Page 104 of Need Him Like Oxygen

Problems for another day, though.

“Why don’t you have some fun?” Brett asked the other guy who’d been standing around watching. “Maybe her ribs could use a little attention,” he suggested, moving away to flex his sore knuckles.

I hinged as much to my side as possible, ignoring the objection in my opposite shoulder, trying to protect my ribs, and force him to hit my stomach instead.

I was just about to yank my hand fully free and just… try to grab a weapon to use in a seated position until I could try to break the chair, and free my ankles.

When there was a click.

Then a slam.

Making the men pause as they ordered others to investigate.

Was it just the super?

Or anyone who would care and help?

Not that a normal person stood a chance against these fucks. Especially as they produced guns.

The widow came running back, voice higher, more frantic. As much as she liked to boast about her leadership, she clearly didn’t have the temperament for it.

She moved behind me, pulling out a gun.

The shots rang out, making my breath catch, sure that whatever help might have come was gone.

But there was more cursing from the men, giving me hope.

“Over here!” I called.

“Shut the fuck up,” the widow snarled. “You come over here, and she will take a bullet to her head,” she warned.

There was a moment of eerie silence, making my stomach curl and slosh around ominously.

But then, figures were moving forward.

And there was Dav.

With a gun pressed to his head.

Calm and collected.

But with that blackness in his eyes.

I’d seen glimpses of it before. Many of us who fought side-by-side with him had.

This was different, though. This blanked out everything else, leaving none of that usual lightness on his handsome face that I was used to.

Just the rage.

“This motherfucker killed Nick, Roy, and Eddie,” the man with the gun declared.

“So,” Dav said, voice deceptively light, given the look on his face. “You’re the bitch who made me drive all the way out to Bumfuck, Nowhere Jersey to get rid of a body.”

I tried to get his attention, to show him that I was only partially bound, that if he had a knife, I could get myself free while he distracted everyone for a minute.

“And you’re the one who’s been hiding her from me,” the Miller widow said from behind me.

“I gotta say, it’s a specific kind of evil for a woman to order men to try to rape another woman,” Dav said, repeating my thoughts from before.

---