Page 36 of If You Give an Artist a Killer Muse

Luke furiously blinks, his vision adjusting. As soon as his eyes land on me, Oscar, and Nat, he squeaks like a fucking mouse and starts squirming in his seat.

I tilt my head to the side, watching him. I’m curious to see what his plan is. He’s securely tied up to his chair and has no weapons.

“Luke, I’m not mad,” Nat sighs, crossing her arms. “I’m just really disappointed.”

Luke stops struggling and cries out, “I’m sorry! Miss Rogers, I’m so sorry—” His head snaps to the side from Oscar’s brute force of a punch.

I even wince at that. I could have sworn I heard a crack somewhere.

Luke continues crying as Oscar snarls at him, “Sorry? You’re sorry that your stupid friends nearly kidnapped my fiance? We took care of them, too, by the way.”

“As soon as we promised them we’d let them go if they answered our questions, they sang like a canary.”

“Especially that girlfriend of yours, Nat adds, raising her brows. “She had no love for you, my dude. I’m sorry to say.”

“Speaking of girlfriends,” I turn to Nat. “Really? Rurik was making it seem like he had a girlfriend.”

She gives me a skeptical look. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, girl!” I exclaim, shaking my head in disbelief. “How dare he get a girlfriend and not know I would come into his life soon after.”

“I meant seriously, Briar. Do you seriously want to talk about this now?” Nat groans, gesturing to Luke. “We have more pressing matters, don’t you think?”

I return my focus to Luke and glare. “You fucking asshole. Thanks to you, I’m missing my Rurik time.” I walked up to him and pressed my gun against his temple.

Luke started shaking his head, “Please, please! Whatever they said is a lie!”

“I don’t think so,” Nat sighs and shrugs. “But what do you think they lied about?”

Luke stutters, “I… I… T-They made me do it. I d-didn’t want anything to do with —”

Oscar growls, “Your friends told us it was your idea to have them pose as thugs to kidnap Natalie for ransom and that you’d get a cut from the reward money.”

Luke pales. I let out a disappointed breath and glance at Oscar and Nat. The expression on Luke’s face pretty much gives him away.

I turn back to Luke and remove the safety from my gun.

“No!” Luke shakes his head, “Please! Let me go. Let me talk to my friends real quick, please!”

I shake my head, “Sorry, dude. Your friends are dead.”

He stares at me with wide eyes. “B-But, you guys said you let them go—”

“I mean, yeah,” Nat says slowly as if she was talking to a toddler. “We let them go to meet their maker.”

Luke frowns in confusion before Nat's words settle in. He glances up at me and starts screaming.

Men. Always giving me a fucking headache.

I pull the trigger.

Luke screams again, his eyes closing shut as he tries to curl himself into a ball.

My nose wrinkles when wetness forms in his pants, and I sigh. Is he… Damn it, Luke just peed himself.

“Aww,” I lift my hand and awkwardly pat him on his head. “Fuck, my man. You know what, don't feel embarrassed, Luke. Shit happens. I've met a man who shit his pants once. Literally. It's cool, no biggie.” I wave my gun. “What is embarrassing, though, is how I forgot to reload this.”

“Girl,” Nat snickers, “That’s what you get for letting a man distract you.”

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