The Misfit

Chapter Twenty-Five

Dean

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I DIDN’T WANT TO HAVE to threaten her. But if that was the only way she was going to do what I said, I needed to.

I could tell she was pissed. I didn’t blame her. Maybe I should have come clean to her sooner, but I knew I wouldn’t have been able to trust her. Until we’d fallen into bed together again, I hadn’t been able to put everything into her, hadn’t been able to believe she was entirely on my side. Shit, I would have been stunned if she had described herself like that now, given what I had just told her, but it was for her own good. I hoped she would be able to see it one day, if not today – not judging by the look on her face, anyway.

She wanted to run, and I didn’t blame her. If she’d come anywhere near Arnold again, I was going to flip this car off the fucking road to stop it in its tracks. I hated the thought of her having to deal with him. I hated the thought of his hands on her, of him getting anywhere near her. I hated the thought of all of it. But I would have to play along a little longer, just to convince him I was entirely on his side – while making sure I stuck to my guns when I promised Arianna she wouldn’t have to go to bed with him.

So, it was just an act from her side. That was something. I had been sure she was just putting on a performance for Arnold, but this confirmed it – the panic in her eyes when she had mentioned having to sleep with him had made it impossible to mistake it for genuine lust or care. Which, on some level, was a relief to me – it meant whatever we’d had was real, even if I was sure she wouldn’t want anything at all to do with me now she knew the truth.

I had to pray she didn’t tell anyone else about the truth of my role in the gang – she must have been able to see how easy it would be for me to strike back and make her suffer for even trying, but that didn’t guarantee she wouldn’t pull something out of spite. Judging by the fury and confusion on her face right now, I doubted there was much she wasn’t capable of.

Arianna Sosa. Now that I could be honest about knowing who she was, I almost wanted to tell her I admired her. She was seriously good at what she did, and the thought of her scamming people like Arnold and his ilk in the process was pretty amazing to me. She took on men who would have terrified even the most experienced cop, and she got what she wanted from them and bailed. If she hadn’t been so keen to help me, she would have gotten away from this scott-free, and I was sure she was starting to wish she had done just that.

“Arianna,” I murmured to her, but her eyes were pinned to the window, away from me. She was processing, handling the news I had just dropped on her. I wished I didn’t have to use threats, but it seemed the only way to solidify the certainty that she wouldn’t do anything to hurt me. We had to be able to trust each other, even if that seemed nigh-on impossible in the face of what I had just told her. I was sure she had spent entire life trying to avoid men like me, and she was second-guessing everything we had shared together.

The best I could do was stick by my words and mean what I said. I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. She was a powerful ally to me right now, and more than that, I had feelings for her – feelings I should have been able to quiet by now, but it was never as easy as that. The chemistry we’d shared, maybe driven by the intensity of the situation we were currently in, was more than I could just ignore, no matter how much I wished I was able to. My desire for her was making it hard to think straight, and I could practically hear Rafael in the back of my mind, warning me, telling me that this woman was not to be trusted. She scammed men for a living, for fuck’s sake, was I really going to fall for her tricks the way everyone else had?

But, as I looked at her in the mirror, I knew I couldn’t argue with how I felt. As much as I might have wanted to, much as I wished I was able to just brush her off and remind myself of the job I was here for, she had drawn me in, and there was no way I could just ignore it. I wanted her. Even now. Seeing Arnold close to her, acting like he had a claim on her, had been enough to make my chest tense with anger. She was mine. And I was going to keep it that way.

She didn’t say a word to me as she looked out of the window, staring away from me like she was making a point. It wouldn’t be long till Arnold came back – he had already been away longer than I had thought, and I was sure someone in that drugstore was getting an earful for one reason or another – and if there was anything else we needed to share, it had to be now. And it had to be quick.

But she wasn’t going to give me the chance. She had made up her mind and focused herself on anything but me, and I would do well to let her. I had to see through my promise to keep Arnold away from her – it was the only way I was going to be able to convince her she had any reason at all to trust me.

Suddenly, the door to the drugstore flew open, and Arnold stormed out once more, his eyes narrowed into a furious glare as he stalked back towards the car. It was the most emotion I had seen him show in a long time, and it was clear she was the one who had brought it out of him. Arianna had that kind of effect on men, the ability to get them wrapped around her little finger with just a smile and a flutter of her lashes. Shit, she had all but managed to do it to me, too.

He made it back to the car and yanked the back door open, climbing in next to Arianna. He didn’t even try to touch her, much to my relief. He was clearly too irritated by everything that had happened in the store. I decided to play for a little time and push him for more.

“Everything okay, boss?” I asked him. Arianna didn’t say a word – she was likely relieved he wasn’t showing any interest in her, and didn’t want to ruin that by drawing his attention.

“Fine,” Arnold snapped back at me. “Just...the drugstore didn’t have...there’s a prescription that I was supposed to pick up this evening that isn’t in yet.”

I bit back a smirk. Those little blue pills Arianna had mentioned? Judging by how mad he was, I doubted it could be anything else. I was surprised he needed them to get it up for someone as gorgeous as Arianna, especially in the dress she was wearing, but if it gave her a reprieve for the night, I would take it.

“I can go in and talk to them if you want,” I offered. Obviously, if I went in there, I would convince them he had asked for whatever standing order he had to be cancelled, and make sure they never had it in for him when he wanted it, hopefully keeping him from getting any closer to Arianna than he already had. He shook his head at once.

“No, no, that won’t be necessary,” he replied quickly, and I was sure I could see his cheeks darken a little, maybe at the thought of someone like me discovering the truth of his need for those little blue pills. Guys like him operated on the assumption that everyone else looked up to them, and I was sure he would be less than pleased if I discovered the truth of his little prescription.

“Where would you like to go?” I asked, trying to swerve the situation away from something which could have pissed him off. He still might want to be alone with Arianna tonight, and there was no way I was going to let it happen, especially not if he was already mad.

He reached over to Arianna, and he brushed his fingers over the back of her neck. I could see the shudder she let out as he did so, and wondered if he noticed – wondered if he cared. I doubted he gave much of a damn whether she wanted him or not, as long as he could have her. With men like him, it usually unfolded like that – they knew they could take whatever they desired, so they didn’t bother much with attempting to romance or win over the women they set their sights on.

I gripped the wheel. It took everything I had not to reach back there and bat him away from her, tell him to get his fucking hands off of her, that he had no idea what she liked or what she wanted and he was crazy to think for a second she might have been into him. But it would have blown my cover – if there was one thing Arnold took seriously, it was what he believed was owed to him, and she was just that right now. Nothing I could say would change his mind.

“We can still have a lot of fun tonight,” he murmured, and I knew it was aimed at her rather than as an answer to my question. I hated having to sit there and just watch him paw at her like that, but what choice did I have? I didn’t see any way out of it or around it without making it clear to Arnold and everyone else that I wasn’t who I said I was.

“Let’s go to the restaurant off Herbert Street,” he told me, dropping his hand from her neck again. I could see the visible relief on her face. Didn’t he care that she wasn’t interested? Didn’t he care that she wasn’t into him at all? Or was all he could think of how much he wanted her, and that overrode everything else telling him to stop?

He smiled at her, his eyes locked on hers, and Arianna looked back at him with obvious discomfort.

“We can still have a nice dinner together,” he assured her, as though she was worried the two of them couldn’t spend the night together. As though she wouldn’t have jumped at the chance.

I started the car, and pulled away from the drugstore, thanking the heavens that what he had been looking for wasn’t there for him to pick up. At least she would be spared a painful night for now – I could work out how to handle everything else later.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “You still can.”

And I felt a smile cross over my face as I imagined what was to come. He wasn’t going to get what he wanted. He never would.

Not from Arianna. Not as long as I was there to keep her safe.