Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“Cute?” Virgil growled behind me, and I smacked his chest.
“Not the time.” I glared at him and put a finger to my lips when we stopped outside the ladies' bathroom door to listen.
“I told you I wanted my money the next time I saw you, Red.” The voice no doubt belonged to Squeaker and the threat was just as clear.
“That was just hours ago,” Bonnie insisted breathlessly.
Squeaker laughed. “That’s just your bad luck. Or my good luck,” he said, his laugh dark and purposeful. “You could just smile and take this cock like a good little whore. We both might enjoy it more. But either way Bonnie, I will enjoy it.”
“Get your hands off me!”
I smirked at the fight she still had left. It meant she wasn’t too far gone to be pulled back. My gaze slid to Virgil, who already had his piece in his hand. He nodded to my hip, and I smiled, snapping the button on my sheath and pulling out my favorite copper knife. “I’ll go in first.”
“Right behind you,” I told him, my game face on. I was worried as shit about Bonnie because the kids The Crusaders took on were crazier than the rest. Quicker to anger, quicker to kill.
Virgil pushed the door open quietly, surprising me, but I followed his lead, crouching low and walking slow while that fucker continued to talk shit. Colby had his hands full, keeping Maisie out of harm’s way.
“Get on your knees. Right now, bitch.”
“No,” she spat out through sniffles. She was fucking crying.
“Now, I said. Money or knees.”
Virgil made the left turn quickly, smoothly and took one big step to put him on the other side of the stall where Squeaker had Bonnie trapped. He nodded for me to handle it. I froze, but only for a second.
I stood behind Squeaker, laughing and threatening Bonnie, pushing on her shoulders with one hand and wielding a knife in the other. Her eyes were dark and wide, filled with fear.
I stepped in behind Squeaker, surprising both him and Bonnie when I slid my right hand around him, gripping his forehead the way Virgil had taught me and pulling back until he was off balance. “What the…who the fuck?”
I smiled as he struggled against my hold.
“It’s me, asshole. Your worst fucking nightmare.”
“This your pimp, junkie whore? Think he’s gonna save you? Well fucking think aga—” Before he could say another word, I slid my left hand around him, stabbed the tip of the blade to his neck and pulled it across until I felt the warmth of his blood spurt over my hands.
Bonnie’s scream filled the air the moment his body fell between us.
“Oh my God!” She repeated the words over and over again, rubbing at the blood that covered her face as if she could wipe it all away and erase this from her mind. “Calvin, are you…oh my God!”
“She’s a mess. Get her out of here.” Virgil’s voice was strong behind me. He was in charge. Capable. Unaffected while I couldn’t look away. Squeaker wasn’t the first dead body I’d ever seen, but this was different. I couldn’t say how yet, but at that moment, I knew I was different too.
“Cal, get her the fuck outta here. Maisie too. I’ll handle the cleanup. Go.”
I nodded and wrapped an arm around Bonnie’s waist, tugging her around Squeaker’s lifeless body. “Come on, Bonnie. Let’s get you home.”
She nodded and kept nodding, her gaze glued to some spot far in the distance as if she’d checked out of the here and now.
“My God,” she whispered every few seconds like it was the only phrase keeping her tethered to the earth.
Colby pulled open the door when I tapped on it and Maisie’s scream turned the entire dining room silent. “What the fuck happened?”
“Really Maisie? Didn’t you just graduate college?” My sarcastic tone was enough to snap her out of the daze that had her staring at Bonnie’s blood-splattered face. And clothes.
“Shut up, Calvin.” She stepped forward and Bonnie gasped and jumped, terrified.
“Just lead the way out,” I told her a little too harshly. “The back way. Please.”
Maisie nodded and turned away from us, straightening her spine and squaring her shoulders as if ready for battle. On four-inch heels, the raven-haired general led us to a back staircase that meant a long walk to the parking garage, but it also meant no one would see any of us in this condition.
“Level C?”
“Yep.”
Bonnie stopped and slammed her eyes shut. “Oh no! Oh no, no, no! No! No! No!”
“Bonnie!” I grabbed her shoulders and shook her until her hazel eyes met mine, but they were glazed, unfocused. She was still high and in shock.
“Bonnie, listen to the sound of my voice.”
“No.” she shook her head, and I could see the terror in her eyes as her mind replayed the last ten minutes on an endless loop. “No, no. No!”