Chapter 5

A quite tingly and happy Athena was also annoyed. After getting the most epic oral, she'd been excited to return the favor, but noises in the hall distracted. Especially since they seemed out of place at three a.m.

Poor Derek looked frustrated as he grumbled, "I don't hear anything."

Ah yes. His human ears wouldn't.

"Trust me when I say there's at least two people in the hall."

He didn't take her word for it and went to the apartment door to peek. He glanced at her and whispered, "Someone's put something over my peephole."

That someone probably listened too.

Rogers? Seemed most likely and unlikely all at once. No way could he have detected her already.

Athena dressed fast and padded to the door just as Derek yanked it open and barked, "What the fuck are you doing?"

Lo and behold, it was two of the thugs from the other night, still wearing their masks, but she recognized their scent.

And they'd come with a gun!

Not that Derek cared. "I fucking warned you pukes what would happen if I saw you again."

"We don't want you. Give us the girl."

"Nope." Derek blocked the doorway and crossed his arms.

"Are you blind?" said the smaller one. "We've got a gun."

"And no brains apparently," drawled her new lover.

"You either hand her over or I'll shoot!" The thicker fellow's hand had a slight tremble to it.

"Go ahead, and don't miss, because, this time, I won't be tossing you into a river," Derek snapped. "It's a long fall from the balcony."

Sweet, gentle, and kind unless you messed with him. Was there anything about this guy to hate?

"Just give us the girl and we won't put a hole in you," said the big guy.

"Yeah, no deal," Derek stated as he lunged. He grabbed the gun of the thicker fellow and yanked it free, which left him one-handed as the guy attacked. The other, knife in hand, wavered, probably not sure where to stab.

Athena slipped out and said, "Looking for me?" When the little guy turned his mask toward her, she punched him in the nose. When he didn't go down, she kneed him in the balls, and when he hunched over, she grabbed him by the head and gave him a knee to the face.

He hit the floor just as Derek knocked out the other guy. They eyed each other in the hall before both saying, "We should move them."

She giggled. "Jinx. Let's get them inside before your neighbors wake up and wonder what the hell."

He didn't ask why bring them in instead of tossing them out or calling the cops. She grabbed hold of the little guy and dragged him into the apartment while Derek handled the other.

Once in the apartment, she pursed her lips. "How long do you think they'll stay knocked out?"

"Might not be long so let's get them secured." Derek pulled some duct tape from a kitchen drawer. They each heaved their respective thug into a kitchen chair and wound the thick sticky fiber around them. Once done, they stood back and eyed them.

"So that's kind of fucked they came looking for you," Derek murmured.

"Apparently."

"Any idea why?"

"I can take a few guesses."

"Think they'll tell us who sent them?"

"With the right incentive they might."

"I ain't bribing them," he warned.

She snickered. "As if I'd want to reward them for being thugs."

"Nice jab by the way. Pretty sure I heard his nose crunch."

"My dad wanted us to know how to defend ourselves." Her dad would have liked Derek. They both believed in being prepared for the future.

"Remind me not to piss you off." He cupped his balls.

"Don't eat off my plate, always give me the bigger steak, and keep using that tongue like you just did and we'll get along fine, honey."

He laughed. "Deal, sugarplum."

In the midst of a messed-up situation, here they were, both smiling like loons.

"I'm going to wake up the big one," Derek stated.

"How?" she asked. "Don't tell me you have smelling salts."

"As if I'd waste any. Salt will be valuable if the world ends."

She didn't correct him on the difference in those salts. His apocalypse reply was cute.

He headed for the kitchen and ran the water before coming back with a bowl that he dumped on the head of the thick thug. The mask soaked up much of it, making the fabric hard to breathe through. The thug woke, choking and gasping. Only then did Derek pull off the mask.

The guy was young, maybe early twenties, with pockmarked skin, a tattoo of a cross over his left eye, and a bad attitude.

"Fucker," sputtered Tattoo.

"Says the guy who threatened me and my girl." Derek crouched and said softly, "I warned you to choose another path."

"We weren't coming after you. Just the woman."

"Why?"

"None of your fuck?—"

Smack.

Derek casually smoked the guy before calmy asking again, "Why the fuck are you after my girl?"

She kind of liked the my part of that statement.

A sulking thug replied, "Because of the reward."

"What reward?" her sharp query.

The guy's gaze slewed to her, and he licked his lips. "The one posted to the message board."

Her brow creased. "What message board?"

The guy clammed up, but Derek had a reply.

"Judging by his tattoos, he's part of a gang. There's several of them now in town. I assume by message board he means something on the dark web."

"People post those kinds of things?"

Derek nodded. "It's quite common, actually." He eyed the thug. "What else did this post say?"

When the guy clamped his lips, Athena didn't have to threaten, because Derek got in his face to softly say, "Answer the question."

"And if I don't?"

Derek swung and clocked the thug.

"What the fuck, man?"

"Here's the deal," Derek stated. "You came to my place looking to cause trouble. Kind of dumb. Especially since I warned you the last time that I never wanted to see your face again. So either you answer with your lips or my fists start talking to your face."

The thug sulked. "Ain't much to tell. Someone offered five grand for the woman. Posting had her face, said she might be using the name Athena."

"Shit," she muttered.

Derek glanced at her. "I take it this was a move by your previous acquaintances."

"Most likely. Five K, though? Kind of insulting."

His lips curved. "Agreed." His expression hardened as he turned to Tattoo. "Who posted it?"

"Dunno."

"Well, you must know something, else how are you supposed to collect?"

"The poster said if we found her to bring her to Bottoms Up and ask for Kyle."

"What's Bottom's Up?" she asked.

"A bar," Derek muttered. "A seedy one at that."

"Who did you tell I was staying here?" she questioned, wondering if they were already too late to flee.

"No one," blustered Tattoo. "I wasn't sharing the prize. Just me and Ralph knew you was staying here."

"How did you know?" Derek snapped.

"Because we happened to see her out shopping and was following, but then she went into this building, and we didn't know what apartment. So we waited, and then we seen you," a comment directed at Derek. "And when you went inside, there was only one window that had light?—"

"And you used your pea-sized brain to figure it out," she murmured. She felt dumb. Spotted by idiots and she'd not even noticed. She'd assumed her sensation of being watched was due to paranoia.

Derek had more questions. "Why did you assume she was with me?"

"Just a lucky guess." Tattoo tried to shrug, but the tape held him firm.

The smaller fellow woke and began thrashing and moaning. "Oh god, my face. My face. She broke my face."

"I'll rip out your tongue next if you don't shut it," Derek growled.

Sexy.

He removed Ralph's mask to show a kid barely out of his teens, also sporting the same tattoo over his eye. Derek shook his head. "Fucking idiots. Wasting your life and potential on cheap scores."

"Five grand is big bucks," argued Ralph.

"How much is your life worth?" Athena's sweet reply. "Because here's the problem, boys. Now that you've seen me, I can't exactly let you go tattle."

Their mouths rounded. "We wouldn't tell," Tattoo hastened to state.

"Like I'm gonna believe you." Derek paced. "Where can we deposit their bodies? Canal won't spit them up for a few days or weeks, but carrying them that far will be a pain."

"We could dump them in the sewer," she suggested. "Keep them bound and the rats can have at them." She was only half serious, but curious where Derek went with this. She'd not gotten the impression he was a killer when he'd last confronted the thugs.

"The sewer is a good idea, but we'll have to tape their mouths shut, lest they whine too loudly and get discovered with all their parts intact."

"Dumpster fires are becoming more common," she stated. "Give them a joint or some smokes and the cops will assume they fell asleep with one lit."

"That's actually a good plan, but we'd have to remove the tape." Derek rubbed his chin. "Easy enough to knock them out so they stay put while they burn."

The thugs' eyes couldn't get any bigger or their fear-stink any worse.

"We won't tell," blubbered Ralph. "Promise."

"As if I'll believe a word out of your mouth," Derek snapped.

"Swear on my momma's life," sobbed the kid.

"And on my three babies," added Tattoo.

"Jeezus, you're a father?" Derek didn't hide his disgust. "Nice example you're setting."

"We'll leave you alone. We swear." The kid sounded sincere.

Would Derek actually kill them? Athena was tempted. These two were part of the problem Ottawa had with crime these days. Entitled, lazy assholes who thought they could take from those who worked hard.

"What do you think, sugarplum?" Derek asked her.

"I don't know, honey. The world might be better off without them."

"Please," sniveled Ralph. "I didn't even want to come. Horace made me do it."

"Did not," Horace exclaimed.

"Fuck you. You did. You knew I wanted to go straight, and when I said no, you said you'd tell Bethany I had crabs if I didn't."

As they argued, Athena sidled close to Derek to murmur, "Sorry I brought trouble to your doorstep."

"Don't you apologize."

"I will because this is my fault. I'll help you deal with these idiots then be on my way."

He whirled to glare. "No, you won't. We're sticking together."

"Why?"

He gave her a lopsided smile. "Because I do believe you're the chick I've been waiting for my whole life."

Well damn. Instant panty-wetter.

"You barely know me," she reminded.

"Grams always says your first impression of a person is usually right."

"Our first meeting you thought I was scamming you."

"Nah, my first thought was hubba-hubba."

She snorted. "And now?"

"Hubba-hubba, holy shit this chick is awesome."

She shook her head. "Definitely dropped on your noggin as a kid."

"Only a few times. Daddy says I was slipperier than a fat bass that doesn't want to be eaten."

She almost laughed and had to bite her lip.

Sudden silence had them both turning to eye the thugs who stared at them.

"Please don't kill me. I wanna do better," whispered Ralph.

"It's not me you've got to convince," Derek drawled. "So, sugarplum, what's the verdict? Kill them or set them free?"

"We can always kill them later," she suggested. "We're kind of tapped for time right now."

"I don't know. The chunky one looks like he's got loose lips."

"No, I don't." Horace pinched them tight.

"We've gotta go if we're gonna catch our flight," Derek stated. "I say we grab their wallets, take a pic of their ID's so we have their address. Then, if they blab, we'll know where to find them." Derek rummaged in their pockets and took images of their health cards and licenses.

Only then did he grab a knife, which had Ralph hyperventilating, even though Derek simply sliced through tape.

He stepped back and barked, "Git, and don't look back because if I ever see your faces again, I won't be so nice."

The thugs fled, and Athena sighed. "I'm really sorry about this."

"Why? This is the most interesting thing that's happened to me since Grandma sent me some homemade brownies."

"Must be good brownies."

"Not really, but the shrooms she adds to them give quite the trip."

Her mouth rounded before she laughed.

And laughed.

Then kissed him because, damn, she might be falling in love.

Alas, the kiss went nowhere, as Derek set her apart and sternly stated, "No distracting me. We've got to get moving."

"Why? You think they'll rat us out?"

"Maybe. But I'm more concerned about the fact whoever is looking for you put out a reward. Who knows how many folks have seen you? If dumb and dumber can track you down, then I'm worried someone with a little more smarts might, too."

"Where can we go?"

His eyes danced with mirth as he said, "Wanna meet my grams?"