by Michael Todd
She had no way to prepare for her shock when she walked into the living room. So much had been finished, including most of the living room furniture and the art and décor for the walls. The bright sunlight dappled the beautiful wood floors, muted into softness by the voile window dressings.
Angie walked around the corner with her clipboard and smiled. “Welcome home. Not everything is complete, but I’d say about seventy-five percent is done.”
Katie drank it all in with wide eyes. “I can see that! Amazing! It’s really looking amazing. I’d expected maybe a space to sit and eat, and a start on the bedroom.” She opened her arms wide. “This? This is magic, Angie!”
Angie’s cheeks turned red, and she shuffled her clipboard from hand to hand. “I wanted you to come home, not come to a half-empty apartment.”
“I really appreciate it.”
Just then the doorbell rang. Angie walked over and opened the door.
Two very hot men stood in the doorway, one with blond hair and blue eyes and the other with curly chestnut hair and brown eyes. They both were wearing tight jeans and denim shirts with the sleeves rolled up above the elbows to highlight the way their muscles strained against the material.
Blondie grinned. “Hi. We’re from Models to Move You, and we have some things to drop off.”
Angie smiled. “Perfect. Come on in.”
Katie glanced over as the hunks brought the boxes they were carrying inside. She ran her eyes over them and lifted an eyebrow at Angie, who gave Katie a mischievous grin and headed to the back with her clipboard in hand.
Katie smirked, knowing Angie had done it on purpose. She was starting to like her personality more and more every day.
Holy moving man, who ordered those two fine examples of yumminess?
Katie snickered. Angie’s idea of a good view while you move.
Uh...yes! Pandora squealed. If you don’t go for that, I’ll make you so wet they’ll need a boat to get out of here.
That is freaking gross.
Well, you’d better hop to it, then. I’m just getting warmed up.
Katie could tell Pandora was not playing around. She took a seat at the dining room table to watch them while she steadied her nerves. The blonde was hot, and Katie couldn’t keep her eyes off him as he moved. She was never really good at approaching men, but she had to do it sometime.
Couldn’t you at least ramp up my courage?
Nope. You gotta do this all on your own.
Katie sighed and got up from the table, walking into the living room just as the blonde put a box down by the windows.
“You have a fantastic view here.”
“Thanks.” Katie smiled. “I’m Katie.”
“Branson.” He smiled and offered a hand for her to shake.
“I know you probably get this all of the time, but can I get your card? Maybe we can catch dinner or something sometime.”
Branson smiled and pulled his card from his back pocket and handed it to her. “I’m all about dinner and new friends, but uh...just so you know, I bat for the other team.”
Katie laughed and rolled her eyes. “Of course you do. I seem to have an exclusive attraction to gay guys these days.”
Branson chuckled. “Well, there’s nothing wrong with having good taste. Definitely call. We’ll catch a movie.”
Katie smiled and tucked his card into her pocket. “Thanks, I will.”
Are you fucking kidding me?
Katie was laughing so hard on the inside she could barely contain it. You are like the queen of picking up gay dudes.
I can’t believe this happened to me again. I knew you should have gone for the brunette. He had bedroom eyes, and did you see his hands? He’s just built for pleasuring a woman. There’s no way he’s gay too. I know it.
And how do you know that?
I just do.
Katie cracked up at that. Right, like you knew this time, or the last, or the one before that?
Shut up, Pandora grumped.
Just then the doorbell rang again.
Great, did he come back to smash my remaining self-confidence into a pile of rainbow-infested unicorn shit?
Katie laughed and walked over to answer the door.
The doorman waited there with the remainder of her luggage. “Here are your bags, Ms. Maddison. Can I take that rack for you?”
“Thank you.” Katie took them from him, then emptied the rack of the weapons bags and handed him some cash after he’d taken possession of it. “Here you go. I appreciate it.”
She closed the door, then looked down at the bags and pressed her hands together. A smile spread over her face. “Let’s see what toys Joshua made us to play with.”
As opposed to the toys you just let walk out of here? Pandora sniffed. Fine, if you must.
8
Katie finished unpacking her bags. She’d spread all the ammunition Joshua had sent her out on her California king bed after carefully covering it with a sheet. He definitely had gone above and beyond, and she was grateful. Things were getting hairier by the second here, and she would need all the backup she could get.
She carefully stacked all the ammunition back inside the bags, then slid them under her bed. The new weapons went into her closet, hidden behind some clothes, and the knives and sword were sheathed and tucked into her dresser drawers.
She sighed and brushed her hands off, glad that her living space was coming together. It was an amazing feeling to know that she no longer just had a room. Now she had an entire home to call her own. Her bedroom was coming together beautifully, and she could already see the sweet European touches going in all over the place. The four-poster bed was beautiful. She ran her fingers over the mythical creatures and vines that were carved from the top to the bottom of each post. The raw silk counterpane was covered in pillows with just a touch of appliqué, detailed enough to soothe her traditional side but still modern.
Katie smiled as she clicked the light off and headed back out to the living area.
Angie looked up from her chair when Katie walked into the living room. “Hi! Does it feel good to be home?”
“It does, but now the real work needs to begin. I need you to help me brainstorm things I can do to make money in New York.”
Angie tilted her head. “Why do you need to make money? You have a ton.”
Katie pressed her lips together. “Yeah, government money—which they are tracing every cent of. They may as well slap a leash on me. No, I have plans that are better hidden. I need a revenue stream that is both profitable and off the books to filter into them.”
“Plans?”
Katie nodded but didn’t clarify. “I need to keep all of that funded without anyone keeping tabs on what I’m doing. The government knows everything about my other company, and about what I do and what I get paid, and I don’t want them to have open access to all my finances. A woman is entitled to her secrets, you know. I get that they can access my bank records, but if I’m claiming enough each year off of what they pay me, they probably won’t go to the trouble of checking them too thoroughly.”
“Okay, so side jobs, basically.”
Katie nodded. “Yep, exactly.”
You could be a lady of the night.
“No, Pandora, I will not prostitute myself,” Katie replied out loud for Angie’s benefit.
Angie giggled while Pandora went on and on about the reasons sex work was both a moral and ethical vocation.
Katie repeated what she was saying so Angie could be part of the conversation. “Pandora said that I should go into prostitution—sorry, sex work—since, like my current profession, I would be providing a service for the betterment of the community. That it is the oldest profession in the world, and also the most honest since it is a simple exchange of cash for services rendered. She says that if I’m willing to spend my days getting pounded by bullets, a switch to getting pounded by dicks instead will be a vacation in comparison.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m still not going to be a prostitu
te.”
Sex worker, Pandora snarked. Have some respect.
Katie laughed. “Oh, that’s rich! Now she’s telling me to have respect.”
Angie giggled. “She is making some good points, though. Not that I am suggesting you do it, but I have to admit that her reasons are valid. They seem well-thought-out and logical.”
“I’m not selling my body,” Katie repeated.
You didn’t choose the profession you are in. I get it, but you did choose to continue after you were given the opportunity to walk away and be free. What the hell are you really doing as a mercenary? I mean, at least with my idea you get to just lie back and think of apple pie and get paid for it. You won’t have demons trying to kill you, and the only death you’ll be at risk of will be la petit mort, if you’re extra lucky…”
Katie rolled her eyes and chose to ignore Pandora. It was a good try and she gave her props for thinking about it that much, but there was no way she was going to do that. She could barely get laid when she was in a regular dating situation. What the hell would she do if her livelihood depended on it? She would end up stone-broke. Not only that, but she was not going to fall into the trap of sleeping with men for money. It didn’t matter if she agreed in theory with what Pandora had to say; that life just wasn’t for her.
“Honestly, I think the best route for me at this point is protection projects. I suppose that in a way, I’m already selling my body. I’m being thrown out into dangerous situations where all I can do is hope for the best and try to find the light in the situation, and I’m getting fucked most of the time.”
Not fucked in a good way, that’s for damn sure. Seriously, Katie, why do you want to take another job where I have to use my energy to patch your bullet-riddled ass up over and over? You could just suck it up and, well, suck it up. You would never take another bullet, and if the men got crazy, you could just pop their head like a zit.
No prostitution, Pandora. And if you are complaining about patching me up, then don’t do it. We will go down to hell together. We can float in on my wings if you like.
Oh, yeah, that would go over really well with Lucifer. He might just make you the queen of the underworld when my time comes to an end.
No, thanks. I don’t really get off on the whole spiky-talon-and-sharp-teeth thing.
Like he would give you a choice. Pandora scoffed. But hey, I would pay money to watch your feathery ass take on the almighty King of the Underworld.
Katie chuckled and shook her head. She knew there was a lot of work out there, especially in a city like New York. She just had to figure out where to go to get her foot in the door. Once inside she would kick some serious ass, which she figured she would probably have to do anyway. She was about to enter a world of even more fighting, but even larger payouts.
Katie was definitely down for that.
Katie changed her clothes. She chose a pair of black stretch pants, a sports bra and a loose tank top, tied at her hip. She tied her black boots then pulled her hair back into a ponytail and looked at herself in the mirror. She left her weapons stashed, figuring she wasn’t going to need them.
Angie was sitting on the couch going through paperwork for the week. She looked up as Katie walked down the hall, grabbing her black leather jacket and throwing it on. She looked only half-ready to kick ass and Angie lifted an eyebrow, wondering what kind of trouble she was going to get herself into like that.
Katie smiled and nodded, putting her hands on her hips. “I have to go find someone who can pimp me out for protection jobs. I just wish I knew where to start.”
“It’s not like you can advertise your services,” Angie mused. “How about you try Little Italy? There are a lot of mob types there who could probably point you in the right direction.”
“Thanks.” Katie nodded. “I’ll bring dinner back.”
Katie left the condo and headed out, making her way to Brooklyn first to search out the rough parts of town. She’d always heard about dudes from around there working as bodyguards for some big-time gangster or another, so she figured that would be as good a place to start as any.
However, most people turned and went inside as she walked along the streets, making it clear they didn’t trust someone new to the area.
Katie realized that it might be harder to find the kind of jobs she was looking for than she’d first thought. She found herself outside an old run-down apartment building, one she knew would be teeming with not-so-good guys.
As she walked through the doors she saw the cameras installed in the ceiling, and she looked up and flashed her red eyes. Two large men came down the stairs with their guns pointed in her direction. She put her hands up and started to back away. This wasn’t the friendly welcome she was looking for.
“What do you want?” one of the guys demanded.
“I was, uh, hoping I could talk to your boss. I’m looking for a job.”
The other sneered. “We don’t need anyone.”
Katie smirked. “I have talents he or she may very well be interested in.”
The first narrowed his eyes at her. “Like what?”
“Like the ability to kick both your asses in thirty seconds flat.” She showed her eyes again. “You know, the demon gives me power.”
They both kept straight faces and moved closer. When they reached the bottom of the steps, the big thug pressed his gun against Katie’s forehead.
She reached for Tom and cursed inwardly, remembering that she had left her weapons at home.
That was genius.
Who knew I would need them?
I suggest that instead of pissing off the drug lord by slaughtering his men, you just back up and get the hell out of here. Seriously, these guys have no problem taking you out, and I don’t feel an ounce of fear from them.
Fine.
“All right, boys, I see you aren’t interested. I’ll just show myself out.”
“Here, let me help you,” the big guy replied. He spun her around and planted his boot in her ass.
She stumbled through the front gate and down the street, turning back once she reached the corner to give them the finger. She straightened out her clothes and left the area, figuring she would try somewhere a little more sophisticated.
She went to the Greeks, the Italians, and the Koreans, but nobody would let her get anywhere close to them. They were heavily guarded, and none of them liked the idea of working with a demon of any kind—especially not one they had seen on the news lately.
Katie felt like starting a fight with every last one of the scumbags, but she had to keep her temper. She was a government assassin for hire, and in the future it was very likely that she would have to consider one of the groups as an ally, at the very least. If she rolled through there spilling blood, she would have to answer for it when the time came.
Otherwise, she’d have walked away from more than a few burning buildings that day.
She paced slowly down the street, stopping at a hot dog vendor to grab a bite. Pandora wasn’t a huge fan of sauerkraut, so she had the vendor make hers plain. She sighed. Everyone seemed to want her help in some way or another. In fact, it was almost annoying.
That was when the light bulb went off in her head. She couldn’t believe it hadn’t been her first thought. There were a ton of cops on the force who took side jobs to help make ends meet. Not all of them were completely legit, but all of them paid under the table to keep the taxman out of it.
Pandora made a gagging noise. I think I’ve decided it doesn’t matter what you put on the damn thing. I don’t like hot dogs.
Katie chuckled and tossed the rest of it into a trash can. I’ll get you something else in a little while. I have one place left to go.
Are they going to throw you out onto the street corner like a punk, too?
I doubt it.
She headed over to the precinct, and they buzzed her back. Neither of the detectives she had worked with was there, but she wasn’t there to see them anyway. She roamed the room until
her eyes, landed on Groomes, one of the beat cops. He was a roughneck; always sporting a black eye or bruised cheek. Katie figured he either had a side job or he really fucking loved fights, or maybe both. She walked over and stood next to his desk, waiting to be noticed. Slowly Groomes raised his head, his eyes skimming up Katie’s body.
He whistled and leaned back in his chair. “Hello, beautiful.”
Katie threw him a half-assed smile. “I need to talk to you.”
“And you are?”
She looked at him like the idiot he was and flashed her eyes.
He struggled upright in his chair when the realization hit him. “Right, right. Sorry about that. Didn’t recognize you at first. Uh, what can I do for you?”
She started to perch on the edge of his desk but thought better of it when she saw the tacky coffee stains. She wrinkled her nose and looked at Groomes. “I’m looking for a job—under-the-table protection type. I figured you might be the right guy to talk to.”
He let out a nervous laugh. “Who, me? No, I just like to fight, that’s all.”
Katie sighed and looked up as Schultz walked past the door and looked at her and Groomes in confusion before carrying on to wherever he was headed. She patted the cop on the shoulder, chuckling when he flinched, and jogged after Schultz.
Groomes shook his head as she ran off. “I’d go after a piece of that…if her demon wouldn’t bite my dick off.”
“Katie, I thought that was you.” Schultz shook her hand. “What are you doing here? Did we get a call?”
“No,” Katie told him. She led him into the conference room on the right. “I’m looking for some extra work. Something chill on payment, if you know what I mean. Something I can use my talents on.”
Schultz laughed. “You’re not fighting enough demons?”
Katie snickered. “It’s not that. I just want an extra income stream. New York is an expensive place.”
“Oh, you’re serious?” He shrugged, then led her out of the conference room and over to his desk. He wrote down a name and an address and handed it to her. “That’s Mason Waters. He’s the boss at a relatively legit company. They hire heavies out for all kinds of jobs. You have to be willing to go on jobs that may not exactly be legal, but if you’re good, then they will send you out as much as you ask.”