Page 10 of Ruthless

I rolled my eyes, fighting the urge to throw a chair at him.

"You're an ass," Stevie said, taking the words right out of my mouth. She could get away with it because they were dating.

"I'm tired," he said in his own defense.

Weren't we all?

I decided not to waste my breath and continued cleaning my tables and stacking chairs. The murmur of their voices suggested that they were still discussing it, and I had to wonder how much pull Stevie had over Vinny. When the bar was open they kept a strict working relationship between them, but this was after hours and their interaction with each other was very different. It was kind of fun to watch. Stevie wasn't afraid to put Vinny in his place.

The entrance door opened and two men ambled inside. Realizing that someone had forgotten to lock the door after the last customer, I exchanged a look with Stevie. She and Vinny had stopped arguing and had glanced up.

"We're closed," Vinny said, drawing their attention. I rolled my eyes. Would it have killed him to say, "sorry" first? "Ginger was just about to lock the door."

That was my cue to head toward the two men and hopefully usher them out the door and lock it behind them. They halted as I approached, crooked smiles and bloodshot eyes roaming over me and giving me a chill. They were bikers, or dressed as, one short with an obvious beer gut, while the other was tall and lanky. I tried to keep the smile on my face as I waited for them to turn around and leave.

"We just want one drink," the short man belched. How did someone talk and burp at the same time?

"Too bad, we're closed. Come back tomorrow."

The taller man made a point of looking around the bar. The other waitresses had already left, it was just Stevie, Vinny, and me. I began to get a bad feeling when the two strangers exchanged meaningful looks, then released a breath of relief when the short one shrugged and then they both turned around. "Okay."

Well, that had been easy. Except that nothing was ever that easy. When they reached the door the shorter man reached up and turned the lock before both of them spun back around to face us. They wore matching smirks. "Guess since you don't want to serve us a drink we'll just take your money." He pinned his eyes on me. "And maybe your women."

I froze inside when I realized that we were being robbed. His second threat didn't worry me as much, I assumed that it had been said as a way to stress how serious the situation was to Vinny. Vinny's expression revealed his anger and disbelief, and I prayed that he showed some smarts. Stevie, her face turning pale, stepped slightly behind him, and I immediately felt a rush of sympathy for her. I knew what she was thinking. She'd shared with me that, years before, she had been beaten and raped during a robbery.

It was hard to determine which man was in charge, but when they both pulled out guns it no longer mattered. I didn't move, hoping not to bring attention to myself once the robbers were focused on Vinny, waiting to see what he was going to do. Vinny hit the register, the money drawer shot open, and he stepped back and raised his hands.

"Take it and leave." He knew about Stevie's past, he knew her fears and what she must have been thinking. I gave him credit for being sensitive to that by acting sensibly.

"Wow, Chuck," the short one laughed, heading behind the bar, "I wonder if he'll be that agreeable when it comes to the women." He shot his partner a sneer just as he was about to reach inside the register drawer for the money.

The taller man remained by me, his gun trained towards the bar. "I know which one I want." I saw his head turn my way out of the corner of my eye and refused to acknowledge it. "She's got nice, big tits."

I kept my gaze on Stevie, seeing the panic in her eyes. She looked as if she was about to be sick. I couldn't blame her. I was afraid for both of us. When the heavy-set robber looked her way with a cocky smirk on his whiskered face, she broke. She screamed and brought a bottle down over his head, shattering it and coating him with liquor and glass. At the same time Vinny slammed the money drawer closed on the man’s hand, while grabbing for the weapon that he had in the other hand. Stevie grabbed the bat that she kept behind the bar for this very reason and began pummeling down on the man's head without mercy while Vinny aimed the gun at the second robber.

My gaze swung to the other man, who'd yet to show any reaction to what was going down. Everything had happened so fast. I realized my precarious position and instantly turned to flee, but I didn't get far. A long arm wrapped around my waist and I was hauled up against the robber's body as he swung back around toward the bar, using me as a shield. I was thankful that no one fired their weapons.

"You're coming with me, bitch!" he snarled into my ear, lifting my feet off the ground as he began to walk backwards to the door.

"Let her go!" Vinny shouted, taking aim.

"She's my ticket out of here."

Vinny surprised everyone by firing his gun toward the floor. "You hear that?" he snarled. "The cops will be here within minutes! Now let her go!"

The man who was squeezing me to the front of him released a snort. "No fucking way! She comes with me." His friend, who was lying on the floor, let out a loud moan. Stevie glanced down and hit him again with her bat.

"Where I come from, it's an eye for an eye," the man who was holding me grumbled. "You got one of mine, I take one of yours. She's prettier than Hank." My eyes grew round when he nuzzled his scratchy jaw against the side of my neck, his nose inhaling deeply. "Sure smells better. Bet she tastes good, too." The entire time he was speaking he was dragging me backwards.

I began to claw at his arms, realizing that there wasn't much Stevie and Vinny could do to keep him from taking me. It was obvious that Vinny wasn't going to shoot at the man, he was probably afraid that he'd shoot me by mistake, and I could only guess at why the robber, Chuck, wasn't using his gun to escape. But just as that thought went through my head he fired, but it was a wild shot because he was still pulling me with him.

I glanced at the bar with fear, just in time to see Stevie and Vinny drop down behind it. The fact that police sirens could be heard in the distance revealed that they were on their way. That urged the man to pick up his speed. He shot another round toward the bar just as we neared the door. I decided then that I wasn't going to go willingly and kicked back at him, digging my nails into him once again. He tightened his arm with a snarl.

"Fuck!" he huffed, giving me a squeeze. "I'm going to enjoy taming you, bitch!" He reached behind us and turned the lock on the door.

I began to struggle against him wildly, realizing that once he got me outside that anything could happen. I leaned down and bit the hell out of him. "Let. Me. Go." I hissed, fear surging through me. He nudged the door open and continued to pull me with him. We didn't make it outside.

"Let. Her. Go." The sound of a gun being cocked seemed overloud in the room. Chuck froze, and I turned my head enough to see that there was the barrel of a gun against his temple. From there I noticed the tanned hand, the tattoos across the top of each finger that spelled the word “kill.” My gaze traveled up a muscular arm, over a shoulder, and up to the face and eyes of the man standing behind us.

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