Page 102 of Close Quarters

“Because Keith is intelligent, clever, and has a sixth sense for people, that’s come in handy.”

“Okay? What’s your point?”

“Hm, maybe he was right to cuff you behind your back after all.”

“Excuse me?”

“He’s good at reading people. And he’s good at anticipating me. He probably knew I planned on separating the two of you. No one could have predicted the beast, though,” he said with a scowl, glancing toward Coyote’s body. “And if I know my second like I think I do, he guessed that you might start getting…difficult without your friend around.”

All I could do was glare furiously at him, hating that if he was right about Keith’s prediction, that meant two people had anticipated me correctly. As absurd as it sounded, Elliot was a good anchor for me in many ways. How the guy who irritated me worse than anyone I’d ever met had somehow managed to become so important to my well-being, I didn’t know.

Somewhere along the line, though, I had come to slowly rely on Elliot as a good measure for what was and wasn’t worth getting pissed about. He had a temper, but he rarely held onto it. He was generally so full of life and enthusiasm about anything that if I let my temper get the better of me, I would risk souring his mood, making me feel like absolute dirt.

“Maybe he was right,” I ground out. “Or maybe I’m a little fucking ‘difficult’ because you just had my friend dragged away by some dude you called a demon without anyone to watch over him and then told your other buddy to keep an eye on them.”

“Keith…enjoys himself a little too much,” Edgar said, his lips thinning. “Given the chance, he can be impulsive.”

“What does that mean? What happened to still deciding if you were going to do something to us? And you send Elliot off with him?”

“Keith listens to the boss,” the big one, Julio, told me with a scowl. But he wasn’t facing Edgar, so he didn’t see the man’s frown.

“Let me guess, most of the time. But not all the time,” I snapped at the leader of idiots. “Sometimes he goes off the reservation and does whatever he wants, even if it gets in the way of your plans.”

“And here I thought your friend would be the talker,” Edgar said, turning away.

I opened my mouth to say something else but stopped when I saw movement to Edgar’s right, above us. Edgar was watching the horizon, and Julio seemed more interested in examining the ground to notice, but I certainly did. It was a quick, nervous movement, but I had seen a shape dart into view before disappearing.

Someone was above us.

Which would have been the perfect moment to alert them…if they were my friends instead of my captors. Instead, I kept my mouth shut and glanced up occasionally, waiting to catch another glimpse, if only to confirm that I’d seen what I thought I’d seen. I was careful not to be obvious, not wanting to draw either of the other men’s gazes upwards.

I was glad they weren’t paying attention to me when the shape reappeared. The moon was on the other side of the rocks, leaving the three of us in complete darkness, but the shape turned to the side enough for me to see his features.

Elliot?

He gave me a shit-eating grin as he held up something that glittered in the light, letting me see the blade. He mimed cutting at his wrist and then pointed at me. After making sure I was still being ignored, all I could do was give him a look of confusion. How the hell was I supposed to get the knife from him to free myself while I was under guard?

Elliot held out a finger, gesturing to give him a moment. Then pointed at me, silently flapping his fingers against his thumbs in what I took as a gesture to talk, and then pointed at Edgar. I honestly didn’t know how he could even see my face in the dark to understand, or maybe he was having one of his brilliant moments where he could just infer what was going on. Either way, he didn’t wait for my affirmation before disappearing again.

“Why did you send Elliot with Keith instead of me?” I asked bluntly. Then raised my voice when I went ignored. “Hey! I’m fucking sitting on this rock freezing my ass off because you jack-offs decided to fuck with me and E, so the least you can do is talk.”

Edgar grunted what I thought was annoyance. “Keith was showing far too much interest in you. Separating you two was necessary, but sending you alone with him would be…bad.”

“Afraid he’d take advantage of being alone and decide to have some fun with me?”

“Exactly.”

“So what’s his thing? Knives? Bamboo shoots? Fire?”

“All of it. As well as his dick.”

The noise I made was half a step away from a gag. “Excuse me?”

“With men only. He’s not picky. If they’re decent looking and under his control, he gets…impulsive.”

“Seriously? I thought you Cartel assholes didn’t fuck with that kind of shit?” I asked, eyes going wide. Oh God, what had happened to Elliot before he had…magically shown up back here?

“Generally, no. But I’m in charge of this group, and what I say goes. Plus,” he said, turning to look at me. It was too dark to make out his features, but a maliciousness radiated off him that made me sick, “it can be a very effective way of convincing people.”

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