Page 48 of Gilded Caresses

“Sure, miss.”

“Thank you. I’ll wait outside.” Thunder rumbles and the skies threaten to open.

Thunk.

I don’t feel the pain. It’s the black eyes I see first when I turn at the sound of my name.

The smell of copper hits my nostrils as a streak of white burns across my vision and then everything is black.

Idon’t know how long I’ve been out, but I wake to find myself slumped over in the middle of somewhere. It’s almost dark now but with the storm, it seems later than it is. I think. I’m all turned around. Water pours over me and there’s wet cement under my palms.

My head pounds but I block out the pain so I can push to my knees. Everything spins until I close one eye and pick one point to focus on. A tree, a man. Could be an alien for all I know. I can’t tell through the throbbing blur.

Cold steel taps my head and I look around to find a barrel of a Glock staring back.

“Up here, bitch. I thought I might have killed you.”

“Right now, my head hurts so badly I wish you had.”

And then I think about my unborn baby and rethink kicking this particular bear.

“But here I am.” I work nonchalance into my tone like getting kidnapped by the most dangerous killer known between the territories happens all the time.

He’s left me untied so I try not to draw attention to the fact when I press the palm of my hand to the back of my head. I bring back blood.

Shit.

Keep calm.

My unhealthy addiction to danger is suddenly gone and I no longer feel cocky in front of Snake Eyes. Not when he can change my very fragile future with the twitch of one finger.

“When your cousin was beating the shit out of me, I made a promise to myself. If I survived, I would find you.”

“I wondered how you got the two black eyes,” I lie. It’s been a couple of weeks since he choked me and I stabbed him.

“Stupid bitch. You know exactly how I got them.” Spittle shoots from his mouth and rage wars across his expression. He’s close to losing his shit.

I feel the cold tip of a blade under my chin and just like last time we were like this I have an urge to fight and take him down with me. But I can’t. My men told me stepping outside would result in me getting in trouble and here I am.

Snake Eyes gathers himself but still looks a little wild in the eyes. “Lucky for me I have a cousin of my own, too, and guess what?”

He legit pauses like I am supposed to guess. Okay. I need to keep him talking so someone somewhere might have a chance of finding me. Miracles happen, right? I have no phone, no tracking device. I don’t even know if there are traffic cameras in this part of town. Wherever here is.

“What?” I ask slowly, keeping my eyes on the gun in his hand and tensing against the blade at my throat.

“They love The Society. Imagine how happy I was when I heard you were hanging out with the Southern Alliance. I was going to snatch you the second they left you at your apartment. After I took that pussy and beat the shit out of it like your cousin did to me.”

My stomach heaves. It takes a lot of effort, but I manage to push the bile in my throat down at the idea of how close I came to death. The stench of it rolls off him in black waves of energy.

I keep my mouth shut and eyes open.

In goes the blade a little deeper. This time blood streams down my neck to wash with the rainwater. I reach behind me slowly and feel for the spike of my heel. Can I break it in time? Can I break it at all?

“I’m glad I waited. Now I get to kill you and them and prove to Harlon he was a fool. Then I can kill him too.”

Snake Eyes holsters his gun and pulls a phone out of his front pocket. He taps out a number. “Tell your bosses I have their girl. Ping my phone for a location. They have five minutes to get here if they want to die with her. Otherwise, they can wait their turn for a bullet. Don’t worry, we aren’t too far away.”

That is pure arrogance speaking. It is his one-hundred percent kill rate that makes him think he’ll win at this twisted game.

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