Page 6 of Slay Tricksters and Silent Skeletons
“Papi,” Anurak wailed, “I need help. P-please.” He sobbed. Rico’s expression was murderous. “They—they attacked Bento from b-behind. H-He told me to r-run.”
“Where are you,perrito?” Rico asked again, his voice more soothing this time. He scanned the parking lot and the shoppingplaza in front of us as if he could see through the walls to where his husband might be.
Bento had done his job. He’d made sure Anurak was safe, even at the expense of his own life. I had to bite my tongue to physically keep myself from asking where the fuck Bento was. I knew until Rico could get his hands on Anurak, no one else mattered—not even the man he’d rescued and given a home. A clean life. A new fucking start.
“I-In the jewelry store,” he sobbed. “Please come get me, Papi.”
“I’m on my way,” Rico promised, motioning for Alfonzo to follow him. “Is Bento with you?”
“No,” Anurak cried. “They took him. They—They knocked him out and t-took him.”
My upper lip curled in a snarl as I faced the scene in front of me. “Search the fucking car,” I ordered the men I’d brought with me. And then, I began to work my way around the vehicle, coming to the driver’s side where the door was open, the window shattered. Glass was sprawled along the asphalt, and blood stained some of it, like someone had shoved Bento’s head through the fucking window.
Bending, I touched one of the glass shards and lifted my finger, finding the blood still wet. It was cool now, but seeing it wet gave me hope. He hadn’t been gone too long. I could get home, track him by traffic light cams, and find out where the fuck these mother fuckers took him.
Bento’s phone was lying under the SUV, the screen open to my contact info as if he’d been about to call me for back up. I grabbed the device and tucked it into my pocket.
I was going to find Bento, and I was going to bring him home. And then, I was going to torture the mother fuckers who took him from me before forcing them to die a slow, painful death.
No onegot to take my man from me and live to tell the fucking tale.
5
Bento
Anurak, despite his social anxiety and having to take a clonazepam earlier to ward off a panic attack at the mere thought of being out in public without Rico, was practically skipping beside me on our way back to the Jeep. He’d bought Rico two new outfits, two heavy as fuck skull rings, a new diamond earring for the piercing Rico had recently gotten in his right ear, and a new silver chain. I’d never seen Rico wear a necklace since I’d worked for him, but I had a feeling he’d wear this one just because Anurak picked it out for him.
“Do you really think he’s going to like what I bought?” Anurak asked, sticking close to me, his fingers curling into the back of my shirt as we headed for his Jeep.
I snorted. “That man worships the ground you walk on, kid,” I assured him. “He’s going to love anything you buy for him. You could put the man in drag, and he’d thank you as you did, then fuck you stupid after just because it made you so happy.”
Anurak’s face turned beet red, and he ducked his head, hiding his flaming cheeks. Chuckling, I pulled open the passenger door, gesturing for him to get inside. He quickly hopped in, still avoiding my gaze. After depositing the bags into the back, I strode around and grabbed the door handle?—
Someone shoved my head through the fucking glass.
I blinked, blood immediately rushing into my eyes and down my face from the numerous cuts in my scalp and face. Anurak screamed in horror just as someone grabbed me from behind and yanked my head back out before spinning me around and punching me in the face so hard, black spots danced across my vision. But before I went down to one knee, my equilibrium thrown off, I shouted?—
“Fuckingrun!”
No onecould get their hands on Anurak.No one. He had to be protected atall fucking costs, even if it meant my life. It was the oath I swore when Rico had given me the job of his personal bodyguard.
“Get the boy!” someone barked, but when I glanced up, my vision hazy, Anurak was sprinting for the shopping center we’d just walked out of, his arms pumping and his legs moving like a blur—though that could’ve just been my fucked-up vision.
He burst into the center, and I laughed when the men stopped giving chase, knowing they weren’t going to get their hands on him in there. I just prayed that clonazepam he’d taken would continue working so he could get in touch with Rico. If he panicked, he might not be able to do so.
A kick slammed into my ribs, and I retched right before that same boot came for my face, sending me sprawling to theground. My phone slid from my back pocket as I rolled over, and I blindly grabbed for it. A string of Spanish flew from the lips of the man standing over me before his boot connected with my hip.
I managed to get my passcode in before another kick slammed into my abdomen, sending me rolling across the shattered glass on the ground. Blood spilled from my lips, but I didn’t make a fucking sound. I wouldnotgive these assholes the satisfaction of hearing my pain.
I’d just gotten to Niran’s contact so I could send a call for help when I was yanked up, my phone abandoned on the ground. A man with similar features to Rico’s leaned in close so I could see him clearly. “You’re going to pay for that,” he growled. “Weneededhim.”
Then, he spit in my face. Another blow landed on my temple, and it was lights out, my body slumping to the glass-covered asphalt as I succumbed to darkness.
I was shaking.Cold had settled so deeply into my bones, I couldn’t breathe without it hurting. I’d lost feeling to my fingertips and my toes, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before I lost the feeling to my hands and feet.
I glanced around me, taking in the dark room. My vision was still fucked, my head damn near splitting open with a headache, but I could make out that I was in some kind of meat packing freezer. Dead animal carcasses hung from the ceiling. It smelled of raw flesh and blood.
Pushing myself to my feet, I forced myself to move, my feet shaky beneath me. But if I didn’t move, I was going to wind up with hypothermia, and I was going to befucked. I’d already landed myself in a hell of a pickle. Like hell was I going to make shit worse on myself. I had to survive.Someonehad to come after me… right? Regardless if they did or not, I needed my strength if I had any hope of getting the fuck out of here.
