Fake Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,31

I’m not making calls and watching you Bumps destroy each other. You have me intrigued. You really want these three to pay, huh?”

“I’m not sure what I want,” I said.

“But you know you need me.”

I didn’t say a word.

Talon looked at me and laughed. “You can see it, darling. Our secret. Tell me you need me.”

“Talon…”

“Tell me,” he said in a louder voice.

“I need you,” I said. “Okay? I need you.”

“I can guide you along,” he said. “Teach you how to disappear into the night. Leave them looking over their shoulders. I mean, taking a bat to the car is one thing, but if you want to get into their heads… you can do that too.”

“How?”

“Hey, I’m just giving you the selling points, Winter,” Talon said. “You don’t get the product until you pay up.”

“Pay up?”

“What the fuck do you think this is? Charity?”

I swallowed hard. “You want money?”

“Why else would I be here?”

“You know, you fucking Trocs are dirty…”

Talon shook his head. “You Bumps are the same. Your father finds small companies that can’t survive and he buys their patents, kicks everyone out, and makes tons of money off of it. Don’t talk to me about being dirty.”

Talon was smart.

Not to assume that all Trocs were idiots… but most were.

Not Talon.

He had a bigger vision of everything.

And I had walked into it.

Into him.

“How much?” I asked.

“I gave you a little sampler tonight,” he said. “Chased away Mickey and gave Noah’s car a little love tap. That one’s on me.”

“I had to pay Mickey two hundred bucks,” I said.

“That was Mickey’s fee. Not mine. Mine comes in the form of four figures. Each time you and I talk. That’s nothing for someone like you, right?”

I nodded.

He was really smart.

A few hundred dollars here and there wasn’t going to mean much. If he went five figures, that would have been greedy.

“So, tomorrow, I expect my first payment,” Talon said. “And then I’ll tell you exactly what you should do next.”

Talon opened the door.

I reached for him. “Wait. I’ll give you a ride home.”

Talon looked back at me and grinned. “I’m good, darling. I don’t mind walking.”

He slipped out of the SUV and shut the door.

He walked toward the back of Tank Two and I watched in the mirror as he faded into the night.

When he was gone for good, I put my head to the steering wheel and shut my eyes.

What in the actual fuck am I doing right now?

I went back to the castle that had always been my home.

I needed money.

And I knew where money was hidden.

Dad wasn’t exactly paranoid, but he was prepared. He was always prepared. On top of that, he had a very healthy amount of money he kept in his den. I wasn’t stealing or anything like that. Dad told me about the money a long time ago and told me if I ever needed money in a pinch to use it.

No questions asked.

Which was perfect.

This was a no questions asked kind of moment.

I was going to pay Talon to help me get back at Noah, Easton, and Xavier.

It wasn’t even about Talon physically doing something to them, but maybe just the idea of feeling protected. Having someone to talk to who understood it.

A Bump and a Troc… working together… what could go wrong there?

I already knew the answer was everything, but oh well. Desperate times…

This was no longer about BFH or Bumps and Trocs.

This was about me.

Call me what you wanted, but I was the princess bitch. The queen bitch. I was the fucking king with pouty lips and a set of tits.

It was my time to be greedy but in a different way than I was used to.

I parked Tank Two and walked to the side door of the house.

When I opened the door, a flashlight shined at me.

“Gotchya!”

“Hank!” I cried out.

Hank let out a long laugh and slapped his leg.

Hank was one of the security guys that walked around the inside of the house at night.

That was his only job.

To literally walk around the massive house at night.

He lowered the flashlight and stepped toward me.

“Wait a second,” Hank said. “You said my name.”

“What?”

“You said my name. You remembered me. Is your memory back?”

Fuck.

I licked my lips. “No. Your name tag…”

Hank looked at his left breast. “Well, goddamn, Winter. You have some good vision.”

I laughed. “That was part of the accident. I have x-ray vision now. I’m a superhero.”

Hank smacked his leg again. “I see that sense of humor is intact.”

“Of course.”

“What are