinked, then pasted on a smile when I realized I’d pretty much frozen in place. “Sorry, I can’t wait to dive into that book.” My voice was high and strained with fake enthusiasm. My reaction to a random parked car was really sad. For a second, I had been blissfully hopeful it had been the guy from the plane. That he’d come through with saying he’d stop into the library, which I knew he’d only said as polite conversation.
If hehadshown up, I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered or scared. This wasn’t a romance book, it was real life. Mr. Middle Seat wasn’t going to show up in Coal Springs anymore than I was going to be matched to a doubly-endowed alien and sent to space and have all kinds of hot sex.
I sighed. Brittany and the box of wine last week only got me stewing on thoughts that weren’t true. I needed to get my head out of the clouds and back to reality. Sometimes, life sucked. Boyfriends cheated and dumped you when you had a serious health issue. Medical bills stole savings and derailed dreams of opening a bookstore.
I had to keep moving forward. Healthy, but very single. No men from airplanes, only living vicariously through a heroine sent to space where she’d be a perfect match for a possessive and sexually-talented alien. She’d have no health issues other than walking funny after being double penetrated all night long. Debt? What was that? Who needed money in space?
7
JACK
“What happened with the librarian?” Dax asked later that night, after the elevator doors closed behind him. I had my own private one and it opened right into my apartment. His mouth was turned up with amusement. He was enjoying my misery, the fucker. He was in black suit with black dress shirt beneath, the typical uniform of a fixer due to the fact that the color hid blood. Which meant he either just came from a job or was on his way to one.
I was sprawled on my leather couch, my cat on my chest. I’d found Pancake–named after my favorite food–behind a shady bar’s dumpster downtown. I’d finished a guy and when he fell to the ground, the body startled the cat out from his hiding spot. He’d jumped onto my shoulder, and I couldn’t get him off because his claws had dug into my Gucci suit.
The vet I took him to said he was a Siberian, whateverthat meant. He was a mix of black, brown, and white fur, as if he’d gone to a fancy hair salon and got foils. His ears were pointy and his eyes golden. Since I was the one who gave the vet permission to snip off his balls, I figured he’d be an asshole to me when I brought him home.