Then she started fidgeting. Crossing and uncrossing her arms. Reaching for her hair and letting her hand drop. Chewing on the ends of her nails.
Is she strung out on something? What the hell is this?
Asher grabbed his silverware and cut into the meat on his plate, staring at it for a second. Despite the present company, my mouth watered at the smell. He didn’t look impressed in the least. He speared a piece with his fork and held it up for closer inspection. The woman started trembling harder.
“Tell me, my dear,” he said, voice so cold ice should have formed on her lashes. “What temperature did I ask for?”
She shifted back and forth again, tears pooling in her eyes. “Medium r-rare,” she stammered, blinking rapidly.
I still didn’t understand what the fuck was going on, but I was getting a bad feeling about all of it. I caught Axle’s glance, and by the way he lowered his feet to the floor, I knew we were on the same page.
“In fact,” Asher continued, holding the fork out to her. “Take a close look at this and tell me what you see.” She licked her lips, shooting me a pleading look. “Don’t look at him. Answer me.”
“Medium.” She choked on a whimper. “It’s m-medium.”
He clucked his tongue. “You had three tries. I didn’t think this would be so difficult to accomplish.”
“Please,” she begged suddenly. “I can get it right. I can-”
Asher cut her off. “Gio.”
He moved quickly. Standing in a rush. Slipping the matte black pistol from the holster hidden beneath his jacket.
Axle, Mace, and I moved in unison. Bringing our own weapons to bear, but he had the lead on us.
Face expressionless, Gio placed the barrel against the woman’s head and pulled the trigger. Even with the silencer, the sound was incredibly loud in the small space, and her head exploded outwards, red droplets painting the side of Asher’s face and decorating the white tabletop.
I shouted in surprise and put my gun right to Gio’s neck while Axle and Mace covered me. But for Gio’s part, he only ejected the magazine of his pistol and calmly put it on the table. My pulse raced in my ears, but I could still hear the distant screams as those Slayer hadn’t been able to get to leave realized they would rather be anywhere else.
“What the fuck?” I yelled when I saw that Asher and his men weren’t moving.
The Prince of Crime extended a hand towards the seat I’d occupied. He wiped his face with a napkin as if bits of brain matter weren’t sitting on his plate. Collecting in his drink. I wasn’t a squeamish person by nature, but I felt my stomach turn over, acid burning as the sight registered along with the smell.
“Have a seat, gentleman,” Asher said. He glanced down at his shoulder and flicked away a piece of something red. “We still have business to conduct.”
He’s fucking insane.
I didn’t sit down, and I damn sure didn’t put my gun away.
Axle flanked me. Mace stood beside him. The three of us stared at this man who had just killed an innocent woman over something completely trivial. I’m sure we realized simultaneously that we were in over our heads.
I’d come across beasts and monsters of every color and variety. I thought I’d seen all the bad shit the world had to offer. But this?
This was evil, pure and simple.
No purpose.
No compassion.
Just suffering and destruction for the sake of his own amusement.
Asher looked at the woman on the floor and shook his head. “What a waste. Steak isn’t so difficult, is it? Yet two chefs and a waitress later, I still have not been able to eat what I ordered. Disappointing.”
His words caught up to me slowly and I played them back. Two chefs? I glanced at the kitchen. I couldn’t see anyone moving through the round windows.
No.
“Mace,” I grunted, tilting my head in that direction.
He shuffled away with his gun aimed at the floor, turning long enough to kick the swinging doors open and peek inside. When he looked back at me, his expression was pinched, and he shook his head.
Three people were dead, just like that. They weren’t my people. This hotel wasn’t even a part of our network. But I couldn’t help but feel that I’d failed them, and the weight on my shoulders threatened to crush me.
“Why?” I asked Asher.
As it turned out, he had done it for a reason, just not one I found remotely acceptable.
“To prove a point,” he said, eyes cold and dead and empty. They matched his fake smile perfectly. “This is what happens when people fail me. I suggest keeping that in mind. Your own test will come soon enough. And if you fail?” He chuckled, the sound scraping against my senses. “Then you all fail. It should also go without saying that if you ever show up here again, there will be consequences.”
I gave the order to retreat, and didn’t feel any shame in it. Briefly, I glanced at the body on the floor. The blood pooling in the carpet. I wasn’t sure our presence or lack thereof would’ve affected their fates.
What I was certain of was that he was poison, and the lid was no longer corked.
I was certain that I had no fucking idea what the antidote might be, or how to find out before he seeped into everything and ruined it with his caustic touch.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Naomi
I sighed for probably the millionth time in forty-eight hours. To be fair, there was a lot to sigh about. Okay, there was at least a pretty major thing to sigh about that managed to be all-encompassing.
Not that Lynn would agree.
“Oh my Gooood,” she said on a groan, pressing pause on the movie we were curled up in my bed watching. She was watching it, in any case. I was sulking. “If you don’t stop sighing, I’m going to cover your mouth with duct tape.”
“Do it,” I dared her. “Then rip it off. I’m sure it would hurt less.”
She stabbed a finger at me, holding a wine glass in her other hand. “He left you in the hospital alone, and hasn’t said a word to you in two days.”
“He also made sure I got there in the first place.”
“Doesn’t count,” she said instantly.
“Why not?”
“Because I’ve decided that I hate him, and I’m going to keep hating him until he pulls his head out of his ass. There. Done.”
I stared at the frozen figures on the tv, not really seeing them. I wished I could make my mind up as easily as she had. Except Lynn had a pretty big advantage over me.
She wasn’t in love with the man.
I was being torn in too many directions to make a decision. Of course I was pissed at him for leaving me. How could I not be? But there were so many other factors at play.
Disappointment at how things had turned out.
Aching regret over not telling the truth before it split us like a log.
Worry that, even when his anger faded, nothing would change. My phone would remain depressingly deprived of his good morning and good night texts. This distance between us would remain, robbing me of the security he provided.
Tone was everything I ever wanted, wrapped in a package I hadn’t expected.
Loyal.
Caring.
Strong.
So damn capable just watching him do the simplest things could get me hot and bothered.
I wanted to tell him I was scared too. Terrified, really. I’d ventured so far from the initial path I set for myself that not even a yellow brick road could help me find my way back. And I didn’t want to go back. I wanted to keep moving forward. But I wanted us to move forward together.
He had given me his strength to lean on without asking for anything in return. Without smothering me.
I would be his strength, if he let me.
And if he doesn’t? a tiny voice whispered.
I pressed my head into Lynn’s shoulder, closing my eyes. “Distract me.”
She patted me on the head like a sad puppy, which might not have been
too far from the truth. “Distract you with what?”
“I don’t know. Anything, really. What’s going on with you and the lumberjack. He hasn’t been around for a bit.”
Her shoulder lifted, forcing me to sit upright in time to catch the way she pulled her lip between her teeth. “I told you. We don’t get along for extended periods of time.”
My eyes narrowed. “But you didn’t tell me why.”
“Difference of opinion.”
“Because that’s not evasive at all.”
“Is it not? Damn. Evasive was exactly what I was going for.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re seriously not going to tell me? I thought we didn’t keep things from each other.”
She arched a perfect brow. “There’s nothing left to tell. Matty and I don’t do long term. We just don’t.”
I squinted, wondering how I could pry the truth from her. Usually, homemade smores would do the trick, but I would have to go out and get marshmallows. Moving from this cozy spot seemed...unlikely.
At least until my phone buzzed on the bedside table.
Leaning over to grab it, a frown pinched my face when I saw the notification.
“What’s wrong?” Lynn asked as I slid out of bed, glad I already had sweatpants on.
“The silent alarm is going off.” I scanned for my boots. They were on opposite sides of the room, and I groaned under my breath as I collected them. “I need to get over there before the loud one starts and wakes up the whole street.”
She sat up straight, putting her glass down. “I’ll come with you.”
“Stay.” I grabbed a coat from the closet, bundling it over my pajamas. “It’s probably nothing, and you’ve been drinking.”
“What does that matter? I can still ride with you.”
My lips thinned, and I shot her a quick glare while I stuffed my hair into a warm hat. “I can take care of this myself, okay? I don’t need a babysitter.”
Lynn raised her hands. “Chillax. I’m not saying you do. It was just an offer.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled. “But it’ll be fine. I’ll text you time I get there, and keep you updated.”
I didn’t give her a chance to try and plead her case any further. On the way out the door, I couldn’t help but look towards the dark house next to mine. If he had offered, I knew I would’ve accepted, and that knowledge had a burn igniting in my veins.
What had happened to doing things solo? Wasn’t that the entire point of why I came down here? Why I left my family behind to deal with their problems without me?
Either way, the point was moot. Tone wasn’t home. He hadn’t been home for two days. So, whatever offer he might have made was hypothetical, and that wasn’t about to change.
I got in the car and started it up. Backed out of the driveway before the heat had a chance to really kick in. The drive across town was a cold one. By the time I arrived outside the shop, there were pins and needles in my sockless feet.
There wasn’t any movement through the glass windows, yet something kept me inside the car, peering into the darkness of the interior. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I wiped sweaty palms on my sweatpants, laughing at myself. I hadn’t heard of a single break-in across the entire town since I got down here.
What were the odds someone would try and get something from a smoothie shop of all places?
I was sure there were about a hundred more appealing spots up and down the street. Like the jewelry store, for instance.
Stepping from the car, I shot Lynn a quick text to let her know I’d made it. I walked slowly towards the front door, trying to find the right key on my ring in the dark. Except I paused when I got close enough to grab the handle.
Because the door wasn’t flush with the seal, and when I tugged, it opened.
I froze, body going stiff. Had I left it unlocked yesterday? I had been in a hurry, and more than a little distracted, but still. That wasn’t like me. I found routines that worked and stuck to them. I would’ve never left here without checking and double-checking to make sure.
Stepping away, ice going down my spine that had nothing to do with the temperature, I fumbled for the phone in my pocket. Dropped it from trembling fingers when I finally got it out. I yelped when it hit the ground and immediately felt ridiculous.
Great. I’m officially that girl. The damsel in distress.
Bad enough I was going to have to call the police because I was scared to go inside. Small town or not, no one was happy to drive somewhere at three in the morning to walk a property with a flashlight and report a whole bunch of nothing. But my pride could take it.
I crouched down, reaching for my phone.
A shadow moved in the corner of my vision, and I didn’t have time to scream before a polished loafer came down on my phone, smashing it to pieces.
The scream came out of me then, shrill enough to hurt my throat. I fell, scrambling backwards as I looked up into a face cloaked by darkness.
“You shouldn’t be here,” the man said, advancing on me.
My heart galloped against my ribs, threatening to beat its way out of my chest.
I flipped over onto my hands and knees, urging my body to move faster as I tried to get to my feet. Moving in a half-crouch, half-run, I darted towards the safety and escape my car might provide. But I only made it a few steps before he caught my hat and the hair piled up inside of it, pulling me back roughly enough that my eyes watered.
“Stop!” I screamed, voice tight with pain and nowhere near as loud as I needed it to be. “Help! Someone!”
“Shut up,” he grunted, yanking at me.
I tripped and went down on my ass, landing hard enough to knock the wind from me.
He let go of my hair and dragged me by the back of my jacket instead. Hauling me inside the shop. Sliding me across the floor until my back hit the countertop and left me staring up at him.
The angle of the streetlights had changed enough to reveal his face, and I gasped with recognition. “Shitdick.” Only when his head tilted, an ugly smile sketching its way across his hard features did I realize I said that out loud.
He glared, steel in his eyes. “That caught on, did it?” He reached for me and I drew back. His hand paused, dropping back to his side. “Come now, bella. I thought I was making a decent first impression before that ignorant savage interrupted our moment.”
“We’ve never had a moment,” I spat, kicking at him when he got close enough.
Wearing that same sharp grin, he pulled out of reach. I got my hands underneath me, ready to stand. Ready to make a break for it.
Ready to run like my life depended on it.
Then he pulled his suit jacket aside, flashing the black object cradled in its holster. I sat down, letting the tension leave my thighs. I wasn’t the fastest runner on a good day. There wasn’t a universe in which I could dodge a bullet.
“Well,” he said calmly. “What do you know? You might have some good sense in that pretty little head of yours after all.”
Nervous sweat pooled beneath my armpits, running down the sides of my body. “What do you want? Why are you here?”
He sighed and began to pace back and forth in front of me. “Because the cocksucker I answer to is trying to test a theory. Your man paid us an interesting visit the other day.”
My man. Tone? Then it clicked. I was wrapped up in something I had no business being involved in. Thanks to someone I hadn’t even spoken to recently.
“He finally revealed some of what makes him tick.” The man before me adjusted his tie. “About time, too. This all would’ve been so much easier with Creed leading the Sinners into the fray. I’ve heard promising things about their violent President. No one bothered to tell me he was taking a sabbatical.”
I blinked, wetting dry lips. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I didn’t need to know either. Every moment he kept me here was another moment I stayed alive. Another moment where Lynn would have a chance to wonder why I hadn’t ch
ecked in with her again. I only hoped she wasn’t asleep.
She might be my only chance.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said quietly. “Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you.”
His eyes narrowed and then he chuckled, almost to himself. “You want to know what’s funny? I wasn’t supposed to even involve you. What brought you out? Silent alarm?” He stared at me and nodded. “Had to be. I checked for everything else. Someone is getting their ass kicked when I get back to the hotel for not jamming the fucking signals properly.”
“If I’m not supposed to be involved then you can let me go,” I said, trying to uncoil the panic looping its way around my chest. Squeezing me so tight it was hard to breathe. “You can have whatever is in the registers, and I’ll tell anyone who asks that it was like that when I got here.”
He stopped in front of me again, crouching. His hand closed in on my face and I poised my leg to kick him straight in the nuts. “You don’t want to do that.” He twirled a lock of dark hair between his fingers. “I don’t plan on making this painful for you, but if I have to hurt you to get you to behave, little girl...”
His words trailed into nothing but silent promise, and I held myself deathly still while he continued toying with my hair. He brought his face closer, sniffing the strands he had captured, and I shuddered with revulsion. I looked away, staring out the window. Hoping my disgust wouldn’t be written on my face.
He got back to his feet fast enough that I jumped, pulling my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. Calm steps carried him to the door, and he sealed it shut, throwing the lock with a click that sounded oddly final.
Shitdick watched me as he unbuttoned his jacket and removed it, throwing it over a nearby table. “I should be thanking you,” he said. “This will probably be more effective anyway. With any luck, this’ll be the last push they need before I can put this pathetic little town in my rearview.”
He strolled towards the glass display case, looking inside at the empty shelves. In one fluid move, the gun in his holster was out and flying forward, smashing into the glass. Tears sprang to my eyes as shards of glass rained down onto my head, tinkling to the floor around me.
Tempted by a Sinner (Seven Sinners Book 4) Page 26
