Loan Shark Love

Grey is like a rubber band, pulled tight and ready to snap in front of me.

I wrap my arms around his waist, pressing myself against his back, and he calms down. His body relaxes just a little beneath my hands, not as tense as before.

Somehow, probably stupidly, I feel pride and satisfaction knowing that I’m precious enough to Grey to be used against him. I wonder if they could see the way we looked at each other earlier. They obviously know something about us.

I wonder if they saw us touching in the booth.

“They’ve been watching us,” Grey says, and I can see his jaw clench at the revelation. “They must have been following me all night. I’m sorry, Rosie. I put you in danger.”

“Hey don’t say that, you saved me. And now it’s you and me,” I tell him, though I’m unsure if it sounds childish. I just want him to know that I’m not running away. Instead, I’m glued to his side, where I belong.

Grey lets out a breath. “You and me.”

I nod against his shoulder.

I can hear crying and quiet whispers at the far side of the room, where the workers must have called the police, and some of them are weeping. I hope our sweet waitress is okay where she is. She must be hiding, and I hope she stays that way.

The footsteps grow closer, and my heart nearly thumps right out of my chest.

Suddenly, a wild honking begins outside, and I can hear sirens in the distance. The noise is so distracting that I can’t hear the robbers, only small tidbits and some cursing.

The honking is loud, and Grey snatches me up from the floor, tucking me into his side. He stops at the corner of the room, where the half-wall leading to the front dining room area hides us both from sight.

At the windows, are four tall, lanky men, and they have either hands to their ears or guns in their hands.

I can’t recognize any of them, though I never expected to.

What do I know of crime?

I stole a pack of gum when I was a kid and was given a stern talking to. That was about the extent of my criminal history.

I wonder if Grey deals with things like this regularly, and then I also wonder why I never thought to imagine his life as dangerous. He’s a loan shark with god knows how much money to his name.

Of course, his life is full of dangers.

Some part of me feels the smallest bit of excitement at its thought, though that part might be the stupid part of me.

“I need you to trust me, Rosie,” Grey whispers, pressing his lips to my ear. “Can you do that for me? Can you trust me?”

I nod, and I can’t help but shiver as he presses a quick kiss to my neck.

Grey pulls me out of our hiding place quickly, and the glass crunches under our shoes as we run across the room. Grey would stand and fight if he could. I can feel the yearning practically rising off of him. It makes me feel hot with need.

Protecting me and keeping me safe is more important to him than fighting these men and winning against them, that much is obvious.

The honking continues, and yet I can still hear the moment the men turn from the window, and then they see us. A spray of bullets bounce off of the blue walls behind the two of us, and I can feel the air as they whistle right by my head.

Grey pushes us down, and three bullets barely scrape by us, narrowly missing my shoulder.

The doors of the pizzeria are busted open already, and Grey hauls me through them, tipping us both out into the flickering street lights that illuminate the sidewalks. The men are scrambling behind us, and finally, the honking car is just further up ahead.

Natalie is leaning out of the front seat, and I can see the driver holding the horn.

“Get in the damn car, Grey!” she screeches. Her green eyes wild.

Grey doesn’t hesitate. He pulls me in front of him and yanks the door to the black car open, basically picking me up and dropping me onto the leather seats.

Just as Grey closes the door, the sound of a gun goes off, and there’s a sharp bang as the bullet slams into our window. I close my eyes, ready for the impact, but the bullet is caught in the glass, twisted into a flattened curl of metal. Spider web cracks spread out from the hit, and I watch them splinter across the window.

“All of my personal cars have bulletproof glass,” Grey says on the edge of a breath, but he seems relieved. “We should be safe in here now.”

“Drive! Go, go!” Natalie screeches, tapping the blonde driver’s arm wildly.