“Yeah, alright,” she agreed, brushing past him.
He grabbed her arm. “Don’t do anything until we talk.”
“What—” she started to question his right to ask that of her, but he was gone, leaping down the steps and over the railing. Davis disappeared into the crowd below.
* * *
Ari didn’t do anything about Davis the next day. Or the next. Instead she focused all her energy into catching up on the unrelenting pile of work on her desk. If she was honest with herself, she would admit that she hoped maybe the situation between them would just blow over. Maybe Curtis would fail out of the program and she’d never have to go back.
Other than her work, Ari threw herself into Nick. Well, as far as he was willing to let her.
“How was dinner?” Oliver asked. His legs stretched across the couch and he held a bowl of cereal in his hands.
“Good. I see you’re having your own dinner of champions.”
“Dessert. Dinner was a frozen burrito.”
“Gross.” Ari scrunched her nose in repulsion.
“Well, you bailed on me—again. You know I can’t cook.”
“Poor baby.”
He decided to go one step further. “Plus, I don’t have some handsome sugar daddy springing for dinner either.”
“Hey! I paid for dinner tonight,” Ari argued, but it was futile because it only led Oliver to question “how” she paid for dinner. If he only knew how chaste it all really was.
Just before the eleven o’clock news, Oliver hopped up, tapped her legs out of his way and went to bed. “You coming?” he asked as he secured the lock on the front door and set the alarm.
“Not yet,” she replied, stretching into the space on the couch he’d just vacated, “I need to watch the news—make sure none of the kids landed in the pokey tonight.”
“Okay then…night.” Oliver shuffled off and she heard lock click on the door of the bathroom they shared.
Ari flipped the TV to the local news and breathed a bit easier as the night’s stories unfolded and none of her clients showed up in the ‘Breaking News’ section. She was about to turn the television off when the news anchor said the words, “mystery man,” and caught Ari’s attention.
Ari reached for the remote and turned up the volume. Oliver came out of the bathroom, toothbrush in his mouth, and sat on the couch arm next to her. “Holy shit,” he said, through a mouthful of toothpaste. “There he is!”
“Shhh,” Ari said, focusing on the story.
“Earlier tonight, a fight broke out between rival gangs on the subway platform at Bolton Street. The altercation was caught on surveillance camera. To the surprise of police, the fight had been broken up by the time they arrived. Who stopped it? The local hero people are calling a ‘Vigilante.’”
“Is that the guy you saw?” Oliver asked.
Ari watched the video the news played on a loop. The grainy black and white film was hard to make out but she identified the same or similar outfit from the robbery. Dark hoodie. Dark pants and boots. It wasn’t his clothing that confirmed it for her, though. It was his movement. Quick and precise. Confident.
He wasn’t scared.
“Damn,” Oliver said, running back in after rinsing his mouth. He pointed at the TV. The man managed to get all the kids under control and separated in different directions. Once the police arrived, he jumped over the tracks and disappeared off screen.
“Police have not identified this man and are requesting that in the future, civilians not engage dangerous situations. As we’ve reported before, this is not the first time the Vigilante has interfered in situations like this.” A square photo flashed behind the anchor’s head. It was a blurry photo of the mystery man with the word “Vigilante” stamped across the top. “Let us know how you feel about the Vigilante involving himself in police matters.”
“He’s a ninja, all right.” Oliver glanced up at Ari once she turned off the television. “Who do you think he is?”
“No clue, but it doesn’t look like the police like him being involved.”
“I’m sure they don’t. He’s been doing a better job than they have.” Oliver held out his hand and Ari took it, allowing him to lift her off the couch. “I’m just glad he was there when you needed him,” he said, giving her a hug and a kiss on the top of her head.
“Me, too, because if Jace recognized me, it’s possible he wouldn’t have let me go.”