Venom (Page 36)

"I know all that. But those are the same risks I would have with any job."

"So why are you so eager to take those chances?" he asked. "Why now that you’ve retired?"

"Because I don’t want Roslyn to have to go home with that bastard," I said in a quiet voice. "Understand?"

I didn’t mention that it was because the whole situation was my fault to begin with. That Roslyn had suffered so much already because of me and that I wasn’t going to let her be hurt anymore.

Finn could easily see the guilt in my eyes.

Then his green gaze cut to Roslyn and the obvious strain in her eyes and face and clenched fists. Right now, the vamp resembled a life-size porcelain doll-one that would shatter if you so much as breathed on her. Finn realized what I had-that the vamp was on the edge. That she couldn’t take another night of being Elliot Slater’s plaything. Not again. Not without cracking and screaming and fighting back with everything she had-and then getting dead because of her defiance.

"All right," Finn said in a low voice. "All right. We’ll do it. But how are you going to get close to him? Like I said before, Slater’s sure to be on the lookout for any strange woman approaching him after what happened at Bria’s house last night. More important, the giant already knows you, Gin. Slater knows who you are, what you look like, and that you have a grudge against him. You won’t be able to sweet-talk him and get him alone like you did Tobias Dawson."

"I didn’t sweet-talk Dawson. I got knocked out and woke up in a coal mine. What part of that says sweet-talk to you?"

Finn gave me a tiny grin, trying to lighten the mood. "Some guys are into that sort of thing."

I rolled my eyes. Finn was so much more disturbed than I was. All I did was kill people with my silverstone knives. Clean, simple, straightforward, to the point. Finn was the one who liked to dabble in the kinky stuff-with any woman who would have him.

The front door of the restaurant opened. The bell chimed, interrupting my unwanted musings on Finn’s proclivities. I looked toward the door, grateful for the interruption, until I saw exactly who was standing in the Pork Pit-Detective Bria Coolidge.

My baby sister was here in my gin joint, in my place of business. Bria stood in the doorway, surveying the restaurant much the same way Roslyn had done just minutes before. Blond hair, blue eyes, rosy skin. She looked no worse for wear, despite the fact that she’d been shot and almost killed last night. She sported a long, navy coat over a pair of dark jeans, a black turtleneck sweater, and stylish black boots. Her primrose rune gleamed a bright silver against the inky fabric of her sweater. Bria’s eyes flicked over the interior of the Pork Pit before settling on Finn, Roslyn, and me clustered together at the counter. She headed toward us.

Finn shot me a troubled glance. I knew exactly what he was thinking, because it was the same thought spinning through my mind. What was Bria doing here? Had she somehow realized that we were the masked duo who’d saved her from Elliot Slater and his giants last night? Had she somehow, some way, tracked us back to the Pork Pit? Was she here to arrest us for killing the giants?

Bria stepped up to the counter next to Roslyn. She looked at the vamp a moment, clearly surprised to see her here. Her cool gaze frosted over even more at the sight of Finn, who grinned at her. Finally, Bria turned her attention to me. "I’m looking for Gin Blanco."

"That would be me," I replied. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Bria reached into her coat and drew out a gold badge. She flashed it at me, then stuffed it back into her pocket. "I’m Detective Bria Coolidge with the Ashland Police Department. I’m here to ask you a few questions about the beating you took the other night. We met there, if you remember."

Some of the tension eased out of my body. So that’s why she was here. Following up about me getting almost beaten to death at the hands of Elliot Slater. Not because of what happened last night. Not because I was the mysterious, masked woman who’d saved her from being murdered in her own home. Not because she’d recognized me. Not because she’d realized that I was really her long-lost big sister, Genevieve Snow.

"Ms. Phillips, why don’t you take your cake over to one of the booths so I can speak to the detective?" I asked in my most polite voice. "I’ll have the rest of your order ready in a jiffy."

Roslyn stared at me, then Bria. Curiosity filled the vamp’s face. She realized Bria was the cop I’d saved from Slater last night, but Roslyn knew better than to ask questions or make a scene.

"Of course. Take your time," the vampire said, going along with me. She picked up the glass of milk and cake and walked over to a booth in the back of the restaurant.

With Roslyn out of the way, Finn was free to turn around on his stool and give Bria the slow head-to-toe appraisal he reserved for women he was thinking about seducing. Finn smiled his approval. He liked what he saw.

"What are you looking at?" Bria snapped.

"Just you, detective." Finn’s grin widened. "Just you."

Her eyes narrowed, but not before I saw a small spark of something flash in the blue depths-attraction. However unwanted it might be, Bria found Finn smug, but appealing. Couldn’t blame her for that. Especially since I’d slept with him myself back during my foolish teenage years. With his green eyes, solid figure, and devilish smile, Finn had seduced far more frosty and intimidating women than Detective Bria Coolidge.

But Finn and Bria? That was another complication I didn’t need right now.

"There’s not much to tell, detective," I said, interrupting their heated staring contest. "Like I told you before, I fell down."

Bria looked at me. Her mouth flattened into a hard line. "You fell down? Original."

I gave her a bland smile. Now was not the time to be a smart-ass. Smart-asses were memorable for any number of reasons, and right now, I needed her to forget all about me. At least until after I’d killed Elliot Slater.

Bria kept staring at me, her gaze sweeping over my features and down what she could see of my body-mainly, my grease-stained blue apron and long-sleeved black T-shirt. "Well, you seem to have healed nicely. Looks like your brother here did in fact get you to that Air elemental healer and the best medical treatment in Ashland."

"I always keep my promises," Finn replied in a mild tone.

Bria raised an eyebrow but didn’t rise to his baiting. "Your foster brother seems to care quite a bit about you, Ms. Blanco."

"Foster brother?" I asked, already knowing the answer to my question.

"He is your foster brother, isn’t he?" Bria asked. "The son of Fletcher Lane, the man who adopted you as a child? The man who left you his barbecue restaurant to run?"