by Londyn Quinn
“Early night, huh?” Jase presses his foot on the gas and the car lurches forward. “What happened? Wait, lemme guess. You finally grew a pair of brass balls and stuck your tongue down her throat, but she kicked your ass to the curb because she realized her horse is more hung than you’ll ever be.”
“It’s none of your business, Jase,” I grumble. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
He snickers, feeding into my anger. “I don’t know why you bother. You’ll never be good enough for her, dude. And her parents will never accept you. It doesn’t matter that we have money. To them, it’s dirty. And dirty money is worse than no money at all. You need to find someone on your own level, someone who gets us. Our family. What we do.”
I turn to him, my fists clenched. “Shut the hell up. I don’t need any advice from you, got it?”
“The family always comes first, Xander,” Jase’s voice deepens into a growl. “Never forget that. Everyone treats you like you’re fucking glass, but you need to hear this now and remember it. Your responsibility is to the family, nobody else. People fit into your world, not the other way around. If you listen and accept that, shit will be a lot easier for you to handle.” He swivels the steering wheel and takes a sharp turn down a darkened street. The houses get smaller as we head away from our quiet, wealthy town, the lawns...if you can even call them that...start to look more like overgrown minefields.
“I know the rules, Jase,” I say through clenched teeth. “I know the game.”
“You don’t know dick, bro.” Jase shakes his head and scoffs. “You think you know, but really, you have no idea. You’ve sawed off some fingers, but that’s small shit. Tonight, you’re gonna find out what really happens when people decide to fuck the family.”
“Jase,” I say, my eyes darting left and right. The street is desolate and dark. My gut clenches, then twists. This is bad news. I can feel it in my bones. We shouldn’t be here. “I know you want to prove yourself to Dad and the family, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to show up on this side of town alone.”
“Don’t be such a pussy,” he mumbles. “And I’m not alone.” He smirks at me. “I’ve got you.”
“I’m serious. Who are you looking for, anyway? Can’t we get some of the other guys to meet us?”
Jase reaches under his seat and pulls out his gun. He keeps it with him always because you just never know.
I, on the other hand, don’t have a gun. I’m much more comfortable with a box cutter. I can cause some major damage with one of those.
My blood runs cold as he pops in a clip. “Whose place is this?” I whisper, nodding at the dilapidated house across the street.
Jase levels me with his stare. “Mikey Jasper’s.”
I swallow hard. Shit. “Why are we here?”
Jase shrugs. “Because he’s the asshole who’s been fucking with our product.”
“How do you know? Shorty didn’t admit to anything. He said he didn’t know who—”
“Grow up, kid. He was always gonna protect his own. He’d have never given Mikey up.”
“So why the hell did we go after Shorty in the first place? Why’d you make me torture him like that?” The hairs on the back of my neck prickle. For all Jase does to get me involved with this crap, he likes to keep me in the dark. Makes him feel like he’s top of the shit heap, I guess. And I’m at the bottom, as usual, waiting for the avalanche.
“Because I wanted to send those pricks a message.” Jase’s jaw twitches as he stares into the darkened windows. “That anyone who fucks with the family is gonna pay. Shorty got off easy. His debt was only three fingers. But Mikey,” he grunts, nodding his head at the house. “Mikey’s debt is a lot bigger. And I think it’s time he paid up.” He pushes open the car door and sticks the gun into the back of his jeans as he creeps over to the old house.
I get out of the car and search up and down the street. I jog through the overgrown weeds and meet my brother on the porch. He peers into a window, then pulls open the screen door.
“What are you doing?” I say in a loud whisper. “You’re gonna break in? And for what? What if Mikey doesn’t come home tonight? How long are we supposed to stay?”
“Enough with the questions,” he hisses. “This is my show. You do what the fuck ever I tell you, got it?”
I roll my eyes. God, I miss my brother Phoenix more and more every day since he left to handle family business in Chicago. He’d never pull this kind of shit to prove he’s worthy of respect. He just gets it. He commands it. Nobody questions him. Nobody challenges him.
But Jase? He’s a lunatic. And he wants everyone to know it.
I jump back as he kicks in the front door. “Shit!” I rasp, searching every direction to see if the loud bang made any lights flicker on.
Maybe everyone inside of their houses assumed it was a gunshot. I’m sure they hear those often enough in this neighborhood, so often they probably don’t even peek outside anymore to see who’s shooting who.
Jase takes a few steps into the house and I follow, the stale smell of cigarettes and beer assaulting my nose. Bile rises in my throat, and I clamp a hand over my mouth to stop the gagging. Jesus, I can only imagine what the hell this place looks like with the lights on.
Something rushes over the tops of my sneakers and I stumble backward into a wall, letting out a loud yelp. “Jase,” I whisper, peering at the ground, and then into the darkened hallway. “Where the hell did you go?”
I inch forward, my toe jamming into a hard object on the floor. Must be a table or something. I move down the hall where I last saw Jase. A loud bang followed by a crashing sound from the back of the house makes my heart thud faster and harder. Where the hell did Jase go? The place isn’t that big. How could he have disappeared so fast? And why didn’t he call in some of the other guys?
Dad is gonna be pissed when he finds out where we are right now, especially because Jase took it upon himself to go after Mikey. He figured he’d make a name for himself by taking down the guys who are sabotaging our business, that the big boss will appreciate him taking the initiative to roast those bastards.
It never works out that way. And up until now, he’s been protected because of my dad’s place in the organization.
But Dad won’t be able to save him forever.
And my dumbass brother still hasn’t learned his lesson.
The bottoms of my sneakers stick to the floor as I step farther into the house. Goosebumps shoot up my arms and down my legs. “Jase?” I whisper.
No answer.
Knowing him, he’s probably leaving a bunch of little messages for Mikey around this shithole house.
A glass shatters, and something heavy hits the floor.
“Ahh!”
I stop in my tracks, my breath hitching.
That’s Jase’s voice.
“Jase!” I yell, breaking into a run. With a throbbing pulse, I run down the rest of the hallway toward a faint light. Another loud crack makes my chest tighten.
My hand skims my pocket, and I feel something hard inside.
The box cutter. I hid it in there after we left Shorty.
I come to a doorway and step inside, my foot sliding out from under me. Something slippery has me skating around on the floor until I finally collapse against a wall to steady myself.
A switch is flicked and suddenly, the kitchen is flooded with light. I squint, my eyes taking a second to adjust to the space. There is garbage cluttering the floor, dirty dishes piled high in the sink, and rat droppings scattered along the bottom of the cabinets.
But in the middle of it all is the worst sight I’ve ever seen.
It’s my brother, lying in a pool of his own blood...blood that has puddled on the floor. Blood that I almost took a bath in only seconds earlier. His eyes are closed, his face smashed in, his mouth sealed shut by duct tape.
All because he had something to prove.
I grit my teeth, dragging my eyes away from his beaten body. They land on a menacing sn
eer only a few feet away from me. “Hey, kid. Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s not polite to break into someone’s fucking house?” Mikey takes a few steps toward me. “Your brother wanted to send me a message, huh? Well, what do you think of my response?” He nods toward Jase’s broken body and then looks back at me. “You think it’s clear enough? I don’t want there to be any confusion when you bring my message back to the family.”
I take a step forward and a beefy arm snakes around my neck, keeping my feet rooted to the spot. The arm tightens around my windpipe, but I don’t make a move to pull it away. Mikey walks closer to me, a malicious smirk on his face. “Your brother is a stupid motherfucker. And bringing his kid brother as backup is just another one of his mistakes. You’re too young, too green. Lucky for me, your brother is just making one stupid mistake after another tonight. He never knows when to walk away, so I made the decision for him. Except this time, he ain’t walking anywhere.” Mikey leans closer. “And neither are you, you little prick bastard. Nobody fucks with me or my guys, do you understand that, ese? Nobody!”
Blood rushes between my ears as Mikey leans over to grab the Louisville Slugger baseball bat that he must have just used on Jase minutes earlier.
He slams it on the floor before giving me a wink. “You like baseball, kid?” His dark eyes narrow. “Because I’m gonna take you out to the fucking ball game!”
He swings once, and I duck around it so that Mikey clocks the guy behind me instead. The guy lets out a loud roar and falls to the ground, clutching his bloody head and crying like a bitch. I twist around to get myself out of the line of fire...too late.
Mikey grabs me by the hair and yanks me toward him. “You little asshole,” he seethes. “Did you really think you were gonna come here and finish the job you started on Shorty? Did you really think you were gonna win?”
“I didn’t think we were gonna win, Mikey.” Short gasps slice away at my lungs. “I just knew you were gonna lose.” With one swift motion, I grab the box cutter from my pocket and jam it into his neck. His eyes pop open wide and he grabs the handle, sputtering and coughing. He collapses against the cabinets, his wild eyes still focused on me.
The rage that always bubbles right below the surface floods my veins, awakening the very demon I’d always tried to suppress. Everything goes dark. There’s no light at the end of this tunnel. Not anymore.
“You played a good game, Mikey, but now it’s over,” I growl, my shoulders quaking. “And you lost. Just like anyone else who tries to cross our family. Put that message in your fucking pipe and smoke it, dick.”
I’ve fought for so long not to turn into Jase, not to make enemies, and not to risk what I loved.
As the monster inside of me roars to life, the realization hits me like a cement block to the gut.
Maybe I was wrong about Mikey.
Maybe it’s me who’s the loser.
With no option left but to become the beast I’m meant to be.
He’s in my blood.
And it’s time to accept him.
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Acknowledgments
When I sat down to write this, I had no idea where to start. Being a lover of the indie book community from the side lines for so long, I have read countless ‘thank yous’ and acknowledgements over the years and now it’s my turn to thank all of those who’ve cheered me on. I have been inspired by so many incredible and talented authors, made amazing friends and have felt so welcomed by this amazing world right from the get-go.
The biggest acknowledgement that comes to mind right away is to everyone that picked up a copy of Prick and has taken a chance on this newbie author. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Your support means more than you know! I hope you loved Prick and are excited to read Puppet! Don’t worry, it’ll be released so soon!
Also, I would like to take a moment to thank Elaine York. She’s a wonderful editor that took this manuscript and polished the coal into the diamond that it is. I appreciate her hard work and timeliness greatly. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without her insights and support.
THANK YOU!
About the Author
Londyn Quinn, shoe whore, beauty guru, and wine connoisseur, prides herself on the twisted, dark, and devious mind she hides so well behind her façade of flawless foundation and thick lush lashes. Sometimes, beauty really is only skin deep. Beneath all of the glitz and glam, she loves to concoct dirty and devilish stories about bad boys and the snarky, sharp-tongued girls they love to hate…and hate to love.
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Ridgeview Prep Series:
Prick
Puppet (Pre-Order Now!)
Princess (Coming Soon!)
