the goon squad out there and load up the best we can.”
I walked over and surveyed the pile. “Can you pick out the smallest of these guys and take off his clothes?”
Fin sputtered from behind me. “What?”
I waved my hand Vanna White style down my ripped-up gown. “You think I want to fight any more in this? Plus, I need actual boots and a place to carry weapons. In this getup, I’m limited to one knife in each hand.”
Without further argument, he dug out one guy and dragged him in the room. No blood pools. Excellent.
New clothes in hand, my pride took a hit as I needed Fin to help me get out of the dress.
“This is another moment we will never mention again. It didn’t happen and if you say a word about it, I’ll remove your tongue.”
“Understood,” he said, the ghost of a smile on his lips.
Probably not just from my words. I wore nothing but a pair of underwear beneath the dress. Thankfully, my rack had always been small enough to go without a bra.
Once I’d donned the new clothes and shoved the weapons in various pockets, I felt more like myself.
The door of the room opened and the woman in sequins from the bathroom stood in the doorway, inside the ring of fallen men. “You two done, or do you need a minute for a happy ending?”
Chapter Eighteen
The woman walked into the room and kissed Fin right on the mouth. Her ruby red tipped nails cupped his cheeks and held him in place.
There were few times in my life I’d been speechless. This was absolutely one of them. Also, oddly jealous. My inner landscape has been pretty well maintained. When I’m being a total asshole, I usually know. Where this jealousy stemmed from, I wasn’t quite ready to admit to myself.
I cleared my throat, and the woman stepped away from Fin, who hadn’t moved an inch since she placed her hands on his skin.
His voice shook when he spoke one word: “Olivia.”
Speechlessness solved.
“Esteban’s ex is your inside man? I thought you said... hang on. Didn’t she die?”
The color leached from Fin’s face as he stared at her. “I thought... I thought you were dead.”
She giggled and turned those crazed eyes on me. Yes, you can definitely tell a woman’s level of crazy from the gleam in her eyes. And this woman was next level psycho. I’d thought so when I saw her in the bathroom. Now, I didn’t doubt my original assessment.
“You have a new toy.” The woman said. “She’s so little and cute. I saw her on the dance floor earlier but didn’t have time to say hello.”
She grabbed my face and kissed me in the same psychotic way. I’d never had preference one way or the other between men and women, but this creature’s tongue in my mouth made me gag and pull away.
She tasted like blood and dark magic. How had Fin gotten involved with her in the first place?
Her sequins sparkled under the low light and her hair hung lovely and perfect down her back. She circled me once and returned to Fin, who remained completely immobile. Every twitch she made, he tracked with his eyes. I wanted to snap him out of it. But how?
“Well, Olivia.” I stepped up and threaded my arm through Fin’s. “It was a pleasure to meet you, but we have previous engagement.”
Fin shook himself and glanced down at me as if he couldn’t quite figure out our circumstances.
Olivia pressed into his other side, twining her hand around his neck as if I didn’t exist. “Fin, baby. You wanted me on the inside. Well, I’m on the inside now.”
Finally, Fin snapped out of it. “At what cost? You’ve given up your heritage, your people, for what? A taste of power? The ability to gain more only by murdering your own kind?”
She licked the side of his neck, and he jerked out of her hold.
Olivia laughed. “You were always so righteous, Fin. No room for anyone else but your precious people. Where are they now? Who is here helping you? No one. Well, this human, but I don’t count pets as actual help.”