Page 62 of Layne Closure Ahead

He gave a drawn-out sigh. “Promises, more promises, and all of them fucking lies. That’s all I’ve been getting from you, so how am I supposed to take you at your word now, hm?”

Layne groaned through the pain as she chuckled. Slowly, she pushed herself up onto her feet, wincing but fighting through the pain.

Eric didn’t share the same amusement in whatever was going on in Layne’s head. “What’s so funny?”

“You. You were so desperate to get me here. So desperate that you kidnapped my best friend, and went through all of this trouble. I’m the one thing you can’t buy, and it pisses you off. You make business deals all the time, yet you can’t even close a deal on a real woman.” The pain still lingered on her face despite her amusement at the situation.

The flicker of rage on his face as she bruised his ego was paired with an angry snarl, predictably so. She braced herself as he grabbed her by the back of her neck with a painfully tight grip and dragged her over toward the large windows overlooking the pool.

Eric pressed the side of her face up against the glass, her cheek flattening against the smooth surface. The warmth of her breath left a small circle of fog on the glass. Layne braced herself with one of her hands against the window.

Her eyes caught a small detail down below. The bag of goodies she had left at the poolside when Eric’s men grabbed her was nowhere to be seen. She suppressed the smile that wanted to pull at her lips.

“Do you remember when we first met? I made it clear that one day you’d beg for my soft touch.” Eric’s mouth roughly sucked on her ear and gave it a hard nip before he hissed into it. “I’m going to be cashing in that bet.”

His mouth and the words that came out of it made her stomach twist into more knots. “One request?”

Intrigued, Eric tilted his head some. “Hm?”

“At least look me in the eyes like a damn man. I don’t beg for cowards.”

He spun her around to face him, slamming her back up against the window. His cold eyes looked to penetrate deep into her soul. “That is one request I will grant because I want to see your face as I take you past your thresholds and into a whole new world of pain. The very same world that I thrive in.”

Her eyes met his and smiled sweetly at him. “I want to see your face, too.” Click. The switch of the blade in her hand flicked open and then sank into his upper stomach getting lodged just underneath his ribs.

The look on his face was everything she had hoped it would be as she kept the knife held deeply embedded into his gut. Her green gemstone eyes didn’t look away from him, even when the door was nearly knocked from its hinges as it got kicked in.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

With his skull mask drawn over his face, Joey unleashed a flurry of chaos the second he kicked in the door. Layne shoved Eric to collide with one of the men coming to his aide. The two men fell to the floor together.

With two guns drawn, Joey easily dropped one of the other two with a single shot. However, the smarter one of the bunch was already using Rebecca as a shield. He shuffled, keeping his hold steadfast on Rebecca as his insurance that he wouldn’t meet death today.

“Rebecca!” Layne stepped forward but stopped when she noticed the man had a shaky grip on a gun against her friend’s side. Joey’s eyes never left the most critical target which was the man threatening the innocent young woman.

Eric remained on the ground groaning as the knife remained stuck in his midsection. However, Layne sensed the movement of the one jackass she had knocked Eric into. He made the unfortunate decision to take a run at Layne.

She hunched down, lowering her center of gravity using the man’s height against him as he attempted to tackle her. Using his momentum she deflected his attack, sending him careening into the cheap metal filing cabinet where his head collided with the sharp corner before dropping motionlessly to the floor.

The maneuver caused her to wince and curse at the harsh reminder of her injured rib that continued to be a bitch and protest rather loudly inside her body.

When she looked back at the situation with Rebecca, Joey was slowly stepping to the side to make sure he maintained enough space to not spook the man into doing something stupid. As the man edged towards the door seemingly with his ticket out of there, he smiled feeling more confident.

The man yelled at Joey and her. “I will shoot the bitch if you follow me! Stay back!” Layne didn’t doubt that this man was going to make good on his word. He was so on edge, they were lucky he hadn’t already pulled the trigger by accident.

“Just be calm.” Layne’s words were meant for both Rebecca and the man threatening her wellbeing. She came up next to Joey, her hand slid to the back of his pants finding an extra firearm there that she helped herself to.

The man backed out of the open door, roughly jerking Rebecca with him out the door. Layne glanced over at Eric lying on the floor suffering and then at Joey. He already read the conflict in her eyes between dealing with Eric and saving her friend.

Joey softly spoke to her. “Go get her. I will take care of things here.”

Trusting him to do as he said, Layne bolted for the door leading out of the office. Her feet ran down the steps as fast as they could before she lept over the bottom two. The painful thought of losing someone who was closer than a sister outweighed the physical pain of Layne’s injuries getting aggravated by her movements.

She set eyes on the man dragging Rebecca away. Layne raised her gun but then realized she didn’t have a clean shot. “Damnit!”

Layne ran after them as they quickly moved alongside the pool. She shouted at them to get the guy’s attention. “Hey, asshole!”

He turned and the tiny window of opportunity opened up as he exposed himself and gave Layne just enough of a space to comfortably fire off a round into his head. The impact caused him to fall back into the pool with a ceremonious splash. Simultaneously, the man’s falling body pulled Rebecca off balance and she also fell into the slimy water.

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