Page 124 of Wicked Devotion
“Fine. Where’s Asher?”
Randy just laughs at Max’s question. More blood leaves his mouth with every hoarse chuckle, and it’s the first time he seems to think about his answer before speaking up.
“Guess he had something better to do.”
“Fucking useless piece of shit,” Max mutters, storming out of the room, followed by Rockwell. “We’ll find him,” he yells over to Randy before he vanishes.
“Tell him to meet me in hell when you do,” Randy screams back, slumping down with a wet cough.
“You won’t have to wait long,” I say, turning my head when there’s movement outside the door.
It’s Charlie, leaning in the doorframe with his balaclava shoved up a bit. He wipes over his mouth with the back of his hand, retching when he sees Randy. Can’t blame him.
“You good?” I ask. Normally, I love being right, but this time, I had really wished my intuition was wrong.
“It was the first time I–” he stammers, unable to finish the sentence. “Please tell me it gets easier.”
“It does, kind of. You’ll grow numb,” I mumble, knowing that this isn’t the answer he wanted to hear.
Randy laughs, and he doesn’t stop even when I aim my gun at him.
“Aren’t you guys a group of little bitches. One who cries for his mommy and three idiots who are incapable of looking after their chicks. I’d have shown them what arealman is–”
The scent of gasoline creeps into my nose as my finger hovers over the trigger, and I’m almost startled when a hand wraps around mine.
“You wanna do it, sweetheart?”
She hesitates, and Randy looks up at us, the grin on his face getting even bigger.
“Got yourself a Mother Theresa, eh?”
Lily huffs. “No. I just don’t think you deserve a quick way out of this. Arealman like you sure isn’t afraid of fire.”
“I liked you more when you weren’t talking, princess.”
Wordlessly, Lily turns her back toward Randy.
By the time Rockwell and Max rejoin us, the scent of gasoline is overpowering, intensifying when they empty the last canister inside the old office.
“Let’s go,” Max says, tugging on my arm when I refuseto move.
“What about him?” I point my gun at Randy, who keeps slipping in and out of consciousness.
“He’ll be all nice and crispy in a few.”
Max maneuvers me out of the room, kicking Randy’s gun back toward him. “See, Iamthe nice one.”
Randy lets out something between a laugh and a cough, and more blood soaks his shirt as he stops applying pressure to his wounded shoulder, doing a finger gun at Max while he tries to pull the pistol closer with his non-injured leg.
Taking Lily’s hand in mine, we all rush to leave the building, and just as we reach the emergency exit, a gunshot rings through the night. Lily exhales deeply, squeezing my hand when Max tosses a burning lighter into the hallway.
Soon, the old factory is engulfed by flames while smaller explosions go off inside the burning ruin. Piece by piece, the roof crumbles down, and Max joins me and Lily, putting his arm around her while he rests his head on my shoulder.
It’s now that I make the decision to wait until tomorrow to share the news about Brady with Lily. Tonight is ours.
Sam is holding a barely conscious Ruby in his arms, and if the bruises on her face are anything to go by, she definitely has a severe concussion. She tries to speak up, growing frustrated when the words won’t come out the way she wants them to.
“The corpses,” she finally manages to say. “Did you check them?”
