Page 48 of Blue

Jonesy and Hunter weren’t the type of guys you challenged. I could scream but no one would interfere.

“Stop.” I tried not to let my fear show in the tone of my voice. “I’m here with someone.”

“Does she want to party?”

“No. Listen, I’m getting clean.” I tried to dig my heels into the grass, but Jonesy’s hold had my feet barely touching the ground. “I said let me go.” I thrashed my arms.

“The way I see it, Sam owes for what he put in your veins. That makes the debt yours.”

Heat flooded through my body. “I told you. I’m not using.”

Jonesy pushed me into the women’s bathroom. “Watch the door,” he said to Hunter. “Don’t let anyone in.”

I was so fucked.

Blue

Kiss wasn’t on the park bench. I stepped a few feet from the building and spun in a circle. What the fuck?

She wouldn’t have left. Maybe she decided to use the restroom. I returned to the bench, pulled out my phone, and checked my messages. Although, why would she send a message if she just had to pee?

I bent forward, rested my forearms on my thighs, and waited. A guy in faded jeans and a hoodie stood next to the woman’s restroom door. His stare met mine for a fraction of a second, then he lowered his head and stared at his feet. But two seconds later, he lifted his head and stared at me again.

This time, my gaze locked with his, and a smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. Maybe I knew him from a bike meetup or something. Tattoos covered his hands and neck. I stood as a young girl approached the bathroom.

The guy held out his arm, stopping her from entering. “The bathroom is closed.”

Something wasn’t right. I approached the bathroom.

The guy reached into the front pocket of his hoodie. “You don’t want to come any closer.”

Before he could react to me, I closed the distance between us in two strides and rammed my knee into his groin. Maybe this was nothing, but I trusted my instincts.

The guy moaned, dropped to his knees, and fell forward, slamming his head into the concrete. I thrust him out of the way. He rolled against the garbage can, and I threw open the door.

“Fuck, Hunter, I told you to keep watch.”

In a single beat of my heart, time stopped.

Kiss’s eyes found me, and tears streamed down her cheeks. A fucking dead man had one hand clamped hard over her mouth, his fingers digging into her face as he slammed her against the bathroom wall. Blood smeared beneath her nose.

I roared and charged across the room. “Get the fuck off her.”

As he turned toward me, he released Kiss. She slumped to the ground and gasped a breath. My fist connected with the fucker’s face. Knuckles popped, and my skin split from the scabs I still had from punching Jazzy’s wall.

Feeding off the flare of pain, I threw another punch. The guy took it, shifted his stance, and aimed for my throat.

Ducking the punch, his fist full of rings slammed into my shoulder. The force reverberated down my arm.

“Another dead fucking Heller.” The guy stepped back and pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans.

Kiss screamed and scrambled to her feet. The distraction gave me the opportunity to charge him, ramming my shoulder into his gut.

He grunted with an oomph. His feet kicked out from underneath him, and he dropped to a knee, still trying to twist me underneath him. Grabbing my cut, he tried to throw me to the ground.

Fuck, but he was strong. I’d spent my life scrapping in fights. At least when I couldn’t avoid them. I wasn’t built for fighting. I was never going to be the strongest, or the meanest. But I made up for my disadvantages with speed and agility. I’d never pussy out in a confrontation. And because I was smart, I fought dirty.

This fucker had his hands on something precious.

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