Page 42 of Sugar Coated

Once the gauntlet was on, I wiggled my fingers. Halfway between claws and five small blades, something like this could do a hell of a lot of damage to somebody.

“Do they fit well?” Fang asked. “Does it need any adjustments?”

I turned my hand around, studying both sides of the gauntlet. “No. It fits perfectly.” I was in awe. It felt like I’d stepped into a dream and got my heart’s desire. This man really did know me too well—which was crazy when you thought about it, because in the grand scheme of things, we hadn’t spent that much time together.

We would, though. In my heart of hearts, I knew our story was only beginning.

“Thank you.” I was barely able to get the words out before Fang closed the distance between us and bent his top half down, pressing his hungry lips upon me in plain view of Lola, who only chuckled as she watched the kiss.

“You’re welcome.” His chest rumbled with appreciation, and his lips brushed against mine with every word he spoke. “Now, why don’t you try them out?”

“I vote for the same,” Lola quipped as Fang straightened out. “You know, believe it or not, I didn’t see this coming. I really just thought Fang could make you something for your hand. I wasn’t trying to be a match-maker or anything—” She flashed us her perfect teeth. “—but you guys are cute together. I’m all for it.”

The three of us moved closer to the man chained up in the center of the warehouse. Fang hung back with Lola, letting me have the front and center, so to speak. I waved my left hand between us, showing the man my new gauntlet.

“Look what I just got,” I told him with a smile. “Isn’t it pretty?”

The man said nothing, but unless my ears were mistaken, he whimpered.

“Now, are you sure you don’t know anything else? Anything else you might’ve been keeping to yourself, hmm?” With one more step, I was inches away from him, and I lifted my left hand and ran the claws of the gauntlet along his cheek.

The man tried to pull away, but given the chains holding his arms up, he could only move a centimeter or so, not nearly enough to get away from my shiny new steel. “I told you everything I know.”

Well, as much as I wanted him to tell me more, I also knew the information we got out of him was enough to point us in a different direction. The shooter hadn’t been aiming at me; thebullet had always been meant for Kieran. And the person who wanted me kidnapped, at least this second time, was a woman, and the two things were related. Whoever wanted me kidnapped also wanted Kieran dead.

My dad had been a suspect this entire time. I never fully trusted him, but now I was forced to reckon with the fact that it wasn’t him. It was some woman out there, pulling the strings.

It couldn’t be Tessa. She wouldn’t have her own brother killed—her only brother, at that. She might be the serious sort, someone who never understood Kieran’s jokes or even feigned laughs at them, but I didn’t think she’d go so far as to kill him. Kidnap me? Eh, I could see it, probably because I didn’t particularly like the woman, but wanting Kieran dead… it just didn’t make sense.

“Please,” the man went on, “don’t. I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry we took you. I’m sorry we drugged you. I’m—”

“Sorry you hit me?” I finished for him. It was sort of funny how fast someone’s tune could change when they were no longer the one holding all the power. His apologies were a last-ditch effort at getting out of here alive.

His fate was already sealed.

When he said nothing else, I felt a slow, deadly kind of smile spread on my face. “Yeah, I bet you are. I bet, right now, you’re regretting every single bad decision you ever made in your life.” I clanked the tips of my claws together right in front of his face, and he grimaced like I was digging them into his flesh. “I bet you never thought those bad decisions would catch up to you. You probably thought you’d get away with it all. Get a big payday and make a name for yourself.”

Someone like him, I highly doubted his ultimate goal was to get enough money to leave the city and start over somewhere new. Criminals liked it here, that much was obvious. Everyone was corrupt.

Why not join them? Why not be one of them myself? Why not show this asshole and any other asshole that came knocking on my door that I was not some pretty little girl who couldn’t hold her own? I could be just as bad as the rest of them, just as vicious and bloodthirsty.

I set my claws on the man’s upper chest, meeting his beady eyes—though they weren’t so beady now; they were so wide I thought they might just pop out of his skull, the anticipation in him so heavy he could hardly breathe.

“Can I tell you something?” I leaned in as I started to dig the tips of my claws into his chest, and he cried out in response. “It’s my first time, so it might be a little messy.” Not my first time spilling blood, but my first time spilling someoneelse’sblood, and I was going to dive right in.

I lifted my left hand, and then, without saying another word more, I brought it down, slashing my claws across the man’s chest. His body rattled against the chains, trying and failing to pull away from me as four deep cuts appeared, a wave of fresh blood soaking his shirt from each wound.

It was almost too easy to cut into him. Like taking a hot knife and cutting butter with it. Should I feel something more as I watch this guy bleed from wounds I’d given him? Should I feel bad? Logic told me I should’ve felt guilty or remorseful for hurting him, but why should I? He only apologized because he was backed into a metaphorical corner with no escape. He wouldn’t know remorse if it bit him on the ass.

So, no. I didn’t feel bad. I didn’t feel bad at all.

“Fuck,” the man whimpered, the pain he felt laced with the word. “You’re fucking crazy.”

I chuckled. After glancing back at Lola and Fang, I returned my stare to the man. “Yeah… I guess I am.”

Let’s just say I never knew a man could bleed so much… or scream so loud.

Chapter Nine – Laina

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