Page 69 of Sinner's Secret

“He didn’t eat anyone,” Baz said, slightly offended on his cousin’s behalf.

“He tore out a couple of throats and, well...” She wrinkled her nose. “I stopped watching after that, but I saw enough.”

He really couldn’t argue with her, so he kept his mouth shut.

“Does he even eat pizza?” she asked.

“No.”

“Do you?”

“No.”

“What about coffee? That’s all you ever ordered was coffee at the diner, I don’t think I ever saw you eat anything.”

“No coffee. No pie. No pizza.”

“That’s the trifecta of food groups right there: coffee, pie, and pizza.” she said. “I don’t think I’d want to live without them.” She gave him a side-eye’d glance. “Just so you know.”

A man stepped out of an alley about ten feet in front of them. Another joined the first and the two stood solidly in the way.

One of them pulled a knife. “Hand over your wallets, phones, and jewelry.”

The world was full of idiots today.

Nika put her hand on Baz’s arm and fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Can I do it? Please?”

“He’s got a knife,” Baz said gesturing with his chin at the one with the hardware.

She sighed theatrically. “The thing is, if I let you do it, they’ll both be dead. If I do it, they’ll be alive when we leave.” She paused, then added, “They won’t be able to father children, but they’ll be alive.”

“Give us your fucking stuff,” the guy with the knife snarled.

“I’m trying to save your worthless life,” Nika snarled back. “The least you could do is give me enough time to convince him.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you, lady?” the other guy asked.

She pointed at her blood splattered clothes. “There’s a list,” she replied.

The guy with the knife took a step toward her, and Baz had had enough. He grabbed the idiot by his wrist and squeezed. The knife clattered to the pavement.

Nika stepped in and kicked him in the balls. Hard.

The other guy didn’t run, he pulled a handgun out from somewhere, and pointed it at Nika.

A bomb went off inside Baz’s gut, a red haze dropped over his vision, and he moved. When the second mugger pulled the trigger, Baz was between the gun and Nika. The bullet hit him high on his chest, the pain easily absorbed by the rage roiling inside him. He grabbed the gun, ripped it from the assailant’s hands and threw it away. Before the man could run, Baz had his hand around the cockroach’s neck and he squeezed, crushing the man’s throat.

He dropped the man, still alive but not for long, and turned.

“Baz.” Nika rushed up to him and opened the shirt he was wearing with shaking hands.

There was a trickle of blood coming out of the wound, but it had been a small calibre bullet. His body was already healing.

She watched it for a moment, before swallowing hard and slowly rebuttoning his shirt.

Someone whined and they both turned toward the source.

The first assailant was still on the ground, clutching his balls, staring at Baz like he finally realized how deep the cesspool of shit was that he was in.

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