The King and the Courtesan (24 page)

But I smiled and laughed softly. “I’m Melissa.”

He extended a hand. He was sitting on the ground, but judging by the size of his torso and the hand he offered me, he was taller than most.

“I’m Ace Finley,” he said as I shook his hand.

“Ace? Why does that name sound familiar?”

He clamped a hand on my shoulder to help himself stand as I balanced him with a hand on his back. I spotted Roger standing at the edge of the ramp, worried, out of the corner of my eye. Sometimes it was nice to have a mother hen around to wring his hands over me.

“Um, well, I am pretty good friends with Juri. Heard of him?”

“
Juri
?” I gaped at him. “Juri, the leader of the Brigade?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. Man, I think I snapped a tendon or something—”

“That’s—wow. Juri’s kind of legend around here.”

“Oh, I know.” Ace donned a look of faux seriousness. “Juri, leader of the Brigade, Metro’s self-run vigilante police force. Juri’s not much involved in that anymore—the man’s a geezer these days—but some of us like to continue the good work.”

“
Now
I know where I’ve heard your name before. Blade.”

“Ugh, Blade. Do you know that guy? Because if so, I should probably get out of here—”

“It’s fine. I hate Blade. We’re not together anymore.”

“You were his girlfriend?”

“Look, it’s not like I liked him. But he kind of—er, took care of…” I trailed off. Oh,
great
, Melissa. I had already managed to expose myself as a gold digger. A few times, Blade had come in cursing out this elusive Ace. I think Ace had been behind an “accident” at the dock, where a warehouse filled with Blade’s shipment of dust inexplicably went missing, probably dumped into the river.

Juri
. I’d never met Juri, or his close confidant, Lucille, but I’d heard all sorts of rumors. Apparently, as a young man, he worked overseas for the drug lord who was in control before Ezekiel. Something got the drug lord pissed at him, and he ordered to have Juri murdered. Well, that didn’t work, and despite the fact the entire
country
had been after him for three years—after all, drug lords owned Jahral and most of its neighbor, Juxtacane—he somehow got back home alive, with a few fake teeth made from bullet shells and scars he never talked about. That was when his personal vendetta against the drug lords began. Technically, the Brigade
was
a gang, and it wasn’t like they got together for tea and cupcakes. It had the appearance of a gang and recruited some of the meanest criminals in the city. Their job wasn’t really to make Metro a better place, just to make the drug lords’ jobs hell. The police hated the Brigade and arrested members when it could, even though the Brigade did a better job at keeping Metro safe than the cops ever did. The Brigade was respected and feared, and Juri was the king of the establishment: the Messiah of Metro.

“Melissa? You’re spacing out.”

“Sorry. I’m still digesting the whole ‘friends with Juri’ bit. Are you guys beer buddies or something?”

Ace laughed as he climbed off the half-pipe. I tried stepping down, but my shoe started coming off, so Ace grasped me around the waist and lifted me down like it was nothing. Suddenly Roger appeared behind me, glaring at Ace as if he had punched me in the face.

“Actually, he kind of took me in when I was sixteen and headstrong. He was afraid my skills would fall into the wrong hands.”

“Skills?” We were both ignoring Roger’s presence, even though it was obvious he was glaring at us.

“Next time we’re in close proximity to a dart board, you’ll have to remind me to show you.” He winked.

“And you are?” Roger demanded.

“Hey, there, Mr. Suit. Who are you? Boyfriend?”

Roger drew himself taller, but he was still a bit shorter than Ace. “I’m a friend.”

“Well then. Why are you acting like a jealous boyfriend?”

“I am not—”

“Hey, guys,” I slipped between them. “Ace, this is Roger. He really is a friend of mine. Roger, this is Ace. He works for the Brigade.”

“Sort of,” Ace corrected.

“The what?”

“You aren’t from here, are you, bud?” Ace asked.

“Melissa, maybe we should get going.”

“Nice suit.” Ace gave Roger a once-over. “You steal it off of someone?”

Roger’s eyes narrowed. “You missed a spot while shaving.” Roger poked a finger at Ace’s goatee.

“Would you two stop acting so dumb? Ugh. Men.” I rolled my eyes and took a sip from my drink.

Roger inhaled sharply and nodded. “Right. Melissa is right.” He extended his hand to Ace, who shook it. “I’m just out of my element today.”

That made sense to me. After all, a ton of things had to be weighing on his mind right now. He didn’t want to be at the Park to begin with. And I guess seeing Ace touch me had set off his alarms. After all, if I got harmed, I wasn’t the only one in trouble.

“Okay, man. We’re cool.” Ace released Roger’s hand. “I’m actually a nice guy.”

“Me, too. But I’m not from here and—”

“Right. All you non-Metro people are afraid of this town.” Ace smirked. “And you probably should be.” He pointed to a long white scar up his arm. “See this? I got this in a knife fight.”

Roger stared. I only raised my eyebrows. When Ace caught my look, he burst out laughing.

“No, actually, I got it when I tried breaking my own window because I locked myself out.”

Roger snorted, some of his tension falling away.

“But I can’t tell the ladies that, because that’s not cool. So, yeah, Melissa. It’s from a knife fight.”

“Grow up, dude. How old are you?”

“Not a day over twenty-eight, I promise.”

“Hmm, you and Roger can have a party and be old together.”

“Hey, I’m only thirty-one!” Roger objected. “And how old are you?”

“Twenty.”

“So you’re already halfway to the grave,” Ace joked.

“Let’s get a table. I’m getting hungry.” I began walking in the direction of a vendor, smiling over my shoulder at both men as I went, knowing they would both follow.

Ace had a very drastic flirting problem, which amused me and annoyed Roger. But he was horrible at it. Even though he was an asshole, Blade could really schmooze a girl if he wanted to. He’d done it with me once upon a time. Blade would talk about himself, ask a few pointless questions, give an off-the-cuff compliment, and if he saw the girl responding, he’d keep getting closer until he asked her to go home with him. Ace had a completely different method. His first step: ask tons of questions. Where did I live, what did I do, did I have siblings, what was my favorite food, movie, song, etc. I lied for some of it, of course, but for the most part, I enjoyed telling him about my love of fried dough. With Ace, compliments weren’t sparse, either. Blade believed a woman had to work for a compliment. Ace gave them out for free. It was very cute of him. Girls probably saw him as that big-brother type of guy, not the I-want-in-your-pants kind, which wasn’t exactly a problem. The last thing I needed was a
good
flirt vying for my attention
and
sex. Ace was totally harmless. I think that was why I liked him so much.

I couldn’t see him as a guy who worked for Juri. I could see Blade hating him, but only because Blade found guys like Ace annoying—not dangerous. I began to doubt Ace’s story about knowing Juri, but when the subject was brought up, he rambled on about Juri’s “good old days,” and it all seemed credible. Maybe Ace was two-faced—sociable and kind during the day, a killer at night. Just the thought made me want to laugh. I would have never pegged
Roger
as a killer at first, but with his build and nice suit, it was believable. With Ace, I couldn’t even begin to imagine.

Ace vanished for a moment to go to the bathroom, and Roger turned to me.

“We should probably go,” he murmured.

“Why? It’s only three. And Ace is a funny guy. Mostly because he tries too hard to impress.” I gave Roger a small smile. “Isn’t he cute?”

“Melissa, may I
remind
you that you work for Ezekiel? I don’t think you should be flirting with some—”

“Hey,
I’m
not flirting, okay? Well. Maybe a little. Force of habit. But most of it was Ace. And honestly, Ace isn’t much of a threat.”

“I don’t like it.” Roger played with the buttons on his shirt while looking over his shoulder.

“Look, Ezekiel told me to go out and have fun while he was away. That’s what I’m doing. Good, clean fun.”

“Ace works for
Juri
.”

“So?”

“Juri and Ezekiel aren’t on the best terms.”

I didn’t know much about gang politics outside of the stuff that directly influenced my street corner, mostly because I was an independent prostitute who didn’t work for a pimp. Everyone knew Ezekiel didn’t operate the brothels in Metro, at least not the big ones. Drugs were more of Ezekiel’s specialty. That didn’t mean he didn’t work with pimps when it came to dishing out the goodies to whores, but Ezekiel wasn’t pounding on hookers’ doors demanding moolah. Anyway, Ezekiel was probably smart enough to realize that if Juri got involved, his job would get much harder. Shipments would be stolen, lost, or destroyed. Enemies didn’t make for good business. I’m sure Ezekiel might have tried to pay Juri off, but from what I’d heard, Juri didn’t accept bribes from anyone. Kicking drug dealers out of Metro was impossible, but keeping the insane ones out was Juri’s job. And for the most part, he was doing well.

“It’s fine, Roger. And how is Ezekiel going to know anyway?”

“Don’t ask that. Ezekiel knows everything that happens in Metro.”

I patted Roger’s shoulder. “Okay, just chill. We’re fine. If we get any heat for this, it’s entirely my fault.”

Roger shook his head. “I’m in charge of you. It’ll be my fault, too.”

“It’s—”

“Hey, guys, look who I found!”

I looked up at Ace, who was standing across the table, grinning. Next to him stood a middle-aged woman with dark brown hair and an easy smile. Despite her age, she had a trim athletic build, easily noticeable beneath her muscle shirt and track pants. Her thighs alone probably could have crushed a man’s head.

“Rika, this is Melissa and Roger. Melissa and Roger, this is Rika. We’re friends with a long history, right?”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Rika nodded at both of us. She had a few piercings in each ear, but she was clearly an out-of-towner—much too perky to be a Metro native. But the fact that she was here on a Saturday was enough of a reason to like her.

“Ace isn’t lying about knowing Juri, is he?” I asked.

Rika chuckled. “Oh no. Ace has been a thorn in Juri’s side for a
long
time. Juri picked this troublemaker off the street when he was sixteen and ‘trained him right.’ Though, he still has atrocious table manners if you ask me.”

“Hey!” Ace laughed, elbowing her.

“Where are you from, exactly?” I asked.

“Oh, Alpin.”

“Hey, Roger lives in Alpin, too. You guys know each other?”

“You know how big Alpin is, Melissa?”

I shrugged. It wasn’t a neighborhood I had any experience with. While Roger and Rika talked about common Alpin hangouts, Ace and I quickly lost interest. He turned to me with a smile.

“How did you get to be friends with her?” I asked.

“Long story.” Ace sat down across from me and leaned in so Rika couldn’t hear him. “You see, she comes from this really rich family, but she was the rebel. When she was in high school, she’d come down here to play sports with some of the guys. She’s a real masher.”

In Metro,
masher
was slang for a tough girl.

“Anyway, it was inevitable she’d eventually run into Juri and me. She made friends with Juri real quick—”

“And Ace had the biggest crush on me,” Rika interrupted with a sly smile. I hadn’t realized she’d been paying attention.

“That’s not true!” Ace objected hotly. “You were way too old for me.”

“Yeah. Seven years older—he was sixteen to my twenty-three. That’s
so old
, you know.”

“She likes to think I had a crush on her. But I have
way
higher standards than—”

Rika hit him over the head, and he burst out laughing. They were obviously close, and they appeared to love each other in a very platonic way. I could see her as a rebellious teenager, defying rich parents to go wrestle with the leather-jacketed bad boys in Metro, the kind covered in tattoos and chain-smoking three packs a day by age eighteen.

We talked a bit more with Rika until she had to head out, which got me thinking about leaving as well. Roger kept growing more anxious, alternating between looking at his watch and staring at the exit.

“We should probably get going,” I said finally, after Roger looked at his watch for the twentieth time.

“So soon?” Ace asked, disappointed. “But they’re probably gonna start dancing soon—”

“We have to be home. Anyway, it was really nice meeting you, Ace. I don’t get out much these days, and it’s really—”

“Yeah.” Ace stood as we did, looking slightly desperate. “Um, hey, yeah, it was cool meeting you two, as well. You should come more often. We could hang out.”

I smiled at Ace, because I knew what he wanted—a number. I didn’t know how closely Ezekiel monitored my calls. He knew I only called my sister. If he found me calling someone else, would he care? I definitely did want to speak to Ace again—he was just the type of low-key guy I needed around—but I wasn’t sure if I was willing to risk it.

“That would be great. I’d like that.”

Roger touched my arm, giving me a stern glance. I sighed heavily.

“Well, see you later, I hope.” I waved and moved away.

“But—wait. Maybe I can get a number or something—”

He reached out to grab my arm, but Roger stepped between us, his expression stern. For a moment, I was angry with Roger for being such an overprotective jerk, but then I realized why he had done it. It wasn’t for me. It was for Ace. The more discouraged Ace was, the safer he’d be. I was dangerous.
I was dangerous
. And while I’m sure Ace had his share of danger, I didn’t want him in any deeper with Ezekiel than he already was as an associate of Juri’s. I couldn’t afford friends like him right now, and he definitely couldn’t afford me.