Chapter One
Fitch…
“Watch out!”
I wasn’t sure what had come over me as I raced forward and knocked the guy out of the way of the speeding car. We hit the ground with a harsh roll, bruising my elbows and hurting my side.
When I looked up, the car kept going, as if it hadn’t almost run over a human being. It nearly sideswiped a parked car before barreling around the corner.
What a freaking idiot.
“Fitch! Fitch!” My cousin came running out of the noodle place, his eyes wide, his arms held out. “What the hell just happened?”
“I think I might’ve broken my elbow.” I sat up and winced as I clutched my injured arm. “It really hurts.”
“I saw what happened,” Emerson said.
“Then why did you ask me what happened?”
Emerson helped me to my feet. My arm really did hurt. It was a throbbing, shooting pain that radiated up to my shoulder. I was pretty sure I needed to go to a hospital, but with no health insurance, that wasn’t going to happen.
“You saved my life.”
The deep voice behind me reminded me that someone else was there. I’d been so focused on my pain that I’d forgotten about the guy I’d just saved. I needed to get my heart to slow down. It pounded hard against my ribs and made my chest ache. Was I having a heart attack? Mild stroke? I think I was having a heart attack. I fanned myself and hoped I didn’t need an ambulance.
“You’re the reason my cousin nearly got ran over.” Emerson glared at the stranger.
“He was on the sidewalk,” I argued. “It was the car’s fault for jumping the curb.”
I turned to face the stranger and sucked in a deep and quick breath. Sweet mother of mercy. He was in a business suit, a nice-looking one, but it was his face that had me panting and my heart going even faster. Those pretty light brown eyes were heavenly. “I think I’m in lust.”
“Are you nuts?” Emerald grabbed my shoulders and pulled me farther away from the hunk. “Get your ass back in the restaurant and leave this guy alone.”
“But I want,” I whimpered. Maybe that shot of saké hadn’t been a good idea. It had made me play hero when I’d come out to feed the meter, and that could’ve cost me my life. It also had me saying things I normally wouldn’t have said out loud. “I saved his life, so I get to grope him.”
Emerson glared at me. “You seriously can’t hold your liquor, buddy. You can’t go around groping strangers. That’s some kind of rule somewhere. I think it falls under sexual harassment.”
I pouted because the scenario in my head had the stranger bending me over the nearest car hood. “You’re no fun. I just want to feel his package. I didn’t say I wanted to drop to my knees and suck his dick.”
Emerson slapped a hand over his face. “You did not just say that.”
I would have totally sucked his dick if he’d asked. Lord Jesus, I wasn’t a slut, but how often did I save a hot guy’s life?
The guy reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a card. “You have to let me repay you for what you did for me.”
I could think of several naughty ways he could repay me. For fuck’s sake. I needed to leave that saké alone. It had my brain all fuddled.
Emerson swiped the card and shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans. “Fitch didn’t see anything, and he doesn’t know nothing,” Emerson said. “He’s not a witness, got that?”
We were on the east side of town, a neighborhood that wasn’t particular nice. It was where we lived and housed the shops we loved, but one had to always watch his back. The Malkovich gang ran the east side, and sometimes it got bloody.
But what were residents supposed to do, hide in their homes? It wasn’t crazy-crazy, but nighttime wasn’t a particularly good time to be out. But I’d wanted something to eat and had talked Emerson into joining me.
He’d picked me up from my house, and we’d had dinner. It had been harmless enough, and I’d wanted to get away from my family for at least an hour. If you’d met them, you’d know why.
Even so, what if the driver was part of the gang and the near-miss had been an attempt to kill this guy? Nope, I hadn’t seen anything, and I wasn’t opening my big mouth.
I was