Chapter 4 The Dark Maple Syrup Guy

To Leena's surprise, she was more irritated than anything when she found herself tied to a chair in some sketchy basement with two sketchy dudes staring down at her and demanding her to tell them who she was. It wasn't like she found herself in these types of circumstances often. In fact, the most intense interaction she'd had with a stranger was when she accidentally grabbed his coffee cup instead of hers, and he chased her down and yanked it out of her hand and shoved hers in her hand in place of it.

Thinking back, even that interaction might not have been so horrible. That guy might have been a little mean, but he did give her her coffee. He certainly didn't have to do that. He could have just left it sitting on the counter, cooling and free to be snatched up by some other absentminded woman.

"Listen, I don't know who you are, and I feel like I shouldn't have to tell you who I am. Why are you going around kidnapping people when you don't know who they are? What if I'm some kind of spy or FBI agent or something?" she said indignantly.

The guy with the cinnamon-colored eyes bent over and peered into her eyes. He was too close. She could smell the cigarette stink on his breath. She leaned back from him and turned her face away.

"I guess that would give us a good reason to kill you then," he hissed.

Leena scrunched up her nose as his odor filled her nose until she felt like she was eating it. She coughed. "Could you back up? Your breath reeks, man."

The guy stood up and stared down at her like he wanted to kill her. She clenched her teeth thinking that considering she didn't know who she was dealing with she shouldn't be so mouthy. But she knew that power was all in the eye contact, so she held his gaze despite the boiling rage in his eyes.

Just when she thought he was going to give up, he lifted up his hand and slapped her across the face with the back of his hand. Leena was taken by surprise, and she let out a small yelp of pain. She wanted to hold the stink on her cheek with her hands, but she couldn't.

"You little b*tch. Who do you think you are?" he yelled at her.

The other guy, a younger pale-faced kid with light brown hair, grabbed his buddy by the arm and yanked him back. "Don't do that. The boss'll be mad," he muttered.

Leena laughed sardonically. There was another one? A boss? That didn't sound good. Usually, the bosses were twice the pr*cks as their understudies.

At the sound of her exasperated laughing, the cinnamon-eyed guy approached her and grabbed her by the hair. She winced and tried to turn her face away again. "Didn't you hear that? Your boss will be mad if you hurt me," Leena growled.

The man squeezed her hair tighter and pulled, wrenching her head back. She was getting really sick of this guy. Why was he so d*mn aggressive?

"I said... get your dirty hands... off of me!" she yelled, swinging her leg up and kicking the guy in the groin.

He instantly released his hold on her hair and crumpled to the floor. The kid watched in shock as his buddy writhed on the floor, clutching himself. She thought she noticed a little smirk in the corner of his mouth. At least this kid didn't seem as bad as the other guy.

Leena watched with a pleased gleam in her eye as the man groaned and eventually staggered up to his feet. He was glowering with utter fury. It was a bit intimidating, but she didn't want to show him that.

He made to lunge back at her, but to her relief, the kid grabbed him and pulled him back. She tried not to be too obvious about the alleviation she felt. Who knew what the guy would do next time he laid his hands on her?

She was curious, though, about what the kid had said. Their boss would be angry if they hurt her? Why was that? Who were these guys, and what did they want with her anyway?

Just as she was about to ask about the man, the one she'd seen them beat up in the parking garage, the door creaked open and a big, dark figure walked through. There was something familiar about this person for some reason.

"Let's get this over with," he said with a deep, sugary voice. He raked his hand through his dark, curly hair and finally looked up at her.

"Dark maple syrup guy?" she mumbled to herself.

***

Ransom nearly lost his composure when he saw her. They'd just seen each other earlier that night in front of the building with the yoga studio. She was the cute woman who had given him the slow and very obvious once-over.

He had to swallow his laugh of irony. He was not expecting to see her. He was almost... happy... to see her. He had been hoping to catch another glimpse of her green eyes before leaving her earlier, but after she looked back at him that last time he'd gone on his way.

What was she doing here? he wondered, his mouth twisting into a frown as he realized the severity of the situation. More importantly, who was she? The boys had sent word that they caught a woman who saw them beat up Tommy. He walked closer to her and looked closer at her face.

Her eyes were wide and bright with disbelief and amazement. And the way her face flushed instantly as they made eye contact... Apparently, she was kind of happy to see him too. He nearly let himself smile at how readable she was. It was adorable. He approached her, crossing his arms over his chest, cocking his head side to side as he examined her closer.

That's when he noticed that her right cheek was redder than the other. He pointed at her face and looked over his shoulder. "What the h*ll is this?" he asked gruffly.

Manny shifted uncomfortably and shrugged. "I don't know what you mean, sir," he said, not meeting Ransom's eyes.

Ransom flicked his gaze over to the kid, Mateo. Mateo was a good kid, respectable. He followed orders. Manny, on the other hand, had always been more amped up and aggressive. Ransom should have taken more time to consider letting him in before he did.

Based on what he knew to be true about these two guys, he already knew what had happened in his absence, but if there was one thing that helped him weed out weak soldiers it was little tests like this. He didn't need any liars. A lair was a liability. That's why they were called liars.

"That b*stard hit me. That's what this is," the girl said from behind him.

He turned around, not expecting to hear her voice. There it was again. That scowl. She stared past him now at the two soldiers standing behind him.

"Which one of you hit her?" he asked without turning around to face them.

The girl shook her hair off of her face but never broke her angry gaze away from her assailant. She was feisty. She was brave. He liked that.