Before - Bethan-Kris Page 0,11

leather jacket closed to the cool wind sweeping through the city’s streets, Gigi looked like something that had just walked out of a fucking magazine. She truly was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life, and he wouldn’t even try to deny that fact.

Ever.

“Go ahead,” he said with a wave of his hands.

If she heard the lingering amusement at her anxious glare, she didn’t show it. Instead, she let out a laugh, colored with her tension, as she watched the cab that had just dropped them off in front of an unfamiliar apartment building—to him; the place was apparently hers—only thirty seconds before.

He expected the questions, or shit, even her anger, to burst out of her at racing speed. Considering the way she’d barely managed to hold it in on the drive to the address she gave to cab driver, it wouldn’t be a surprise. She only stopped asking questions in the cab because every time she opened her mouth, he made a sharp noise to quiet her, and the cabbie watched them in the rearview mirror.

Lev knew how a night like tonight worked—or rather, how he should react to it if he wanted to keep his job and paycheck. You saw nothing, know nothing, and got fucking nothing to say. It wouldn’t be the first, or last, time he was told those words. Frankly, he found that was the easiest way to deal with shit like the mob making a scene.

Especially at Nickie’s.

Thankfully, Gigi got the hint quickly enough to stop talking about the bar shooting until they were finally alone. Although, he had to give her credit where it was due. She hadn’t questioned him at the bar right after the shooting started. His hands found her small waist, and she didn’t fight him at all when he shoved her toward the doors.

Yep.

He didn’t wait for the guns to stop firing before he got them both the hell out of there. He certainly didn’t wait around for the fucking cops to get called, either. Despite how shitty his life could be at times, he did actually like being alive. He found to stay that way, it was good policy to get as far away from people shooting guns as quickly as he could.

Chances were, Lev was also out his winnings for the fight. Not that it really mattered in the grander scheme of things. What did was the fact he’d gotten Gigi out of the place safe and sound, didn’t have a mark on himself but for the bruised mouth from the fight, and they managed to make it a block away from the bar before he heard any sirens.

Then, he hailed a cab.

Gigi followed, and here they now stood. All it took was him opening the cab’s back door and saying, “Give him your address—least I can do is get you home safely.”

He hadn’t given her the chance to argue or ask questions. The shock of the entire evening and the way it so quickly changed from one violent scene to a far worse one in seconds was enough to quiet even him. He didn’t wonder why she moved on autopilot when he took control.

Now, though?

Girl was ready to blow.

Finally, Gigi let out a breath of air and with it came a high-pitch noise he couldn’t quite place. “Thanks, I guess?”

It took Lev a second.

Then, he laughed deeply.

“Not exactly what I expected,” he returned, “but okay.”

One of her hands flicked a wave in his direction when she muttered, “I’m not sure I should ask what happened back there. I don’t think I want to know.”

“Good policy because you don’t, right?”

Gigi’s gaze darted from the darkness of the street and straight into Lev’s stare in an instant. “What?”

“Know,” he clarified. “You don’t know what happened—or why, for that matter. Wrong place, wrong time that’s all.”

“My friend and her boyfriend were—”

“Chances are, they got out of there the same way we did. Best thing you can do in a place like Nickie’s when bad shit goes down. Stay gone until the dust clears, and otherwise, make sure everybody knows you don’t know anything.”

Gigi hadn’t looked away from him. Lev hoped she got the point he was trying to make without outright saying it. The way her shoulders dropped a bit said she did, but the audible swallow and sniff she made before glancing away from him had that thing in his chest twisting a bit.

Forgot you were there, he thought.

His heart, he meant.

“But do you?”