Page 13 of Blade

For a moment, I just blinked at it. He poked me in the temple with the muzzle. Sweating profusely, I reached for it, taking the weapon in my shaking hand. It was heavier than I anticipated, and I had to quickly catch myself so I didn’t drop it.

“There’s already a round chambered. All you gotta do is pull the trigger.” The smug look on his face made me want to punch him, but I knew better.

“Come on, kid. You don’t wanna do this,” the guy whined, trying to reason with me. He was kneeling on the hard gravel of the seedy bar’s parking lot.

Though the last thing I wanted to do was take a man’s life, I had my mom and Sage to watch out for—I couldn’t leave them unprotected. The muzzle of the gun pointed at my head made my choice for me.

Stomach roiling, I clenched my jaw, and squeezed the trigger. The kick of the pistol threw my hand back a bit, startling me. However, it didn’t startle me half as much as seeing the spreading crimson spot on his shirt as the man writhed on the ground.

“He ain’t dead. Shoot him again,” Fernando demanded as he poked me in the temple with his gun.

Guts heaving, I did as I was told and fired again. That time it hit in what I assumed was his heart because he stopped his spastic movements and simply laid there twitching.

“See? That wasn’t so hard now, was it?” He lowered his weapon.

I ran off into the grass at the edge of the gravel and dropped to my knees. With the pistol clutched in my hand and resting on my thigh, I puked until I thought my stomach turned inside out. Sweat dripped off my forehead, and I choked and gagged but nothing else came out.

“I’ll take that,” Fernando said as he took the gun from me with the bandana. I watched as he wrapped it carefully in the fabric and tucked it back in his pocket. “Just in case you decide to do anything stupid, I have this gun with your prints on it and the ballistics will match what’s in the dead guy. If that’s not enough of a deterrent, remember, I know where yourmadreworks. It would be a shame if one night she didn’t make it home. Huh?”

My blood ran cold.

I wish I could say that was the last time I did something like that for Luis. Instead, I ended up doing unspeakable things for him.

The scariest part was that a small, dark part of me started to enjoy it.

“GoneSovereign”—StoneSour

“Hi, Blade,” I heard from behind me. My movements froze with my glass halfway to my mouth The slightly husky and wicked as sin voice was unmistakable and I knew immediately who had approached. As if the way my stomach rippled and my heart sped up as she neared my seat at the bar wasn’t enough of a warning.

Fuck. I’d managed to avoid her for the last few days. Looked like my luck had run out.

Steeling myself to remain calm and appear unaffected, I slowly spun the stool to face her. It took a lot to remain impassive as I fought the way my eyes wanted to sweep over her from head to toe.

“Eliska.”

“That’s it? All I get from you is my name. Not even a hello, how you doing, long time no see?”

In my peripheral, I watched the prospect that had been manning the bar slowly make his way from behind the counter and go over to the seating area. He turned the TV on and raised the volume in a blatant attempt to give me privacy. Or maybe it was for her.

“Why did you come here?” I demanded, intentionally not answering her question.

Because in reality, I wanted to touch her.

Pull her close.

Breathe her in.

Taste her.

And do so much more.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

The instant flash of hurt that I saw in her stormy gaze did something to me that I had to quickly lock down. I hadn’t experienced that feeling in a long fucking time. It felt a little like remorse and that would never do.

“I had the choice to come here or go to Roanoke. I figured at least here, there would be familiar faces. Obviously not friendly ones,” she replied in a clipped tone. Then she spun on her heel and instinct kicked in.

I grabbed her by her arm to stop her. She looked over her shoulder, but didn’t say a word. She simply stared into my soul with those smoky-blue eyes of hers.

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