Page 76 of What Doesn't Kill Us

“Sure, but naps and snacks don’t save you from pain.”

She raises both her eyebrows at me and smiles wickedly. “Yeah, but you know I like pain.”

Jayme crows from the front seat, twisting around and looking at her with renewed interest. “Well, well, well. Isn’t that some news.”

She stops smiling and glares at him. “Not for you, shithead.”

They bicker again, and I shake my head and stare out the window. I’m still worried about Toni. Worried about all my people, really. There’s no way for me to know if she made it out of that water. She assured me that the guys were watching her every movement, preparing to retrieve her as soon as they noticed her moving away from Agatha and me. But I don’t enjoy being out of control, having to count on all the unknowns to assure her safety.

It doesn’t take long before Jayme is telling us to get ourselves ready. Agatha hands me her black bag, then cuffs her own hands behind her back. Her eyes meet mine, and she gives me a small smile. “Back into the dark we go.”

I nod, returning her smile. “Into the dark we go.”

I move to put the bag over her head, but she pulls back, so I drop my hands, waiting for her to speak, a serious expression on her face. “Don’t forget what Toni said. What doesn’t kill us…”

I give her a tight smile and a nod, then I put the bag over her head, securing it around her neck. She wiggles around in the seat and settles as best she can with her hands cuffed behind her back.

Jayme reaches his hand out, and I give him my bag, then cuff my own hands behind my back. I lean closer to him so that he can easily reach me to put the bag over my head, but before he does, I look him in the eyes. “Do you remember what to do if it all goes south?”

He meets my gaze, nodding. “Burn it all.”

Then he places the bag over my head, and everything goes black.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Dare

Agathawasright.Anap and a snack would’ve been a great idea.

Jayme dropped us off not long after the bag went over my head, and a few men led me and Agatha a fair distance before finally strapping us to chairs and leaving the room. I’m not sure how long we’ve been sitting here, but I’m bored.

Everybody thinks the life of a criminal mastermind is all laughs and parties, but really, it’s long, dark hours of nothing. Yeah, sometimes we beat people up, sometimes somebody dies, but we spend most of our lives sitting around, waiting. Waiting for news, waiting for someone else to make a move, waiting and waiting and waiting.

So now, I’m tired and hungry, and when I stupidly mention this to Agatha, she laughs at me. Of course, she can sleep anywhere, so I’m thinking the long-drawn-out moments of silence from her are her taking a cat nap. Meanwhile, all I can think about is how I should have had some of those snacks in the car. She’s probably not even hungry yet.

Goddamn it.

I drifted off for a moment when I hear movement across the room. I hear Agatha next to me, but I can’t tell how close she is or which direction she is facing through the bags over our heads.

I hear what sounds like a group of people walking toward us, and then the footsteps stop, and I feel someone fiddling with the tie on the bag on my head. It’s yanked free, and I blink rapidly as my eyes attempt to adjust to the light in the room.

It takes me a few moments to see clearly, and then I look around. Sure enough, Vincent is standing there surrounded by his cronies, and they all look smug. This seems to be their default expression, and I’d like nothing more than to smash their teeth in right now.

Vincent doesn’t give me the chance to speak, deciding to immediately start running his mouth. I’m only half-listening as I glance around the room, annoyed that I seem to be sitting in my own warehouse. Or it could be a different one, and they look very similar, considering a warehouse is a warehouse.

Agatha is off to my right, but she’s sitting facing me. They also remove the bag from her head, and she mostly looks bored as normal. I know what she’s doing. She’s literally sitting there waiting for her sister to come save the day. I can’t suppress the smile on my face at the thought, which Vincent notices immediately and wipes it off my face with the butt of his gun. I spit blood onto the floor and then glare at him. “Was that really necessary?”

He gives me that same smug smile, then replies. “No, but it was satisfying.”

“Well, are you gonna fucking talk shit all day or get on with it?”

He cocks his head at me. “But Darius, we have so much to talk about.”

“I highly doubt that, but you just carry on.”

Agatha pipes up next to me. “Maybe we can die of boredom in the meantime.”

Vincent turns his gaze to her, his eyes narrowing. “You’re going to have a hard time running that mouth with something stuck in it.”

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