Maybe I wasn’t completely over the almost dying thing. I’d forgiven his part, sort of, but the trauma of it still haunted me. I shook my head. No, I wasn’t going there today.
“Fin, I understand you want my help, but I already gave you my answer. No amount of crispy bacon or gray sweatpants is going to change it.”
“Gray sweatpants?” he asked.
My face flamed hot. “Never mind. I said no. Can we just leave it at that?”
“No. I’m not walking away. I need you and you need me. We can help each other here and both end up happy.”
I waved at him. “That coming from a man who is much harder to kill than me.”
“Have you considered, with your newfound gifts, you might be equally resilient? That your power might have come with healing abilities or just good old-fashioned immortality?”
I did not want to consider what immortality would mean for the life of my student loan debt. I hadn’t finished college, and yet I still had racked up a hefty sum. Then I remembered Fin had just given me a ridiculous amount of money. I could pay it all off, all my debts, and still have more than enough. I kept forgetting about it. Not because it meant nothing, but because my mind couldn’t wrap itself around the sum in my bank account quite yet.
I stood, snagged some bacon, and glared at him. “Eating this is not my agreement. I’m just hungry.”
I went back to my room and dressed, thankful he didn’t follow me to continue his sales pitch. With his payment, I had enough money to live for a while without needing to take any more work. But if I sat out here in my apartment all day with nothing to do, would I be content?
Not until I ripped out Esteban’s teeth one by one with a rusty pair of pliers.
I shoved my feet into a pair of sneakers and brushed my hair up into a ponytail. Fin sat exactly where I’d left him, chewing on a piece of bacon while he surveyed my apartment.
I sat across from him and he smiled like he was happy I’d returned.
“Say it. Anything you want and it’s yours,” he said.
I snapped up a couple more pieces of bacon and shoved them in my mouth. It was a bad idea to negotiate on an empty stomach.
“There is something I want that I didn’t get the last go round,” I said.
He raised a perfectly arched brow at me but remained silent.
“I want the Black Mage. I want to rip him apart with my bare hands. I want you to teach me to use my magic so I can claw into his brain too. I want nothing left of the bastard when I’m through with him. What he did to my parents was terrible, but now I have my own personal experience to layer on top. He’s going to pay for every scar.”
Fin nodded. “He’s yours when we find Sol. But not until we find her. Can you live with that?”
I took the last piece of bacon, daring him with a look to contradict me. “I can live with it. I’ll help any way I can with her but I’m also going to be training however I need to bring him down this time. I wasn’t prepared before.”
“Anything else?”
I shrugged. “A million dollars and a two-carat diamond.”
He shoved off the couch to grab a jacket I hadn’t even noticed by the door. Underneath lay a large glossy white box. He carried it over to me and lay it on my lap. All I could do was stare up at him in confusion. Then he scribbled on a slip of paper that he pulled out of his pants pocket and handed it to me.
A check made out to me for one million dollars.
Shit. What would I even do with this?
“Can I actually put this in my account? Will they just laugh at me?”
He shrugged and recapped the pen he’d had in his jacket pocket along with his check book. The old codger. “They might laugh, but legally they have to try to process it. It might give them a little shock when it all goes through.”
I swallowed and stared down at the box. “And this?”
I glanced back up at him towering over me.
“That is for tonight. Instructions are inside. Don’t be late.”