Page 21 of Cruel Games

Coyote spotted her a second before I did. He froze in place, and it felt like we’d become a human rack, stretching Dingo out between us as he slumbered on, oblivious to the world around him. Bout the only time I think I wished I was the one who’d been drugged.

I wouldn’t wish it later on, when he woke up. That sort of hangover was way worse to come down from than a simple alcohol binge.

Coyote’s hands still clenched Dingo’s ankles, but his eyes were blown wide as he stared off into the hallway beyond. We were inches from the door.Fucking inches.And here this fuckstick was, staring at . . .

I turned my head, and my mouth started salivating.

Holy shit, what a stunner.

The girl at the end of the hallway looked at us as if she had no idea what to make of us, two men with a third between us, very obviously unconscious and incapacitated. We could be murderers for all she knew–

Well, I mean, yeah, duh, we kinda were.

Besides the point, I suppose.

She stared at Coyote first, then her eyes trailed to me, and it was like something changed in the air. Her look made my blood run cold, and at that moment, I knew there was something differentabout her.

She was no ordinary girl.

If looks could kill, I’d bottle hers and change weapons. Fuck, she looked at me like I was absolute scum, and she’d love nothing more than to wipe me off her boot into the grass outside.

Christ on a gawddamn cracker, why was that so hot?

I should not be thinking about how it would feel to be stepped on by those fucking black leather boots.Was I into that?I didn’t know I was into that.

Guess you learned something new every day.

I took in the fishnet stockings that wrapped her legs in a checkerboard pattern, practically salivating as my eyes traced the line where they were cut off by the bottom of her shorts. The game of peek-a-boo she played with that undone button at the top of that waistband was a dangerous one and had my cock twitching in my pants.

And then she raised an arm to run her fingers through her hair, and I caught a peek at the bottom of her breasts, and fuck all if I didn’t lose whatever thought was left in my fucking brain at the sight.

“Uh, sorry,” she muttered, laughing nervously as she smiled one of the fakest smiles I’d ever seen someone wear. “Did I interrupt something?”

The second her eyes left mine, I felt adrift, and fuck all if it wasn’t a new feeling for me. Iwantedthose eyes on me. Whatever attention she’d give, for some reason, something inside me yearned for it. I wasn’t some puppy eager for attention, dammit. I shouldn’t feel so strongly about some random stranger I ran into in the hallway of a fucking dive bar on the outskirts of the city.

But here we were.

I couldn’t speak, couldn’t think of a fucking word to say, not even some cheesy pickup line or random excuse or something to chase her away with.

Instead, Coyote opened his mouth, one of the rare times hedid so, shocking me as he cleared his throat and released Dingo’s legs to fall to the floor.

“Forget you ever saw us.”

I blinked stupidly, still holding onto Dingo’s armpits like my life depended on it, like I was incapable of letting go. “Y-yeah,” I muttered, nodding emphatically. “We’re just here to make sure our buddy gets home safe. Parties too hard a lot.” I nodded toward the emergency exit and smiled, my tongue absently trailing across the sharpened teeth in my mouth. “Don’t suppose you wanna get the door for us?”

She frowned, twirling a stray strand of her hair between two fingers, reminding me of those teenage girls in 80s movies with bubble gum in their mouths that they’d stretch and twirl around their fingers while they watched boys in the distance. She had that obvious disdain in her eyes when she looked me up and down, taking my measure and finding me wanting.

Her lips curled in a slight smile that reminded me of the look I gave my victims before I took off on my bike with them attached.

“I suppose so.”

She strolled over and shot Coyote a wink, then put her hands on the push bar of the emergency exit and opened the door to our freedom.

Coyote didn’t hesitate, bending over to grab Dingo’s ankles once more with a curt nod in her direction. Her eyes burned a hole in his back as we walked out, and when we finally got outside and turned around?—

She was gone. Nobody stood at the door anymore. It just sat open, caught on a small rock at the edge of the base, preventing it from swinging back again.

The fuck?

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