Chapter 1: Chapter 1
The bass from the club still thumped through the asphalt beneath my shoes. I recognized her silhouette immediately—the sharp cut of her shoulders, the way she held herself even while swaying. It was the woman in red.
A guy was moving toward her, his posture all loose-limbed confidence. “Hey sweetheart, you need a ride?” he called out, his voice cutting through the humid air.
She didn’t answer, just tilted her head back against the brick.
“C’mon, don’t be like that,” he said, closing the distance.
My feet were moving before my brain caught up. “She’s fine,” I said, my voice louder than I intended.
The guy turned, his eyes scanning me up and down. “This your business?”
“It is now.” I stepped between him and her, catching a whiff of her perfume mixed with the acrid smell of spilled beer from a nearby dumpster. She made a small, dismissive sound behind me.
The guy laughed, a single hollow bark. “Whatever, man.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and slunk off toward a beat-up sedan.
I turned around. Her gaze was focused, clear, and utterly unimpressed. “I had that,” she stated flatly.
“Didn’t look like it.”
“Looks are deceptive.” She pushed off the wall, stumbling slightly on her heels. I instinctively reached out to steady her, my hand closing around her bare arm. Her skin was warm. She glanced at my hand, then up at me, one dark eyebrow arched. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?”
I let go. “You’re drunk.”
“I’m aware,” she said, fumbling in her small clutch. Her keys slipped from her fingers, clattering on the ground. As we both bent to grab them, a beam of light from a passing car glinted off something else half-hidden under a parked SUV—the sleek, metallic handle of a knife.