Hittin It: A Hitman Romance (Marked for Love Book 2) (13 page)

I squirmed against the ache in my chest while thinking I’d had my fill of adventures...and dangerous men.

“Excuse me, miss?”

Inwardly groaning at the intrusion, I stood and peeked around the van’s side door to find a hulking stranger holding Scamp. He wore what looked like a homespun shirt and vest over tan pants tucked into leather boots. Dark hair fell across his forehead, brown eyes twinkled from beneath thick brows and the lower half of his face was covered in stubble. “This belong to you?”

Scamp licked his hand then gave me a stupid doggy grin.

“Yeah, sorry.” I crossed to where he stood and took Scamp from him. “He hates the leash.”

“I’m Jim.”

“Sabrina.”

Jim was tall, almost as tall as Will. I sighed, forcing him out of my head. Not
now
. Not anymore. I swallowed the lump in my throat. A part of me hoped Jim wasn’t the talkative kind. I wasn’t really in the mood for company but being alone appealed to me even less.

“You just get in?”

“Yeah.” I forced myself to smile. I’d be fine.
Really
. I just needed time to convince myself.

“Buy you a turkey leg?” Jim offered.

From nearby came the sounds of a television, of cabinets slamming and pots and pans clanging. It reassured me there actually were people nearby and reminded me that I hadn’t eaten since—Lord, early this morning when I’d stopped to get gas. I’d been so anxious to put as many miles as I could between Will and me, I hadn’t stopped for anything more substantial than coffee and a bagel. “You working the fair? I don’t recall seeing you around.” Not that
I’d
been around, but Jim didn’t need to know that.

“Yeah. I’m—” He pointed toward the fairgrounds, “—working the rides.”

The rides were low-tech and required good old-fashioned brute strength to run. I didn’t envy him at all, but he looked more than up to the job.

“Gimme a minute.” I grabbed Scamp’s leash and locked up the van, pocketing the keys. We walked in silence for a few minutes. “How long you been working the fairs?”

“This is my first.”

“I see.” There were two kinds of people who worked Ren Fairs: Those with a passion for all things Renaissance, who lived for the few months when the fair came to town. And then there were the rest of us. Those who lived a non-conventional life, who didn’t mind all the travel...like me. I loved what I did. Some of the real die-hards even learned to joust and swordfight. Personally, I’d always had a yen to learn belly dancing, but I’d never gotten around to it.

This wasn’t exactly the life I’d dreamed of, but it was mine and I owned it. “Where you from?”

“Here and there.” Jim shrugged and smiled, slowing his gait to match mine.

“So you travel with the fairs? Or are you local?”

“
Newly
local.” He gave me another grin, showing off his pearly white teeth. “I’ve always had a thing...and when I saw they were hiring.” He shrugged almost sheepishly. “You?”

“I’m a traveler.”

“Like a gypsy?” One thick eyebrow arched slightly. “You look like one.”

“Yeah, like a gypsy. Except I’m
not
. I travel the fair circuit as many months of the year as I can.”

We stood in line for turkey legs and lemonade for me and beer for him, then sat at the empty amphitheater. The crowd had dissipated, driven off by the heat and tired children even though things didn’t officially shut down until sunset.

“So where you from, Sabrina?”

“Up north.”

“You don’t sound like it.” He picked off a piece of turkey and threw it to Scamp. Points for him.

Now it was my turn to smile sheepishly. “I haven’t been back in...a while.” I wouldn’t call it home. Not in a
million
years.

“You don’t look old enough to have been on your own for a while.”

I shrugged and nibbled at my turkey leg. I’d survived twenty-six years on this planet but that wasn’t really any of his business.

“I’m prying, aren’t I?”

“Yeah.” I nodded, glad he could take a hint.

“I didn’t see you out working today? What do you do?”

“I read tarot cards and I...had some personal stuff to take care of.”

“Oh.” He nodded and luckily for me, dropped the subject.

We were halfway to the van when Jim grabbed my hand, wrapping it in his large callused one. “You sleeping here?”

“Yeah.”
But you’re not, buddy!

“You
are
a gypsy.”

I shrugged, a part of me ready for him to leave, hoping he didn’t think a turkey leg and lemonade bought him a night with me. He seemed nice enough, but my run-in with Will was still fresh in my mind. I wasn’t ready to get involved, even casually, and Jim seemed like the type to get real pushy if he wanted something. Good thing I knew how to push back, if needed.

“I’ll see you later.” I freed my hand and backed away, dragging Scamp with me.

“Tomorrow?”

“Sure.” Shrugging, I jammed a hand in my pocket and fished out my keys.

“Definitely.” Nodding slowly, almost to himself, he gave me a once-over that left me shivering in its wake and wishing I hadn’t agreed to see him tomorrow, even casually. He took a few steps back, disappearing into the gathering dusk.

“Tomorrow, maybe not,” I murmured to Scamp.

I watched Jim walk away, unsure if I wanted to see him again or not. That last look had been super-creepy. “What do you think, Scamp?”

He whined and walked in a circle.

Anxious to get settled in before it got full-on dark, I unlocked the van and pulled the door open, my jaw dropping and heart plummeting as I stared from the door that I
knew
I’d locked to the van’s interior. Around me, the early evening was eerily quiet, my neighbors suddenly nowhere to be found or maybe sleeping. A breeze shuddered past, thick with the scent of meat-smoke and something bitter.

I’d locked the van, but that obviously hadn’t kept someone out. My clothes and journals were scattered all over the place, and someone had even slashed my pillow. Foam stuffing was scattered everywhere like a pale yellow blizzard had struck. “Fuck...
me.
”

Tears filled my eyes and with a hiccup, I dove inside. I scrambled over the mattress and reached under the driver’s seat. There was nothing there. The oversized vitamin bottle I stashed all my money in was gone. A whimper slipped past my lips. I sagged against the back of the seat. Eight hundred dollars gone.
Gone.

God, maybe they hadn’t found it! Maybe it was still here!

I spent the next thirty minutes setting the van to rights, sweeping up all the foam and searching for the vitamin bottle but came up empty handed.

Other than the two twenty dollar bills in my pocket, I was broke.

I slumped against the side of the van, head in my hands. Good thing I’d planned on working tomorrow and Sunday. If I was lucky, I could pull in about six hundred dollars, but that was
incredibly
optimistic. At best, I’d be lucky to pull four hundred. An extra job was no longer optional, but mandatory, and there’d be no splurging on hotels and hot showers while I was here. Not to mention food and kibble for Scamp who was currently nowhere to be seen.

Terrified at the thought of losing Scamp too, I lunged for the van’s door and stuck my head outside. I collapsed with relief at the sight of him sitting on the ground, patiently waiting on me to remember he was there. “Sorry, boy.”

I gently lifted him inside and slammed the door, clutching him to me in the stuffy darkness.

Right then, I wished I
was
back at the cabin, with Will, playing Go Fish and listening to the crickets chirp and asking him stupid questions he didn’t want to answer. Maybe even...I sniffled...making love.

I stretched out on the mattress, Scamp held firmly in my grasp and cried myself to sleep.

The following morning I woke up resigned to starting over. Something I’d done so many times I’d lost count. I stretched and threw back the covers, pulling a T-shirt on before I opened the door and let Scamp out. I let him do his business, then trudged across the campground to the nearest bathroom, relieved to see they had showers. I cleaned up and changed, then grabbed coffee and a roll from the cantina. That left me thirty-seven dollars. After feeding Scamp and myself, I changed into a gypsy skirt and peasant blouse and tied my hair back. It was nearly eight, and I had a long day ahead of me.

I’d no sooner gotten settled in my spot than Jim showed up. He still hadn’t shaved, which, I suppose, made his Renaissance-style attire more authentic, and a little menacing. Today he wore baggy black pants tucked into his boots and a white shirt with blousy sleeves. It set off his tan and revealed some of his chest hair. The young mothers were going to
love
him and I told him so.

Grinning, he set a fresh cup of coffee on the table. “You look like you could use this.”

“Thanks.” Still feeling wary and raw after last night, I wasn’t about to tell him I’d been robbed. He struck me as the loner type, so I didn’t
think
I’d been played—I didn’t
think
he’d had an accomplice rob me while he fed me. And besides, if that was his game, there was definitely more lucrative pickings around here than me.

“Bad night?”

Nothing he needed to know about. “I had a hard time settling in. So do you own a house or rent?”

His eyes narrowed and he sat up a little on the tiny stool normally used by customers. “Why? Lookin’ to move in?”

I laughed. “Not quite. I’m thinking of staying in the area for a while.” At least until I headed to Louisiana.

“Settling down, huh?” He crossed his arms on the table and leaned forward until his face was only a foot or so from mine.

My smile firmly in place, I leaned back, unwilling to let him or anyone else invade my personal space after the night I’d had. “Yeah.”

“How about we celebrate with lunch then? My treat.”

“Jim—you don’t have a jealous girlfriend lurking around here, do you?”

“No.” He held up a hand. “Friends. Just friends. I’ll come by around eleven-thirty or so.”

I watched him walk away while thinking at least it was a free meal.

* * *

J
esus Chris what had I gotten myself into now?

Praying I didn’t trip in the thick crowd, I glanced over my shoulder. Jim was hot on my tail.

Will hadn’t lied. Not one itty bitty bit had he lied. Damn
him
. Damn
me
. I should have listened.

Jim had the advantage of height, which allowed him to easily see me, whereas I wasn’t so lucky. My glimpses of him were few and far between. The bastard even flashed me a scary grin at one point.

I spun around and pushed my way through the crowd, determined to put as much distance between us as possible.

Will hadn’t lied, and
I
was an idiot.
A world-class idiot.

Jim had come by around 11:30 for lunch, just like he’d promised. He was obviously impatient judging from the way he’d paced around while I finished with a client.

“Everything okay?” I’d asked once she was gone. I even cracked an earnest smile. A successful morning had done wonders for my mood.

“Yeah.” He’d blown out a heavy breath and clamped down on my upper arm, nodding toward the crowd. “We’re meeting some friends and we’re late.”

“Friends of yours?” I’d asked in surprise.

His fingers were really cutting into my arm but no matter how hard I tugged he wasn’t letting go. “No, yours.”

I’d gone numb with shock as Jim dragged me into a small empty field behind some buildings and told me how he’d followed me all the way from Buckshot, how he’d decided that letting me run loose was fun, and how he’d tortured Will with text messages sent to his brother.

“He won’t come,” I choked out, while praying he did. “I’m nobody to him. He won’t come.”

“Yes, he will.” Jim gave me a chilly, confident smile that made me shiver.

“How can you be so sure?” If I was Will, I wouldn’t come after me. Not after I’d left him standing there.

“You might not mean anything to him, but my employer does. Will wants his name, so he’ll be here.”

“Maybe he already found your employer,” I said, my voice shaking more than I liked. “Maybe he already killed him.”

“He’s still very alive, and I intend to see that he stays that way. Now, come on.” He started walking again, dragging me back toward the crowd.

No way in hell was my life going to end like this, but trying to get away now wouldn’t do me any good. I’d wait. Be patient. Wait for Will, or the first chance to run, or both.

“You can’t kill us in public.” I glanced up at him.

“Wanna bet?” He laughed and leaned over so only I could hear him. “I can kill Will Collier and disappear before anyone knows he’s dead.”

My blood froze. Then and there I realized the difference between Will and Jim. Despite their chosen profession, Will obviously had some sort of code, even if he didn’t think he did. He had a moral compass. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have stopped and picked me up outside El Paso, he wouldn’t have bought me that van, and he sure wouldn’t have bothered to bring back my journals. Jim, on the other hand, had no compass at all.

His eyes raked over me in a way that made my skin crawl, and made me angry, too. “And you? Honey, I’m gonna keep you around for a while.”

Like hell!

Once we reached a particularly crowded spot, I stumbled on purpose, and then stomped on his foot as hard as I could. His grip on my arm loosened just enough for me to pull free and jab him in the ribs with my elbow.

Then I ran like hell, the words, “
Jim was our hunter
,” playing over and over again in my head. I’d sat with him, talked to him...
let him pet my dog!

“Sabrina, wait up!”

I didn’t bother checking behind me. His voice sounded dangerously close, and I increased my pace accordingly, breaking into a fast trot as I shoved through the crowd, searching the passing buildings for a place to hide.

Using the thick Saturday afternoon crowd for cover,