Chapter 2 : Hitching a Ride

Aria POV

My eyes grew wide, my hands froze at my sides, and my heart began pounding.

"Oh no!" was all that ran through my mind.

The way Jared saluted and kneeled before Noah could only mean that he was high-ranking, either military or aristocracy…and I had just bared my fangs and threatened to fight him. I would be taken into custody without question. They would discover that I was practicing healing illegally and my life would be over!

"Sir, what is this commotion?" Jared asked Noah respectfully.

"Bergmann family business, Jared," Noah said, not taking his eyes off me. "This…woman…is in my way."

F*ck! Did he just say the Bergmann family? This was definitely not good.

"Aria!" Jared hissed at me. "Stand down now if you know what's good for you!"

I was torn. On the one hand, if I did not move then my life would be over and I'd probably spend the rest of my days rotting in some dingy cell. On the other hand, Tony was my patient, and even as an unlicensed practitioner I had a duty to protect my patients until I was certain they were fully healed.

Before I could make a decision, Tony leaped to his feet, and with surprising agility for some who was still recovering from a silver infection, he scaled the side of the building and vanished onto the rooftops.

In a blur Noah whizzed past me in hot pursuit of his target, not giving me or Jared a second look.

My heart beat violently as I realized I had just avoided life behind bars. I decided to make a break for it before Noah decided to come back and press charges, when Jared stopped me.

"Aria!" he fumed, face flushed with anger. "Just what the hell were you thinking, getting in the way of Bergmann business? Do you realise the serious pile of legal sh*t we could have been in…that we could still possibly be in?"

"I'm sorry Jared, but I had no clue who he was," I protested. "I was just treating a client that I got through Atlas when that Alpha showed up."

I knelt down to pick up my equipment bag as Jared lit a cigarette in frustration.

"You best get out of here, Aria, and don't bother showing your face here again," Jared said in frustration. "Sex work and drugs the high-ranking will overlook because it's what they expect of us down here and how they make their money, but an unlicensed healer is a whole other can of worms.

You tell Atlas not to send your clients to my establishment again, you understand?"

Furious, I didn't say a word. I turned my back on the bar owner and went back into the red-lit streets.

***

I clutched my bag tightly as I walked down the busy street. The night was alive with sex workers on street corners, drug dealers slipping sealed packets to their junkie clientele, and rich college kids looking for fun on the darker side of Romulus City.

More than likely there would be accidents and injuries and many inebriated people looking for a healer without going all the way to the inner city. However, I was on edge after my run in with Noah Bergmann, who might have called in law enforcement in his pursuit of Tony. People like him and his family had the police in their pockets.

My phone rang and I answered without looking at the caller ID, already knowing who was on the other end.

"I trust you found your client?" Atlas asked.

Annoyance bubbled up inside me.

"Yeah, I found him," I hissed, "and he ran off before I could get my payment. Why didn't you tell me there was an aristocrat after him? I could have been in serious trouble. The police will probably be swarming the place soon."

"Hey, look now, I have no clue what these people are into. I get the call and patch them through to you," Atlas said defensively. "As for your payment, it was wired to me ahead of time so don't worry."

I sighed heavily into the phone; at least I would be able to pay rent this week and perhaps even pay off a few debts. But now with Jared banning me from the Scarlet Moon, I'd have to find another populated area where I could conduct business.

"Jared is pissed at us. I don't think he'd let us do business there again," I said.

"He won't let you do business there again," Atlas corrected me. "I, unlike you, have a reputation amongst the underbelly. But I organized a ride home for you, just as a small apology."

I scoffed. This man should be giving me his commission as an apology—but I said nothing. I didn't want him to ghost me out of spite for the next few days.

"Thanks, Atlas," I said, controlling my emotions. "Keep me in the loop if another job comes up."

"Will do, darling," Atlas replied affectionately. "Stay on the main road and keep a lookout for a blue SUV—that's your ride. Code words are "Abernathy" and "Sherlock"."

Atlas hung up without another word.

I sighed. I considered Atlas to be a friend for the most part; he had gotten me out of many sticky situations. But he had also been the reason for my misadventures plenty of times as well.

"Even though I paid for your services, I have to offer my thanks for what you did after," Tony's voice whispered weakly from the alley behind me.

I turned in surprise. He stood leaning against the wall, right hand clutching where his wound had been. No doubt it was still painful after being exposed to silver like that.

"Shouldn't you be running for your life?" I asked him.

I reached into my bag for the clothes he had left behind and tossed them to him.

"That's what he would be expecting me to do," Tony muttered as he slowly dressed himself. "It's better to lay low and act natural than to look like you're being chased. You should keep off the Bergmann radar as well; it would be a shame to lose a great and honorable healer like you."

Tony gave one more grunt of discomfort before turning around and vanishing once again into the night.

***

I waited for about fifteen minutes and had begun to think that whatever arrangements Atlas had made to get me home had fallen through. Reliability was not a consistency found in these parts of the city.

I decided that it would better to walk home instead; I did not want to be mistaken for a sex worker again tonight.

I rose up from the cold metal bench when I heard a commotion to my left. A middle-aged prostitute in a short crimson dress seemed to be having an argument with a man in a car. This was not a strange occurrence, as many times there would be disagreements concerning the price of services, but the man in the car caught my attention and caused my stomach to flutter.

It was Noah Bergmann.

My instinct was to disappear into the shadows quickly before he noticed my presence, until I noticed the car he was driving was a blue SUV.

Atlas had to be joking! He sent a f*cking socialite to give me a ride home? I knew that the broker had friends in strange places and fingers in many pies, but what strings he had to pull to make an aristocrat act as a chauffeur was beyond me.

I should have left and walked home. The last time I saw this man, he and I were about to clash violently. But something about him intrigued me, and it would not be every day that a high society b*stard acted as my personal driver.

Perhaps Atlas knew what he was doing.

I put aside my fears and doubts for a moment and approached the SUV. The woman's voice echoed angrily through the air.

"Look, if you're gonna f*cking waste my time with code word bullsh*t like I'm supposed to understand, then find another harlot to bother!" she yelled.

Noah looked frustrated, but kept his voice low and calm.

"For the last time, I'm not looking to catch an STD. All I'm looking for is a woman in a red dress that I'm supposed to pick up," Noah said.

"You look too handsome and rich to be a cabbie or errand boy," the hooker snorted, turning around to leave. "Just f*ck off then."

"Bad luck getting your rocks off tonight," I said boldly, opening the passenger door and sliding into the expensive car.

Noah's consistent look of emotional control faltered in surprise when he saw me next to him. "What the hell are you doing in my car?" he exclaimed. "I'm not looking for a rub and tug, alright?"

"But you were looking for a woman in a red dress, no?" I said. "Abernathy."

"Sherlock," Noah grunted in reply to the code word.

The car was quite hot, so I had no qualms about removing my coat to reveal the tight red dress beneath. Noah sighed and massaged his forehead.

Without another word he shifted the car into gear and drove off along the dimly lit road.

"F*cking Atlas!" I heard him hiss under his breath.

I knew this was a dangerous situation, but if Atlas had something on this guy then he probably wouldn't try to harm me in any way, at least tonight. So I decided to take full advantage of the situation. I wanted to try and see Noah in the same way I had seen him back inside the bar: a dashing saviour instead of a condescending a*shole.

"So…" I began. "You know Atlas as well. You must owe him something if you agreed to give a low-born like me a ride home."

Noah kept his gaze straight ahead. The expression on his face suggested that my presence offended him, which was not surprising if he thought I was a hooker.

"We don't have to make conversation," he answered quietly.

His façade of indifference, however, was broken by his eyes glancing swiftly at my exposed legs. A look of desire flashed briefly across them.