Page 9 of Tyrant Blood

Cole shook his head in disbelief.

The man had recognized him after all.

Rather than get bogged down in any of that, Cole had a much more pressing matter to deal with…

The boy.

But The only problem was that the sassy little thief was nowhere to be seen.

With a shrug of his shoulder and a shake of his head, Cole turned and headed back inside Smokers Tavern. Suddenly the idea of one final drink to wrap off the night was feeling more like a necessity than ever…

Chapter 4

Joaquin

Joaquin always had a good sense for when it was time to make a fast exit. And that evening was no exception. As he watched the gruff asshole from the bar take down the dumb hockey supporters, Joaquin knew that it was time to make his move, and moments later he was slipping away into the darkness of a nearby alleyway.

‘All this money, and nowhere to spend it,’ Joaquin snickered, thumbing his way through the folded dollar bills in his hand. ‘I need to keep moving. At least for now…’

With that, Joaquin walked down the alleyway and onto the main street.

Ridgeback Falls seemed just like many of the other small towns that Joaquin had found himself in. He’d always considered himself to be a city boy at heart, but there was something undeniably reassuring about the small town vibe – not that Joaquin would ever admit that out loud.

As he walked past the rows of shut for the night businesses, Joaquin felt a buzz in his pocket.

‘Hmmm, let’s see who this might be…’ Joaquin said, taking his cell phone out of his pocket. The reality of the situation was that Joaquin didn’t really have many long term friends. He moved around way too often to settle down and make any long lasting connections, and more often than not he would find himself leaving under a cloud anyway.

But as soon as he opened the message, Joaquin was more than aware of who it was, and what they wanted too…

KATSEN: So you decided to run. Well that 25k just turned into 50k. And don’t think for a fucking second that we won’t find you, Joaquin. You can run, but you can’t hide… not for long anyway. Pay us the money and this doesn’t have to end badly. Keep us waiting, and the price goes higher and higher. Consider this your last warning.

Joaquin instinctively deleted the message and put his cell phone back inside his pocket. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.

Rohan Katsen was a senior mob boss back in the city and it was his men who had held Joaquin captive and beaten and abused him. The fact that Joaquin had managed to escape was one thing, but he always knew that the ordeal was far from over.

I need a plan.

I need to work out a way to escape… for good this time.

And if I can make Katsen and his men pay the price, then even better.

Just as Joaquin was trying to calm himself down so that he could formulate some kind of plan, he felt a drop of rain land on his shoulder. And then another. And then another after that.

Suddenly, the heavens above Joaquin opened and the humidity of the night was replaced by something else altogether. Before Joaquin knew it, his entire body was drenched. But rather than moan or grumble about it, Joaquin felt a sudden sense of euphoria come over him.

‘Screw you, rain!’ Joaquin shouted, jumping up and down and spinning around as the heavy rain continued to drench him. ‘Bring it on! Bring it on!’

Soon enough, Joaquin was laughing with delight as he let the rain wash over him. It felt almost like he was cleansing himself of not only the bullshit back at Smokers Tavern, but of his overhanging problem with Rohan Katsen and his goons too.

Of course, Joaquin knew that singing and dancing in the rain wasn’t going to solve his problems in the long run. But in that moment it sure as hell did feel like it was going some distance to making everything right in the world again.

Joaquin had been through a lot in his life.

Ever since he was a kid, trouble had always seemed just around the corner. Whether it was his drunk of a father or his absent mother, Joaquin had never known a stable life. And when he became old enough to truly fend for himself, Joaquin found that all he knew how to do was survive by any means he could.

So the chance to simply break out of his reality and have some fun was something that Joaquin had become very adept at doing. And if that meant splashing and pirouetting in under the refreshing midnight rain, then so be it.

‘Fuck the world!’ Joaquin shouted with glee as he spun around once more.

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