Devil s Bargin Page 0,3

obscene in her face; she didn't even note the words, just the reek of bad breath, bad teeth and alcohol.

Watch him. Watch...

He rushed her like a charging bear. She swept out of his way and left him to trip over the fallen chair, but he was fast, faster than she'd thought and not nearly as drunk as she'd hoped. He swerved. Before she could turn she was engulfed by his brutally strong arms, rippling with thorn tats and overendowed girls.

Borden, down on the floor, coughed out a mouthful of blood and tried to get up.

"Stay down," she said. Weird, how calm her voice could sound at times like these. She might have been asking him to pass the salt. "I'll be done in a second."

AC/DC's breath pistoned her ear, and she felt the suggestive grind of his hips against her.

"In your dreams, asshole," she said, and simply let her knees go, dragging him over. When his center of gravity was higher than hers she flowed forward, then quickly reversed, whipping his own momentum against him into a shoulder roll. He grabbed a handful of her hair on the way over, and she ended up on his back. He flailed and bucked, trying to throw her off, but she had her arm around his neck and she applied pressure, cutting off blood flow until his body went slack.

And then she kept on holding the pressure, fury mounting. Stop it, you'll kill him, something told her, but it was a small voice, and she wasn't really in the mood to listen anyway.

She kept choking him until a baseball bat slammed splinters out of the wood floor right next to her.

She looked up to see the bartender/owner - Sol himself? - his face purple with fury, pull back for a straight-for-the-bleachers swing at her head. She let go and held up her hands. He didn't lower the bat as she got to her feet.

"Cops are on the way," he said, which was the longest speech she'd heard from him yet. "Take your boyfriend and get the hell out. Don't come back."

Jazz fought off an adrenaline-hot wave of dizziness and went to where Borden sat crumpled against the wall. He was probing his bleeding mouth and looking dazed. She grabbed a leather-clad elbow and dragged him to his feet.

"Let's go," she said, and guided him toward the door. He yanked free after a couple of steps and staggered back for something.

The red envelope, lying on the floor.

He tucked it into his jacket and followed her out, stumbling over the two prone bodies.

Outside, the night was cool and quiet, stars shining in a cloudless sky. A blurry bass beat thumped from a dance club down the street, and the sidewalk was thick with teenagers trying to look sullen while they waited their turn at the red velvet rope. Jazz turned left, heading uptown. Borden caught up with her in a couple of long-legged, stumbling steps. He was wiping blood from his face with a clean white handkerchief.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Your lip..."

"It's nothing," Jazz said, and tasted blood. She dabbed at the cut on her lip and couldn't remember when she'd picked it up. "How about you? No broken bones?"

"Bruised ego. Among other things."

"You know, the tough-guy act? Really not all that convincing." She stepped out to wave down a cab, but it sped up and passed her by. Maybe the problem was the ad for Armor All lurking next to her. He really did look like he'd been whomped pretty good. She muttered a curse and took the handkerchief away from his face to inspect him with merciless authority. "You'll live. You'll have a nice shiner, though. And you should see a dentist, he popped you in the mouth pretty good. What about the ribs?"

He winced when she probed them, but they didn't feel broken. Just bruised, probably. She pulled up his shirt to see bruises forming across smooth, trembling lines of muscle. His skin felt flushed and velvet soft.

"Hey!" He smacked her hands away. "I'm all right."

"You were lucky," she said, unapologetic. "If you've got a perforated lung, fine, go aspirate blood in peace. And don't bother me anymore. Thanks for ruining my night. I was starting to like that bar."

She hailed another cab, but it passed her by. Probably a bad block. She decided to keep walking, put some more distance between herself and Sol's. Any cop with half a brain would be able to pick