Page 139 of A Breath of Life
The wire slipped through my fingers again, and I cursed. Collecting it, I braced a shoulder against the wall for stability and to stop my hands from shaking before making another attempt. I shouldn’t have encouraged the repeated drinks. Maybe they didn’t affect me as much on a grand scale, but they had fucked up my dexterity.
“Come on. Work you piece of shit. I don’t have time for this.” I manipulated the wire into the lock and twisted it, listening and waiting for the click that told me I was free. “Come on,” I growled through gritted teeth.
The increasing chaos above and the flutter of my quickened pulse didn’t help. “Fuck shit fuck.” I blew out a breath. “For Nana. Do it for Nana. Come on. Open you sonofabitch.”
The wire caught in the right spot. I felt it. This was it. Yes. All I had to do was—
Someone jiggled the doorknob.
I froze, fingers slipping on the wire.No. Not now.
A single bead of sweat rolled down the bridge of my nose.
Whoever was on the other side of the door cursed.
Shit, shit, shit.Time was up. I abandoned the wire and grabbed my knife, moving swiftly to a spot where I wouldn’t be seen when the person unlocked the door. With the element of surprise, I could take them out, handcuffs or not.
Whoever it was seemed to be having trouble opening the door.
Air dragged in and out of my lungs more audibly than I would have liked, but I couldn’t calm down. My head spun, and blood pulsed in my ears. My system flooded with adrenaline.
Fight, fight, fight.
I waited, prepared to act. To attack. Incapacitate. Knock them out. Headbutt them in the face. Put them in a sleeper hold if I could manage to get a proper grip around their neck.
My insides vibrated. The room darkened at the edges as my vision narrowed. This wasn’t the exhilaration that came from punching a bag. This was the sick hunger for violence I’d abandoned years ago when a lifetime accumulation of rage had formed a toxic sludge that always led to no good. The flames of youthful wrath burned under myskin, and a tiny, insidious voice in the back of my head told me tokill, kill, killwhoever breached the door. Unleash it all. Show no mercy. These people threatened Nana. They threatened the only man I’d ever loved.
Let go for once, and…
The latch clicked, and the door opened inward before I could stopper the poison spilling into my veins.
Without taking inventory of who entered the room, I moved, using my vastly larger size to slam the person into the wall with all my force. The wind exploded from their lungs like a popped balloon.They were shorter and scrawnier than me by half, but once they registered danger, they fought like a rabid raccoon facing off with a hungry coyote. A flailing elbow caught my wrist at an awkward angle, and I lost the knife, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t need a weapon.
Regardless of their determination, it didn’t take much effort to knock their hat askew and loop an arm over their head. I tightened my hold around their throat and squeezed with all my might.
End fucking game.
I heaved them against me hard enough that their feet left the floor. Their frenzied thrashing and kicking were pointless. I had them right where I wanted them. As I applied pressure to their windpipe, distantly aware that my intent was to kill, a barely audible voice wheezed, “D, stop. It’s me. Stop.”
For the second time in under five minutes, I froze. Every muscle in my body seized. Petrified. The whirlwind of thoughts screaming inside my head registered the voice, but the head of blond hair under my chindidn’t match. Was I losing my fucking mind?
Anxious fingers scrabbled at my arm, clawing bloody trails into my skin in desperation. “Let go… I can’t… Diem… D… Guns…”
Guns. No!
Gasping, I dropped him on the floor, frantically untangling my arm from his neck, and retreated so fast I nearly landed on my ass when I knocked into the Bishop’s abandoned chair.
No!
“Tallus?” I didn’t recognize my voice. His name came out laced with fear and regret and a metric ton of guilt because I’d been ready to snap his fucking neck or crush his windpipe. I’d been primed to kill.
He spun, rubbing his reddened throat as he continued wheezing, and planted his back against the door. “I… missed… you too.”
As I took him in. My brain hiccupped, refusing to assimilate the blond hair, freckles, and unusual slate gray eyes with the man I loved, but it was him. It was Tallus. It was fucking Tallus, and I’d almost killed him.
My knees gave out, and a second before I collapsed, a second before the sheer crushing agony of my mistake tore a hole through my fucking heart and chest, he was in my arms.
“No. It’s okay, D. It’s okay. It’s okay.” I could barely make out his whispered words.
