Chapter Nine

 

“Are you sure you don’t want me with you?” Bishop asked Groto as the elevator rose to the roof where the helicopter waited for his boss.

“No,” Groto said stiffly. “Perhaps you should take this opportunity to consider your loyalty within my corporation.”

Bishop drew his brows together, a little taken aback by Groto’s words. “My loyalty? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think you know.”

“Is this about Evelyn Duncan?” Bishop was getting madder by the second. “You think that girl is going to undo everything I’ve busted my ass to achieve?”

“Men have been known to do more for less.”

Bishop shook his head. “I don’t believe you doubt me because you saw I kissed her. She means nothing.”

“She means something!” Groto snapped. “You forget that I saw your reaction to her that first night. I saw the world fade away for you. I faded away. I can’t have someone guarding me who won’t throw himself in front of a bullet to save my life.”

Bishop didn’t know what to say in response to that. Evelyn had managed to cause a small crack between him and the man who had saved his life twelve years ago when he’d taken the angry teenager under his wing, and he didn’t know how to repair the damage.

“You can’t go to Carson City alone.”

“I’m not,” Groto replied. The elevator came to a stop and the door slid open. The helicopter waited for Groto, the blades spinning slowly. He nodded to someone and when Bishop followed his line of sight, he saw Santiago.

“You’re taking him?”

“Who I’m taking is irrelevant.” He hurried forward and Santiago met them halfway. The backup bodyguard gave Bishop a smug smirk. “After all, it’s just a political dinner, Mr. Kain, to remind those fat bastards in office who greases their hands. While I’m gone, I want you to contact Blackout’s sponsor and find out about his next fight.”

“Do you have anyone in mind to replace Iron Fist?”

Groto gave him a speculative glance. “I don’t suppose you want to go back into the ring?”

There was no way Bishop would climb back into the ring and be at the mercy of Sherman Groto if he should lose. “You and I both know I’m too old. I wouldn’t win and you’d lose money.”

“Then go to some of the gyms and look over the younger stock,” Groto muttered. “See if someone jumps out as a potential fighter.”

“All right.”

“And remember, you’ll be training him.”

Bishop realized this was the moment when he passed the baton, much like Masters had when he started training Bishop twelve years earlier. He’d tried hard not to think of Masters over the years, but dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound had always been tough to swallow. He kept his outward appearance as stoic as possible even though he knew the threads between him and Groto were unraveling fast.

“Yes, sir.”

Groto hurried to the waiting helicopter, and he and Santiago climbed aboard. Moments later, they ascended into the sky and headed toward the capital. As Bishop turned around to head toward his office, he knew he was going to have to come up with a contingency plan.

His own office was located on the same floor as Groto’s, although he didn’t have the fancy furniture the other man had. Instead, he liked functionality over décor. As he sat down, he clicked on the monitors on one wall and brought up the bank of videos that watched over the casino floor. Of course, security had their own state-of-the-art equipment, but like Groto, Bishop preferred to have a bird’s eye view on the casino floor. He placed his call to Blackout’s sponsor, then learned the fighter had a match in Reno planned in a few days that he was sure Groto would be interested in attending. As he finished the call, he glanced over the numerous television screens and, as if a magnet drew his gaze, he immediately spotted a long-haired girl walking determinedly through the casino floor.

Evelyn.

Son-of-a-bitch!

Bishop rose and hurried out of his office. His one thought was to intercept her from whatever her mission seemed to be charging toward. Was she coming to see him? Groto? Or was it something more innocent? Just passing by? Somehow he doubted the last one. He punched the “down” button on the elevator several times before the car dinged open, and he hurried inside. Patience had always been hard for him, but now it was downright frustrating as he had to wait for the car to reach the first floor. When he finally made his way in the casino, he made a beeline toward the area he calculated she was heading.

A moment later, he spotted her. She stood near the high stakes area, looking inside. Confusion clouded her face. She looked tired and malnourished, and his first instinct was to take her for burger and fries. Walking up toward her, he took hold of her arm. Evie emitted a little squeal of fright and her other hand came around to hit him, but he caught hold of it before she could strike him.

“Hold up, little hellcat,” he muttered. “It’s me.”

Her eyes widened and she stopped struggling. “You scared me!”

“What are you doing here?”

She tugged both arms free and he let her go.

“I’m trying to find my brother,” she said, but her gaze shifted away. Immediately, his guard rose.

“If your brother is working then don’t bother him, or I’ll have to fire him,” Bishop said.

“What? Why?”

“Because I don’t like drama, Evelyn.”

“All I need to do is ask him a question.”

“What question?”

She sighed, looked toward the high rollers area once more, and then turned away. “Never mind.”

She made to leave, taking a few steps back the way she’d just marched, but he tightened his hold on her.

“Oh no, you’re not getting away that easily,” he said. “We’re going to get something to eat.”

She frowned. “But I’m not hungry.”

“When was the last time you ate?”

She didn’t answer right away and her brow furrowed. “I ate toast this morning.”

“Toast? That’s it?”

“I’m not a big breakfast eater.”

Bishop glanced at his watch. “Well, considering that was roughly ten hours ago, we can now move onto a very late lunch. That’ll put dinner about four AM.”

“Ha ha, very funny,” she said without one ounce of humor.

“Come on,” he said. “I know the best burger place. The fries are amazing.”

He didn’t give her a chance to decline, keeping hold of her arm and guiding her toward the front of the casino where the entrance emptied onto the street. Tourists strolled down the sidewalks, but Bishop was used to maneuvering through the crowds, and several minutes later, they entered a popular hamburger joint. He led her to the bar counter and they sat side by side.

“Howdy, folks,” said the waitress behind the counter. “What can I get you?”

“Two cheeseburgers, loaded, with fries and two beers,” Bishop ordered. “House special is fine.”

“You got it,” she said and left to put in their order.

“Maybe I don’t like cheese,” Evie snapped. “Maybe I don’t like beer.”

“Be quiet, Evelyn,” he said calmly. “You’re about twenty pounds underweight, probably haven’t eaten a decent dinner in days, and you’ve been taking way too much sleeping medicine.”

“It’s my life,” she countered. “If I want to sleep it away, that’s my prerogative, isn’t it?”

“I reckon so,” he replied. “Once upon a time, but you’ve dragged me into your life and I refuse to see you waste away to nothing. So you’re going to eat the burger and drink the beer. We’ll work on the addiction later.”

When she rolled her eyes, he thought there was nothing cuter. Evelyn wasn’t a raving beauty, but she held a wholesomeness that appealed to him.

“Jesus, you sound like my brother.”

“Well, your brother has a point. You need to leave him alone at work. It’s a good thing that Mr. Groto left today. I don’t want him seeing you.”

“That’s good because I don’t want to see him.”

The waitress placed two pints of beer in front of them before hurrying away. Bishop lifted his drink and took a deep drink of the cold brew.

“That might be so, but you’ve caught his eye,” he told her. “And Sherman Groto isn’t the kind of man you just ditch.”

“Tell him I’ve left the state,” she said. “Or I’ve had a relapse and am back in a coma. Or I have a boyfriend. Yeah, tell him that one.”

“And who should I say is this imaginary boyfriend of yours?”

He took another sip at the same time she said, “You.”

He choked on the beer. “What?”

She smiled, obviously happy at his distress.

“Tell Mr. Groto that we’re dating.” She shrugged. “Surely he’d leave me alone if he knew I was dating you.”

“This conversation is quickly going downhill,” he muttered. “You know how long it took me to get where I’m at? Too many years to let a woman mess it up.”

She opened her mouth to say something but just then the waitress returned with their burgers. Bishop picked his up and took a large bite. He pointed to hers.

“Go ahead and eat up.”

She sighed and poked around her fries before eating one. After eating some fries, she picked up the burger and nibbled on it. He figured if she wasn’t used to eating so much, her stomach wouldn’t be accepting too much either. For a few minutes they were silent as they ate, and Bishop kept a watchful eye as Evie slowly finished her food. She even licked the ketchup and fat juice from her fingertips.

“Good?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I didn’t realize I was so hungry.”

“So why did you need to see your brother?”

Evie pursed her lips and looked away. “He took my meds.”

“You mean your sleeping pills?”

She nodded, blew some hair out of her face, and looked back at him. “He said he’d allow me to scale back, not quit cold turkey. I need them.”

“You don’t need them, Evelyn. You just think you do.”

“Don’t patronize me, okay? I don’t want to hear that from you.”

“Why? Because I look like your dead John?”

“Yeah,” she snapped. “That’s exactly right.”

Annoyance sluiced through him. “Perhaps you should leave John in the ground and focus on living your life.”

“You’re just like Chris, judging even though you know nothing.”

He sat back and folded his arms across his chest. “Then explain to me what I don’t know. Explain why you prefer sleeping over living.”

“Because I don’t know the ending,” she said, breathing hard. “They woke me up before I got to the end of the story. And I need to know.”

Tears pricked her eyes and she blinked rapidly, as if to hide the fact that she was so emotional over her revelation. Those tears punched Bishop in his gut.

“Tell me something about John,” he heard himself say. “Something nice he did for this girl you think you are.”

Her gaze defocused as she thought of something, and when she talked, it was like she were describing something from memory.

“There aren’t any flowers in the desert,” she said softly. “At least, not like you’d find in a flower shop. The ones in the desert have adapted to the harsh environment by having thorns or a foul-smelling fragrance. Despite that, John found some of the most amazing colors in bloom, and even though he had to weed through cactus thorns and spider webs, he brought me a bouquet the second day I was there.”

Bishop frowned as her words came to life, as if he were remembering them himself. He shook his head slightly, to clear the disturbing thought.

“What else?”

“We fell in love rather quickly,” she replied, lifting her chin a bit in a classic act of defense. “Walks through the moonlight. Stolen kisses when we had a chance. We were going to leave the desert one day, leave the hunt for gold behind.”

“You say that’s the last memory?”

“More or less. I just want to know the rest.”

“What if you don’t like the rest of the story? What if John was a conman who cared nothing about you?”

She cocked her head. “Are you asking that because you care about nothing?”

Once again, she managed to outmaneuver him with words.

“Come on,” he said gruffly as he pulled out his wallet and threw two twenties onto the counter. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Are you going to take me to Chris now?”

“No,” he replied as he took hold of her arm again.

“But—”

“Evelyn, he’s working.”

He didn’t want to discuss it anymore. Growing up, he’d seen his fair share of people going down the slippery slope of drugs, and the last thing he wanted to see was her following that path. He was glad her brother had taken the initiative and thrown out her stash, but now he had to keep her occupied.

Sex immediately came to mind.

Although to be fair, he’d been thinking about sex with her from the first moment he’d lain his gaze on her. It would be one way to keep her mind off her brother and her missing pills.

“We’re going to your house,” he announced.

She stared at him. He could feel her angry gaze like laser beams burning a hole through him, but regardless, he was determined in his new resolve to keep her preoccupied. It would only take a day or so get over her craving for the sleeping medicine, and in the meantime, why couldn’t they have a little fun? He’d be able to fuck her out of his psyche.

“I need to go to the ladies’ room.”

“So you can ditch me? I don’t think so. Hold it until we get to your place.”

“Fine,” she muttered.

He considered that a victory. A small one, perhaps, but still one step in the right direction. With her dragging her feet, he led her back through the casino to the garage where his Tesla was parked.

“You know, you don’t strike me as an environmental type of guy,” she said as she slid into the passenger seat.  

“What?” He was more than a little distracted with thoughts of fucking her.

“Tesla is an electric car, right?”

“Yes, but that’s not why I bought it. This car is the brand new design and amazing to drive. Don’t read any more into that.”

She rubbed the spot in between her eyes and sighed.

“What’s wrong?”

“My head is starting to hurt. I need my pills.”

“If it’s behind your eyes, it’s simply a tension headache. It’s the addiction talking, not a migraine.”

“I wish everybody would stop telling me what I do and don’t feel!” she yelled. “You weren’t the one tumbling down a mountain, afraid that was the moment death was coming to claim you. Jesus, it hurts.”

“Tell me about that day,” he said, trying to distract her.

“What?”

“The day of your accident. Tell me what happened.”

She was quiet for a long time, simply staring out of the passenger window and absently rubbing her forehead. He thought she had decided to ignore him, until she started talking.

“I love the desert,” she said in a soft voice. “I used to hike all over Mt. Charleston, and Red Rock. Exploring caves, the ghost towns, and their old mines. One day I was with a group of friends and we were in the Sheep Mountains when I slipped and fell backward. Gravity pulled me down and I hit my head on a huge boulder. My friends took me home and later, when my head started really hurting, Chris drove me to the hospital.”

She moved aside some hair and he glanced over to see that a large section underneath was a lot shorter.

“I guess I could’ve cut it all off to grow back evenly, but I had a hard time letting go.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling,” he replied. “Before I came to work for Mr. Groto I lived on the streets. At first I didn’t want to live by his rules or do what he told me to do, but after I got used to the fact that the rug wasn’t going to be pulled out from under me once more, I changed.”

She looked at him. “You mean you cut your hair.”

He ran a hand over his flattop. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

They drove the rest of the way in silence. Porch lights lit patches along the street as he pulled up in front of her house and shut off the engine. He turned and slid one arm along the back of her seat as he faced her.

“Invite me in,” he ordered gently.

Her gaze darted to his mouth. “Why?”

“You know why.”

She bit her bottom lip and indecision seemed to war on her face.

Slowly, he leaned in and gently … so very gently … he placed his lips upon hers for a brief kiss. Although he wanted to do much more, he restrained himself because this was all about seducing her.

“Invite me in, Evelyn,” he murmured.

“Y-yes,” she said, breathlessly.