Cruel Lover

“Hey!” Leroy turns, still cradling his arm. “What could I do?”

“Apparently nothing.”

I shake my head. “Whatever. Look, the lady’s upset. I’ll pay the debt in full. What does Winston owe you?”

“I can speak for myself,” Malta says, and her voice is like wind chimes to me. Soft, delicate, soothing. She’s trying to sound strong and annoyed, but I can still hear the tears threatening to come again.

When I turn to look at her, all I see is a little girl in need of protection.

“I know you can,” I tell her, “but you don’t know this world. I do.”

I’m not rich like my brother Roman, I’ve lived my life as a soldier, not a businessman. The bar doesn’t turn much of a profit, it’s more of a front for our other dealings, and one of many ways my father launders his money. But it’s not like I don’t have savings. I live frugally and I take a cut of anything I bring in. There’s not much in my official bank account, but there is a storage locker with a rainy day fund.

Looks like the sky’s just opened up.

“How much?” I ask Dan.

“Quarter of a million.”

“What the fuck? This place doesn’t make that much profit in a year. You’re running a piss-stained back alley gambling den. I said, how much?”

“Interest is a bitch,” Dan says with a chuckle, then stops and cowers back when I take a step his way. “Sorry, man, rules are rules.”

I turn to Malta. I’ve had enough. “Come on, you don’t belong here.”

“But, what about—” Her eyes are watery as she looks between me and Dan.

“He doesn’t want beef with the Volos family, he’ll come to his senses,” I tell her, stepping in between the two of them.

Scum like him doesn’t get to look at an angel like her.

Without thinking, I step forward and wrap my arm around her waist, and to my surprise, she doesn’t fight it. Instead, she leans in, using me for strength, and I’m not about to complain. Gently, I guide her to the door, hating that I’m going to have to walk her through a roomful of the dregs of society to get her outside, but glad that I’m with her.

“This isn’t about me, Oz,” Dan says from behind as I pull the door open and step out into the main gambling room. “That debt isn’t going to just disappear. Like I said, this guy has a private army.”

“Bring it the fuck on,” I tell him without even turning his way.

Then I pull the door closed behind me and march Malta for the exit.

As soon as we’re outside, I put my fingers to my mouth and whistle. A second later, Roxie comes bounding out of the shadows.

I rescued the Siberian husky from a scummy drug dealer who treated her like dirt three years ago, and she’s never forgotten that kindness, sticking by me and growling anytime someone unpleasant comes near. Malta reaches out and Roxie whines as she feels fingers tangle into her wolf-like fur, but I feel Malta shiver and draw a deep breath.

“Ody, I’m…I’m scared,” she says haltingly as I slip my jacket off and drape it over her shoulders. “My dad isn’t a bad man, he doesn’t deserve this. They’re not just going to stand back and let it go, are they?”

I think back to the night Malta and I went on our first and only date. The night my father kicked me out of the house when he found out. The night her father, his eye bruised and nose bloodied, turned me away and told me never to go near his daughter again.

Three nights spent sleeping under a bridge at the age of fifteen because nobody would take me in. Three nights learning that the only person I could depend on was myself.

“That’s not your problem, it’s his.”

She pushes out of my arms, taking a step away. “How can you say that?” she demands, as Roxie slips away from me, staying close to her. “I thought you had changed but you haven’t. I have to think about other people, Ody. I have to think about family. You expect me to just drop him, like you did back then, but I can’t! He’s my father! If I don’t look out for him, who will?”

Her voice rises at the end of each sentence, her breaths quick, panicked, like she can’t get enough air.

“Malta, I didn’t mean—”

“What are you even doing here? Why are you getting involved? I didn’t ask you to, I didn’t… Oh, god, I’m…”

She clasps a hand to her forehead, her breaths coming fast, and I’m at her side in an instant, the dog starting to bark in panic. I recognize the signs, I’ve seen this before when we were in school. She meets my eyes as I catch her in my arms, her lips trembling, her body shaking.