few feet away to watch for several seconds. The lovely Treat—and Finn appreciated why she had that name—had Julius worked up for sure. She shimmied, shook, and rubbed her body all over him, leaving a smear of glitter on his chest and thighs, and everything in between. As Finn began to sense Julius’s ardor beginning to peak, he drawled, “Well, hell. Julius! Fancy seeing you here.”
Julius jerked with a startled “Hey!” and sent Treat tumbling off his lap.
Finn reached out to steady her and set her on her feet. Digging into the back pocket of his jeans, he tugged out his wallet and retrieved two twenties. “Go take a break, honey,” he said, handing the bills to her. “You look like you can use it after this guy.”
Her lips twitched but she was too much of a professional to actually laugh and agree with him. “Thanks,” she murmured as she took the money from between his fingers.
Finn watched her sashay off. He flipped a chair around and straddled it, resting his forearms on the back. He took a sip of his beer and stared at a very nervous Sheddai. “Now, then. Julius. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve been up to?”
“Nothing. I haven’t been up to anything.” He glanced around the room. “I don’t know what you heard that made you look me up, but I haven’t done anything. Honest.”
Finn took the opportunity to study him more in depth. It was time to push the guy even more off balance. “You know, Julius,” he drawled, “it’s a good thing you don’t have to impress people with your looks in order to influence their emotions. With that shiny head and that paunch of yours, I bet the only way you get a woman to pay attention to you is if you pay her. Like sweet little Treat there.” He let a slow smile curl up his lips. “Am I right?”
Julius sputtered, drawing himself straighter, his bearing one of affronted dignity. “I don’t have to p…” He scowled. “I get plenty of action from women.”
Finn gave an unconcerned shrug. “Well, that’s neither here nor there, is it? I shouldn’t have brought it up. What I’d really like to talk about is what’s been going on in your neighborhood.”
Julius went still except for a trickle of sweat that slid down his face in front of his left ear. “I don’t know.” His gaze flitted around the room as if he were looking for an avenue of escape. Or rescue.
A quick glance told Finn that everyone else was either genuinely not concerned about what was going on in this corner, or they deliberately had looked away in order to not get involved. “Come on, Julius. You know what I’m talking about. Mrs. Peterson two doors down? Lovely little old lady, in her right mind and of sound health who, without warning, tried to hang herself from the second-story landing. Or what about Myra Davis right next door, who tried to hack off her husband’s head while he slept?”
“I…I had nothing to do with that.” Another drop of sweat followed the first in a shiny trail down Julius’s face.
“You’re not nervous, are you, Julius?” Finn raised his brows. “It’s actually quite cool in here.”
Julius stood, knocking his chair over.
“Sit down,” Finn said. “We haven’t finished our conversation.”
“It’s finished as far as I’m concerned.” The Sheddai demon took a couple of steps back, his hands fisted at his sides. “You…you can’t just hunt me down and accuse me of…things. Whatever you think happened to my neighbors, you can’t hang any of it on me.”
“Funny you should put it that way.” Finn put his palms on his thighs, ready to push to his feet if necessary. “Julius, don’t make me tell you to sit down again. And do not make me chase you. You know I’ll catch you, and the mild annoyance I’m feeling right now will be downright ugly when I do.” He paused. “You won’t like me when I’m angry.”
Julius blanched, whether it was because he realized he was ill equipped to defy an enforcer, or because he had visions of Finn going all Hulk on his ass. Whichever it was, he righted his chair and sat back down.
“Good. Now, then, where were we?” Finn leaned his arms on the back of his seat again. He focused his gaze on Julius. Sweat broke out on the paunchy demon’s forehead. Finn said, “Oh, that’s right. We were talking about Mrs. Peterson and Mrs. Davis.”
Julius stayed