Fake Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,28

his wrists, everything about him was dark. The shape of his face made him look pissed off, or maybe that was the way he always looked.

He came out of nowhere and stepped up next to me.

When he stopped, I caught the smell of his clothes.

Which was so weird to think about, but the smell just hit me.

It was this musky yet clean smell, and it didn’t make sense with the way he looked.

As much as I hated to judge someone by their looks, this guy looked like a criminal.

His chin stuck out a little, his left lip curled up, and just his aura… he was dangerous.

“Talon?” the security guard asked. “What the fuck is this?”

The security guard suddenly had a different tone in his voice. Like he was trying to change his voice to fit in with this guy.

Talon…?

Even his name made me shiver.

He stood mere inches from me.

“What are you doing out here, Mickey?” Talon asked.

“Working, man. Making a buck or two.”

“Protecting this shit?”

“Hey. It’s cash. Okay? It’s cash. Please don’t fuck that up for me.”

Talon turned his head and looked down at me. “You got money, darling?”

I swallowed hard. “W-w-what?”

“Money,” Talon said in a deep voice.

My whole body crawled with fear.

They’re going to rob me. Or hurt me. Or take me.

“S-s-s-sure,” I said.

“How much?” Talon asked.

“A couple hundred,” I said. “Cash. In my bag.”

“Mickey, does that work?” Talon asked.

“It’s a start,” Mickey said. “I’ll go to the other side and tell them that I saw movement. It could work.”

Talon kept looking at me. I could see from the faint streetlights above us that his eyes were a dark blue color. There was nothing innocent or kind about them though.

“You want to get that money?” he asked me.

I nodded.

My knees wobbled as I walked to Tank Two.

I opened the door and reached for my bag.

I folded up the cash and walked back to Talon and Mickey.

This was crazy. Dangerous. Stupid.

And I had done this to myself.

I had my hand out and Talon touched my wrist and guided my hand toward Mickey.

“It’s not for me, darling,” he said. “We’ll discuss my fee in a bit.”

More chills moved through my body.

God, Winter, what have you gotten yourself into?

Mickey took the money from me.

“Clean cash,” he said. “Fucking Bumps.”

“Get the fuck out of here,” Talon ordered.

Mickey walked to his security vehicle and drove off.

Now it was just Talon and I.

I looked at him.

He looked at me.

He was tall and deadly.

I took one step to my left and he touched my wrist.

“Don’t go running off yet, darling.”

Talon crouched down and grabbed the metal bar off the ground.

He looked up at me and he smiled.

If I had to admit it, it was the hottest smile I’d ever seen on a guy in my life.

But it was laced with everything bad about him.

He stood up and looked at me, then at Noah’s car.

Then back at me.

“Doing a little custom work on the car?” Talon asked.

“This is a big misunderstanding. I paid your friend. I’m going to go. Okay?”

“No. That’s not going to happen. Okay, Winter?”

Every muscle tightened. “How do you know my name?”

Talon smile again. “You’re the one who got into the accident, right? Things got all fucked up for you. I even heard that you lost your memory.”

“That’s right,” I said. “That’s why I don’t know who you are.”

“But you know who this is?” Talon asked as he pointed the metal bar at the car.

“I, uh, well… no…”

“So you just chose a random car?”

I swallowed hard. “Please…”

“I’ll tell you when it’s time to beg, darling,” Talon said. “Right now, I want the truth.”

I shook my head. “There’s no truth.”

Talon moved closer to me. He reached up with his other hand and stripped the hood of his hoodie down. He had super short brown hair. He towered over me.

His eyes dug through me, threatening me with each second that passed.

“We might have something in common here, Winter,” he said. “We just need to talk to each other. I know the Bumps and the Trocs don’t get along, but let’s break that barrier. Let’s change the world.”

“Trocs… right…”

It made sense.

He was part of the Trocs.

The Bumps didn’t know the Trocs or give a shit about them. But the Trocs were usually obsessed with the Bumps. Usually out of jealousy.

“How do you know Noah?” I asked.

He smiled a third time. “How do you know Noah?”

“I gave your friend all my cash,” I said. “I can bring more back to you tomorrow, okay? I swear on my life.