Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 24355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
“Shut up.”
“Please,” I respond. “I don’t want to pee my pants.”
“Not my problem.”
“Dawson, please. Be a human being, and just let me use the restroom. You can stand right outside the door.”
He frowns, doing his best to ignore me. Dawson plays tough, but I can tell that he’s not. He’s not as hard as Rico. I’ve got a feeling he’s only in this life because he followed Rico into it. It’s not hard to see the hero worship on his face when he looks at him. It’s kind of sad.
“Please, Dawson,” I plead, my voice soft. “Just let me use the restroom.”
He sighs heavily, then pauses his game and turns to me. “No funny shit, all right?”
“No funny shit. I promise.”
He sets the controller down, stands up, and walks over to me. Dawson pulls a pair of snips from his back pocket and looks down at me for a minute, his eyes filled with uncertainty. I do my best to look innocent and harmless.
“I’m going to be right outside that door,” he says.
“That’s fine.”
He nods and bends down, snipping the plastic cuffs. The moment the cuffs slip off my wrists and fall to the floor, I throw the hardest punch I can, connecting squarely with his balls. He lets out a grunt of pain, his breath bursting from his mouth with a loud “oomph.” Dawson doubles over, his hands on his groin. Jumping to my feet, I bolt for the door. He grabs at my ankle, so I spin around and kick him in the face, sending him topping over backward.
“Bitch,” he croaks. “Fucking bitch.”
I sprint across the room, my hands trembling so hard, I fumble with the locks. Behind me, I hear Dawson getting to his feet, and I let out a sharp squeak. He’s shambling slowly toward me, one hand on his injured balls, the other reaching toward me. My heart is pounding in my ears, and my face is so hot it feels like it’s on fire as I keep fumbling with the locks.
“Come on, come on,” I cry.
I finally manage to unlock the door and throw it open. When I do, my eyes widen, and my heart sinks into my belly.
“What the fuck?” Rico growls.
Before I can utter a reply, Rico grabs me by the hair and yanks my head up roughly, forcing me to look him in the eye.
“Nice try, bitch,” he growls.
15
TYSON
Icheck my watch and see it’s five to midnight—the appointed meeting time. I’m sitting behind the wheel of my Escalade in the empty parking lot of a long-deserted strip mall. The buildings around me are dilapidated and look like they’re going to fall down on their own before any developer gets in here to knock them down. The night is dark, the thick blanket of clouds overhead blotting out the light, leaving the world in a monochromatic gloom.
I’m not stupid. I know those two little dipshits are going to try to jack me and then put two in the back of my head the same way they did with my guys. They know they can’t leave me alive after this. I don’t know if they anticipate me knowing their plan. I got here a little early and scouted the area just to make sure they didn’t have any friends hiding out waiting to get the drop on me. They didn’t. That suggests to me that they really think they can pull this off on their own.
That makes them stupider than I thought.
I turn the volume up when one of my favorites by John Coltrane comes on. The music helps settle my nerves. I’m not afraid for me. I’ve never been somebody who’s been afraid to die. Being in this life tends to condition that fear out of you pretty quickly. Plus, I’m not afraid of those two shitheads getting the drop on me. They couldn’t take me on their best day and my worst. They are going to get fucked up tonight; there is no question about it.
No, my nerves are frayed because I can’t stop seeing the image of Tabitha in my mind’s eye. The look of wide-eyed fear on her face was seared into my brain. She never asked to be pulled into this life. In fact, she told me she couldn’t date me because she specifically wanted to stay out of it. And now, here she was, with her life on the line because of the decisions I’ve made in my life. It kills me knowing she was taken because of me. That she’s been subjected to whatever those two pricks have done to her because of me. That her life is in danger because of me.
I’m not afraid for me. I’m enraged because of what they’ve done to her.
A pair of headlights appears at the far end of the parking lot and slowly cruises toward me. Gritting my teeth, doing my best to control the rage flowing through my veins like wildfire, I get out of the Escalade. Opening the back door, I grab the pair of duffel bags on the back seat and walk to the front of my vehicle and drop the bags at my feet.