Page 60 of Death is My Ride or Die

“I’ve made enough deals with you.”

We started to circle.

He tossed his metal bar to the side with a loud clatter. “You have a weapon, I don’t.”

“You have claws.”

“They retract.”

“You havefangs.”

Death paused, baring his sharp teeth like a wolf. “I won’t use them either. If only I had a blindfold and binds to hogtie my arms and legs together. Then it’d be pretty even.”

I spun and slashed the air. He dodged it easily, laughing low in his throat.

“I hit a nerve.”

“And I’m going to hit your dick,” I growled, slashing again.

“Dick on the mind, cupcake? Atfourin the morning?”

I punched forward with my weapon, missing him by a hair. I swung out again. Death glided around in teasing distance, evading me. He was like a cobra waiting to strike. And I was getting dog-tired already.

“Somebody needs a nappy,” Death taunted in a sing-song voice.

“Shut the hell up.”

His sardonic laugh echoed through the warehouse before he fell into a deep crouch and swiped hard at my feet with his leg. My back slammed into the ground, knocking the wind out of me. Over. Just like that.

“I won’t sugarcoat how an enemy would treat you,” he said. “Picture the strongest fighter you know. They had to be kicked while they were down to rise up to their greatness.”

In his own twisted, ruthless way, I knew he was trying to help me, but I couldn’t mask the pure hatred I had for him. “Whosemasterpieceare you, then?”

His stare was lethal.

“You said picture the strongest fighter I know,” I bit out, “because you know it’s you. But you fell from your greatness, didn’t you? So, whose masterpiece are you? Your father’s?”

Death bent down and fisted my shirt in his big, gloved hand, lifting me off the ground so that we were face to face. “Striptease.”

“What?”

“Strip. Tease.” This time, he purred it out. “That’s what I want for knocking you on your ass.”

We stood up together, and he began to stalk around me in a slow, calculated way.

“In your dreams,” I hissed.

“You should know better than to back out of a deal with me,” Death said in a low, enticing voice. “I won, fair and square. Moving on. Feeling tired, mortal?”

Coldness slipped down my spine at the downgrade tomortal. “Never,” I said, mostly out of pride. I regretted my answer as soon as he disappeared into a black mist. I heard his laugh at my back, raspy and deep in his throat.

His mouth brushed my ear. “Look alive.”

The lights went off.

Fear clicked into place. There wasn’t even a sliver of light in the warehouse, and my heart began to pound like thunder against my ribs.

Welp, we’d definitely never donethisbefore.

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