No, Jonah McAllister was going to have to live to see another day. And now, so would Elliot Slater. Which meant Roslyn Phillips’s suffering wasn’t over yet, if it could ever truly be over, given what the giant had done to her.
Fuck.
I crossed my arms over my chest and gave the lawyer a cold look. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m taking a stroll around the riverboat. Is that a problem?”
Elliot Slater’s head snapped around at the sound of my voice. The giant frowned, put his cigar and lighter away, and headed in our direction. Fantastic.
Jonah McAllister’s hazel eyes narrowed even more at my snide tone. “I specifically meant how did someone like you get on board? The Delta Queen is very exclusive, and loath as I am to admit it, Phillip Kincaid’s parties even more so. Helps keep the white trash out.”
“White trash? Do you really think that’s an insult?”
“Not to someone like you,” he sniffed. “Which is what makes you trash.”
“At least I look my age,” I snapped, referring to his wrinkle-free face. “Tell me, exactly how much a week do you blow on Air elemental facials? A thousand bucks? Two? I’m guessing more. After all, you’re a man of advancing years now.”
I knew I should have kept my mouth shut, that it would have made things easier if I’d let McAllister take his shots at me and had just slinked off into the darkness as if I was utterly demoralized and defeated. But I was getting real tired of the lawyer needling me at every single turn just because it amused him. And for keeping me from killing Elliot Slater tonight and at least helping Roslyn Phillips in that small way.
An angry red flush spread up Jonah McAllister’s neck at my words, something even the best Air elemental facial couldn’t disguise. The silver-haired lawyer opened his mouth to lambaste me some more, when Slater stepped up behind him.
The giant stared at McAllister a moment before his hazel gaze cut to me. His eyes narrowed as well in recognition. Slater might be obsessed with Roslyn, but I noted the giant wasn’t above checking out my breasts and legs, even though they were nowhere near as spectacular as the vampire’s.
“Gin Blanco,” Slater rumbled. “You clean up nice.”
The back-assed compliment made the gin that I’d just drunk roil in my stomach.
“Elliot,” Jonah said. “I’d like you to escort Ms. Blanco off the boat please. It seems she just hasn’t learned her lesson about insulting us — or being where she doesn’t belong. I think she needs you to remind her exactly what her place is.”
Elliot grinned. “Shall I toss her over the side? Right here?”
“Don’t be thuggish,” Jonah replied. “We have an image to maintain. Ms. Blanco deserves the walk of shame past all of tonight’s guests. And then you can deal with her any way you like on shore. Seems that beating you gave her just didn’t take. Perhaps you’d like another chance to get it right.”
The giant’s grin widened.
So Jonah McAllister wanted Elliot Slater to hustle me off the riverboat, take me to a dark alley somewhere, and beat me — again. Not my original plan for the evening, but sometimes, you had to roll with the punches.
Before I could move or react, the giant used his speed to surge forward and clamp his hand around my upper arm. His long, hard fingers bit into my flesh like steel bolts, but I gritted my teeth against the pain. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of screaming and begging for mercy. Not again.
Let Slater drag me off the boat and into one of the alleys that surrounded the riverfront. He’d be in for a nasty surprise. So would McAllister, if the lawyer decided to tag along and watch the show. Because I was tired of tiptoeing around them. Mab Monroe too. I wanted to kill the Three Musketeers and proceed with things — namely getting Roslyn Phillips some help for the brutal trauma she’d been through and figuring out a way to tell Bria who and what I really was.
Killing McAllister and Slater tonight would at least solve a few of my problems. More than that, though, it would just be fun. Unlike other assassins that I’d run into over the years, I didn’t kill people because it brought me any great pleasure. I did it because it was a job that I happened to excel at. But even the most consummate professional could be excused an indulgence or two, and I was thinking about making McAllister and Slater mine.
“Come on,” Slater said. “Let’s go.”
Jonah McAllister stepped aside, and Elliot Slater pushed me down the walkway toward the front of the riverboat. I didn’t make a sound. Didn’t scream, protest, or try to jerk my upper arm out of the giant’s grip. Mainly because I didn’t want Slater to move his hand any lower and find the silverstone knife nestled against my forearm. Besides, screaming would be useless. No one would come to my aid. Everyone knew Elliot Slater worked for Mab Monroe. And with the Fire elemental in attendance here tonight, no one would dare question why the giant was strong-arming me — or what he might do to me once he got me off the boat.
“It’s a shame you’re just not willing to learn, Ms. Blanco,” Jonah McAllister said in a conversational tone. The lawyer walked behind me. “That you just can’t accept the way things work in Ashland.”
“Learn? Accept?” I looked over my shoulder and glared at him. “What you really mean is you don’t understand why I’m not cowed by you and yours, why I don’t just roll over and let you do whatever you want to me.”
McAllister shrugged. “Call it what you like. But every time you forget, you’re going to get another reminder, like the one at the community college. Until you either remember to pay us the respect we’re due, or until you’re dead. Either option is perfectly acceptable to me.”
We rounded the corner and stepped back out onto the main deck. Elliot Slater was a hard man to miss, and more than a few people looked in our direction. But once they realized the giant had his hand clamped on my arm like a vise, folks quickly went back to their drinking and gambling.
Everyone except Roslyn Phillips. Even though she was fifty feet away from me, I could see the vampire’s face tighten. Roslyn thought I’d been caught trying to assassinate Slater. She didn’t realize that I’d just had the bad luck to run into Jonah McAllister, who still suspected I had something to do with his son, Jake’s, death.
Luck. Capricious bitch. She’d gotten me into trouble more times than I cared to think about.
Finn also spotted Slater holding on to me. Our eyes met for a second before I cast my gaze down and shook my head a tiny bit. No, I was telling him. Don’t interfere. Not yet. Finn’s hand tightened around the handle of the slot machine he’d been pulling down, but he didn’t move. I knew he’d be there when I needed him, though.
Slater bent down to murmur in my ear. “Do yourself a favor and don’t make a scene, Blanco. Or I’ll hit you even harder when we get off the boat. Just because.” His breath reeked of onions, which made his threat that much fouler, so to speak.
Oh, yeah. I was going to enjoy stabbing the giant to death. Just because.
But I played the part of the cowed victim and let the giant push me toward the gangplank on the opposite side of the deck. Slater crooked his finger, and his two giant minions left Roslyn’s side to come over and flank me. Of course. Slater would need someone to hold me up while he beat me again. Because doing it himself would be such a bother.
Jonah McAllister nodded his head in satisfaction, then strolled to the center of the deck, where Mab Monroe was still holding court. Elliot Slater strong-arming me toward the exit had also caught the Fire elemental’s interest, and her black eyes tracked me across the deck. McAllister reached her side and whispered something in Mab’s ear. After a moment, the Fire elemental nodded her approval, rubber-stamping my impending beating and possible death. Good to know where I stood, at least.