Brute force and an expert-level ability to dish out pain to anyone within reaching distance had gotten me far in life. Too bad for them I was more than brawn as I swaggered carelessly through knee-tall weeds that winter hadn’t put a dent in.
They weren’t prepared for what was going to happen here tonight. Truthfully, they had to be some of the unluckiest motherfuckers in existence.
A couple of weeks ago, I would’ve gladly assaulted this place, guns blazing, fury firmly in control. I would’ve killed all of them.
They probably would’ve killed me as well.
It would’ve been an even trade.
For years, I waited on Creed to send me to my death. Because what other reason would there have been to recruit someone like me and keep them in the shadows?
Buying a life only made sense if you were planning on spending it somewhere down the line.
Even after I caught on, I never held it against him.
Why would I?
How could I?
Without his interference, I would’ve spent the majority of my life rotting away in a cell.
I never would’ve challenged myself to be something other than a violent beast waiting to be provoked.
I never would’ve agreed to go into business with Jason.
I never would’ve seen our goals stretch and build upon themselves until we were so far away from our past that those times seemed like a distant memory.
Most importantly, I never would’ve known there was a woman out there who could see me at my worst and not run scared.
Except Josie had gone even farther still. She’d stared down the worst parts of me and fought back, showcasing the same determination that had gotten her through her own difficulties in life.
You’ve done enough, pussycat, I thought, stepping onto the rotten wood of the porch. The old, fragile planks creaked beneath my weight. Time to let someone else take care of you for a change.
I rapped my fist against the door, shaking my head as dust and plaster fell on top of me. For a change, the usual itch to break heads open was gone.
Even knowing they were being intentionally dramatic by making me knock on the fucking door—they just watched me walk up here, after all—didn’t send me into a tailspin of destruction.
While I waited, I pictured the blonde-haired beauty that didn’t give a damn about my beast.
The door opened to a scowling grunt I didn’t recognize. He spat at my feet, hoisting the gun in his grip to point down the hall.
He was easy prey.
I could smell it on him, along with a strange, chemical scent to the air.
When I ducked beneath the door jamb to step inside, he moved out of my way. It would’ve been almost painfully easy to put my fist through his temple right then and there. Take his gun. Put a bullet in him and continue on my way.
But that wasn’t the plan.
Josie’s mom needed to be safe before I did anything. My woman being hurt ever again, whether it was emotional or physical, was simply not an option I was willing to indulge. So, when the lackey pointed the gun at me, I only yawned.
He shuffled on his feet, looking me up and down. “I gotta pat you down, man. Spread ‘em.”
I kept my hands by my sides. “You asking me or telling me?”
He pulled the slide back on the pistol and it took everything in me not to laugh. “Don’t fuck with me,” he said. “You might be a Sinner, but you ain’t shit without a gun, man. Now, I ain’t gonna ask you again. Get—”
I don’t have time for this.
Lunging forward, I grabbed the barrel of the gun and twisted violently. His fingers broke with a sharp crack that reminded me of chalk snapping in half.
He howled and fell to the floor, clutching his hand and rocking back and forth. Footsteps thundered down the steps towards me.
Three more men filled the cramped living room, most of them shouting and waving their guns up and down. Only three on guard? Nikolai is dumber than I thought.
Ignoring them, I ejected the magazine, disassembled the rest of the gun in a blur, and let the separate pieces fall harmlessly to the ground. The shouting stopped and they looked between each other, confused on how to proceed.
Bunch of amateurs.
This was what happened when you tried to build your criminal organization in the backyard of a bigger predator. Sometimes, the state at large was mistaken on what kind of evil lurked in their midst. They got confused because the Sinners handled their disciplinary actions behind closed doors.
In truth, Creed and the others had either purged or assimilated every criminal element around during their rise to the throne. What was left was a bunch of bottom of the barrel punks who would do anything to try and make a quick buck. Including signing themselves on to things they had no business being involved in.
I glared around the room, wondering if any of them had ever pulled those triggers or taken a life. From the nervous sweat and shifty eyes, I was betting no. Shaking my head, I strolled right through the midst of them, heading towards the light I could see coming from the living room.
Nikolai was standing in the center of the room when I got there, hands in the pockets of his slacks. He had on another expensive suit that looked even more out of place among the run-down filth we found ourselves surrounded by. Not to mention a suit and tie were huge hazards when you were in the business of killing people.
He had no idea how quickly I could wrap that material around his neck and strangle him with it.
Before long, he just might.
A choked noise reached me and I turned, expecting to find Josie’s Mom.
I found her alright.
She was tied with rope to a high-backed chair that had seen better days, duct tape over her mouth and around her wrists. Disheveled, but not injured anywhere I could see. Although her distress was obvious.
A pang of sympathy went through me. I couldn’t imagine not remembering the people close to me or where I was from day to day. So, I couldn’t begin to parse how she might feel with these men roaming around her.
That said, the sound of dismay hadn’t come from her.
Perched in a chair right next to hers, tied up in the same fashion, was the man who had dared touch my woman in front of me. I racked my brain for a moment before I could think of his name.
Micah, I thought with a grimace I kept off my face.
He rocked back and forth, wild and desperate. Did he think I cared whether he lived or died? He wasn’t one of us; he was the opposite.
Micah was a rat.
Rats could never be trusted.
Nikolai lost his cool first, as expected. He moved into my line of sight, blocking my view. “Where the fuck is that bitch with my money, Sinner?”
Ah, there it was. The need to squash him like a bug. Thankfully, the urge remained manageable. So I didn’t dash across the room and start beating his head against the mantle of the sealed fireplace.
But it was a near thing.
I scratched at the stubble on my jaw. “Should’ve picked less of a dump. She might’ve been able to find it easier.”
His eyes narrowed, a red flush creeping up his neck. “She chose this shithole.”
Didn’t see that coming. What were you up to, Josie?
I inwardly shook myself before I tried to chase that rabbit down its hole. Whatever Josie had planned was beyond me at the moment. She was safely tucked out of harm’s way. Of course, she was going to be spitting mad for a while. But I could deal with that, assuming I lived through this.
Mad beat dead any day of the week.
“The money is a lost cause,” I told him. “She split and no one has been able to find her. Here’s the new deal on the table: her mom goes free and you get me instead.”
His easy stance disappeared. Nikolai pulled a gold-plated pistol from his waist and held it at his side. “Since our dear Josie couldn’t be bothered to show up, I might as well get rid of this hag here and now.”
He stomped towards Josie
’s mom and I balled my fists, trying to remain calm. That got harder when he put the gun to her head. Whatever memory she did have, she obviously knew what that meant.
Her eyes went wide and her body trembled.
“I have no use for her otherwise,” Nikolai continued. “Besides, that’ll leave me more time to deal with you, Monster. Do you have any idea how much business you’ve cost me?”
“Thanks to your boy over there,” I said, nodding to Micah, “yeah, I’m pretty sure I do. Not my problem, either. You should’ve picked somewhere much farther away to deal your shit. We don’t appreciate that kind of thing around here.”
Nikolai trained the gun on Micah instead. I didn’t feel nearly as bad when the captive man’s eyes bugged out. Whatever used to be between him and Josie died the moment I burned that building down and he didn’t so much as bother to make sure she made it out.
Fucking coward.
“Such arrogance.” Nikolai scoffed. “That’s exactly why your little group will fall. Now that you’ve gotten the attention of the Palazzos, all the leather you can wear won’t be enough to save you. The Sinners time in the spotlight is over.”
I crept forward slowly, aware of every weapon in the room. It would’ve been better for me if they were holding Josie’s mom somewhere else. Amateurs they might be, their guns were very real. They wouldn’t stack up to any of the Sinners in weapon proficiency, but they didn’t need to in close quarters like this.
Bullets didn’t discriminate.
And if there was one thing idiots had in common, it was that they tended to be a trigger happy sort. She needed to be out of here and at a safe distance before then. I hadn’t decided on how to make that happen yet.
A taunting grin stretched across my face while I stalled for time. “The spotlight feels pretty good right about now. Almost as much as when I marched into your fight club and made it my bitch.”
Somebody pistol-whipped me across the back and I grunted, glaring over my shoulder. The punk that still had the butt of his pistol in the air stepped away in a hurry.
“Weak,” I spat, turning back around.
The knife that came next was...unexpected.
Sharp, burning pain bit into my shoulder as the blade slid deep enough to scrape against bone.
I grunted as spots danced in front of my vision. My legs gave out, sending me to one knee.
Nikolai stood in front of me, an evil grin on his face. “That's more like it. On your knees is just where you belong.”
I made the mistake of trying to move my shoulder and nearly passed out from the sudden, white-hot agony.
Fuck me, I almost wished they’d shot me instead.
That didn't stop my savage smile from spreading. The room had shifted. All his men were behind me.
He'd abandoned his stance beside the hostages to gloat.
Time slowed down while my gaze swept the room, anchoring locations in my mind. There was a door to Micah's left that caught my eye. It was out of place for a closet. A basement, maybe? They weren’t overly common around here, and it might not include an escape route. But it would be better than nothing.
Nikolai kept running his mouth. I tuned him out, placing every ounce of my focus on the critical next steps. He could hurl whatever insults he wanted.
The knife in my back didn’t matter.
Neither did the threat of death.
Neither did the...sound of glass shattering?
I watched in awe as a bottle came flying through the window closest to me. There was a rag at the end of it.
The rag was on fire.
Shock silenced the room. The beat of my heart went into overdrive like a tank of nitrous oxide was flowing through my veins as the Molotov cocktail got closer and closer.
A shout rang out.
A scream.
Neither of which compared to the animalistic noise Nikolai made when the bottle broke on his thigh, spilling liquid fire.
I lunged out of the way, avoiding the splash zone. The landing knocked the wind from me and I looked up in time to see Nikolai’s men surging around him, trying to put out the flames climbing his pant leg.
They were so worried about their boss, they didn't notice the drops of fire on the floor spreading impossibly fast.
I thought about the strange smell that had stood out when I walked in. Nikolai admitting Josie chose this location. The fire that was already leaping towards the rafters, burning at an alarming rate.
Accelerant. You're just as crazy as I am, pussycat.
God, I love that woman.
“You did this!” screamed one of the thugs.
I didn't waste time trying to find out which one.
Kicking my ass into gear, I pushed through the pain and climbed to my feet. Josie’s mom and Micah were both jerking against their restraints when I reached them. I yanked at the ropes, hissing as my shoulder burned.
They were tied tight as hell. Then I remembered the literal knife in my back right as the first gunshot rang out.
The pain that blossomed in my thigh was sudden and inescapable, sending me crashing to the ground.
I managed to bring the chairs with me so they wouldn't be such easy targets.
Then I think I blacked out.
Because when my eyes opened, the ceiling had collapsed in the middle of the room—a burning pile of debris.
There was also a beautiful woman with dirt smudged across her face screaming and shaking me.
When did angels start cursing? And why is she so goddamn loud?
I didn't get an answer to those questions before the world faded out of focus.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Josie
If Monster didn't open his eyes, I wasn't sure my heart would ever beat properly again.
“Get up!” I screamed, shaking him.
I blamed the tears in my eyes on the smoke clinging to the air and the sweltering heat. There was no way I was going to cry for Monster because he wasn't going to die.
He was too strong to let the blood soaking his jeans and the back of his shirt keep him down. Any moment now, he was going to surge to his feet with that mad glint in his eyes and a smirk on his handsome face.
Any moment now…
But he was so very still beneath my palms.
A lump the size of a small country settled in my throat, blocking my airways.
Mom was sideways on the floor, watching me with more clarity in her eyes than I could remember seeing for years.
Micah hadn't stopped moaning and grunting since I came through the cellar door.
The fire roared louder with every passing second, devouring more of the old house I'd treated ahead of time.
And barely a dozen feet across from me, Nikolai and his men were cursing and shouting while they hammered at the debris separating us. They were going to get through or at least get eyes on us to start shooting again.
Except none of those things compared to the blender shredding my heart as Monster continued to bleed beneath my fingertips.
Please, I begged anyone that might be listening. You can't have him. He's mine.
I didn't have much, but I had him.
How dare the world try to take him from me?
I pressed down on his thigh harder, trying to staunch the blood flow. “If you die on me,” I hissed, heat curling in my chest. “I swear I'll fucking find you and kick your ass.”
Monster groaned and I held my breath.
Slowly, arms trembling, he pushed himself into a sitting position.
His face was pale when he turned to me, and blood matted his hair. But he was breathing. Nothing was more important than that.
“Such a sweet-talker, pussycat,” he rasped, voice weak. “No wonder I couldn’t stop chasing you.”
I would’ve smacked him if he wasn’t already injured twice over. When his cheek twitched like he knew what I was contemplating, I carefully wrapped my arms around his neck. “You’re not out of the woods for locking me up, big man.”
; “Scold me later.” He started shifting around in my grip and I let go.
My brows furrowed as he tried to reach over his shoulder and let his arm drop. He grimaced. Tried again. Cursed under his breath when he failed at whatever the hell he was trying to do.
“The knife,” Monster said. “Take it out.”
“Are you crazy? No! That’s exactly what you’re not supposed to do with—”
Monster put a hand over my mouth, giving his head a sharp shake. “Only way to get through the ropes.”
“That’s a bad idea,” I told him, even as I took in the knots going around Mom and Micah.
The Molotov had been the extent of my preparation for this night. I was a fighter, not a girl scout. I didn’t run around with multi-purpose tools on my person or the knowledge of how to undo complicated knots.
Another loud thud came from beside us. Monster and I both watched a piece of ceiling fall and crash through a wall. Shadows silhouetted by orange flames moved on the other side of the small gap.
His raised brow was more infuriating than usual.
I moved until I was facing his back and put a hand on his shoulder. The other went around the end of the knife, curling nervously. “This is going to hurt.”
“Do it,” he muttered. “I’ll live.”
“You better.”
My stomach flipped sideways when I tugged at the handle and nothing happened. At least, nothing other than Monster doubling over in pain, fists banging against the floor.
Before I could lose my nerve, I gripped the handle with both hands and pulled as hard as I could.
The blade came free, and blood immediately poured from the wound. I stared hopelessly at the life flowing freely down his back before another bang from across the room kicked me into gear.
We had to get out of here. Fast.
The entire house was going to be on fire before long, and that was if Nikolai didn’t get a bead on us before then.
Scooting across the floor, I cut Micah free first and yanked the tape from his mouth. His eyes were wild as they went around the room, focusing on the cellar door I’d come from. When his attention came back to me, I was holding the knife a few inches away from his face.
The words moving on his lips died before he could even grant them the sound to come into existence.
Monster: A Seven Sinners Novel Page 21
