CHAPTER FOURTEEN: WINTER
“I’mready.”
Amarie turns around at the sound of my voice, but from the look on her face she isn’t surprised by my presence. From the astuteness I’ve seen she exhibits, I’m sure that she heard me the second I entered the stock room behind her.
Not to mention the fact that I’ve been practically stalking her since I came back to work a few weeks ago.
Amarie is an enigma. She’s the only coworker who I consider a friend but I’ve also kept my distance from her. Because she’s into some bad shit. I’ve never been able to figure out quite what it is she does when she’s here. What I do know is that her job at Delerium doesn’t pay for her Louis Vuittons.
She speaks another language.
She’s a great shot.
She saved my life and made me swear not to tell anyone.
And she’s always meeting with random men in the club, conducting some sort of business that has nothing to do with Delirium.
I once eavesdropped on a conversation she was having with a man in the back alleyway. He’d been paying her ten thousand dollars with her threatening that she’d have his head if he didn’t make his other payment of five thousand dollars on time.
Another time, I’d simply been watching her conduct her secret business from across the room. She’d caught me and gone into her spiel about me being a spider who was going to get caught up in a web or something like that.
I once thought she was going to kill me for bringing up the fact that she’d saved my life.
“What exactly are you ready for, Winter?” she asks, lifting a brow. She leans against one of the shelves that holds bottles of alcohol.
I swallow, hesitating for a moment before remembering that I have to do this.
I need to do this for my mother.
I’ve been trying to work up the courage to approach her for days now. I can’t keep putting it off or I’ll lose my courage completely.
“You do something.” I sigh the second the words come out wrong, trying to figure out a different way to address the conversation. Amarie’s bright eyes only watch me in amusement. “You’re going to be pissed that I’m even bringing this up,” I say slowly and the amusement fades from her face.
“Winter,” she hedges.
“I need help.”
“And you think I can help you.”
“I know you can,” I say with confidence. I’m in here now, in her face so I need to just get it all out on the table. She isn’t going to be happy with it, considering the amount of times she told me to stay out of her business. But shit, I’m not so certain she won’t help me. As much as she exhibits a hard exterior, I suspect there’s a soft side to her.
“You have connections, I’ve seen all the people that come in the club to visit you. They may pose as patrons, but there’s something else going on.”
“Careful,” she warns, her voice dropping an octave. Her eyes skate around the room as if someone is going to pop out of thin air.
“There isn’t a camera in here,” I tell her, “but I figure you already know that, huh? You probably know where every camera in this place is.”
A muscle twitches in her jaw.
“Please, Amarie,” I beg softly.
She tilts her head back, her eyes closing and she blows out a long, slow breath before she looks back at me. “Fucking hell.” She leans off of the shelf, walking closer to me. There’s a vicious glint in her eyes but her body has relaxed slightly. “What is it? What do you want?”
“I want someone dead.”
Her lips twitch, but that’s the only reaction she gives, which confirms the fact that she’s definitely involved in some shady shit.
Isn’t everyone in this fucking city?