Page 67 of His Pretty Little Lies
Chapter Thirty-Two
KINSLEY
How does Blair appear so calm? Her face is expressionless. I’m sure mine is showing all the fear I’m having. Sure, I want to be some badass and pop off on this fucker, but I don’t think I have that in me. All I can try to do is make him see reason.
“Move.” Jim pushes the barrel of the gun into my back. I pick up my pace heading into the building. It’s old, rundown, and hella creepy. The back door opens before we get to it, revealing a short, stocky man with a button-up shirt paired with slacks.
The top few buttons of his shirt are undone, revealing a thick patch of hair that’s draped in a couple of gaudy gold chains.
“What the hell is this?” the man asks.
“I’m sorry, Eduardo. They figured out who I am.” There is a slight tremor to Jim’s voice, making it clear to me that he’s not in charge here.
“My brother is going to be pissed. Get the fuck in here,” the man barks at all of us. His eyes flick up and down me and then over to Blair. “Gino is already in a shit mood.” Eduardo doesn’t move out of the doorway, so I have to brush past him. My side grazes against his small potbelly. The asshole smirks, making my skin crawl.
“Fat fuck,” Blair snips. Half a second later, her body collides with mine. I stumble forward but catch myself before I fall. I spin around to see that Blair wasn’t as lucky.
“Keep running that mouth, you dumb cunt.” Eduardo stands over her. I have to fight the urge to not throw myself against him and claw his eyes out. “Get up, or I’ll put the mouth to use right now.”
My stomach turns, and tears sting at my eyes. I hold my hand out to help her up, seeing that her knees are scuffed and bleeding. I give her hand a squeeze. Blair presses her lips together, forming a straight line.
“Up,” Eduardo orders, motioning to the stairs. I go up first. The old stairs creak in the process. When I glance back over my shoulder, I see that Eduardo is behind me, his eyes on my ass.
“Fucker,” I hear Blair shout before a stumbling crash. I turn around to see Jim now lying at the bottom of the stairs, not moving. Blood starts to seep out around his head, and his eyes are open but lifeless.
“You little bitch.” Eduardo backhands Blair. She stumbles back a few steps but manages to catch herself. I could push him, too, but he’d crash into Blair. “Go!” He orders her to move past him. Blair wipes the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. There’s a small trace of blood there.
“Blair,” I whisper. She just freaking killed someone, and she looks as calm as a damn cucumber.
“He’s fucking dead,” Eduardo mutters from behind us. I hurry the rest of the way up the stairs, entering into a giant open area. “At least that’s one less loose end to tie up.” His words send fear through me.
I take a deep breath, trying to keep myself together. I have to keep my wits about me. I scan the room. There are desks and a couple of mattresses on the floor. A man stands up from one ofthe desks, a laptop in front of him; his resemblance to Eduardo lets me know this must be his brother, Gino.
My eyes move past him to see a row of tables with crap all over them. There are these weird red lights on them. It clicks what that is. They are making the drugs right here.
“What the hell is going on?” The man glares at him. He’s a few inches taller than his brother.
“That dumb fuck brought them here. Said they busted him,” Eduardo grits out.
“How?”
“I’d ask him, but he’s fucking dead.”
I wrap my arms around my stomach. All I can do is stand here. I have never felt so helpless before.Come on, Jax, I know you’ll find me. I pray sooner rather than later.
The man's eyes come back to me; he cocks his head to the side, studying me. “You belong to the Marinos.” I swallow. It’s not really a question. “Motherfucker,” he curses.
“The hell, Gino? What do you mean?” Eduardo's eyes flick up and down me again; this time, his gaze is different.
“Both of you, over there,” Gino orders, pointing to one of the mattresses. We both stare at the unmade bed. “Now!” he barks, putting both our asses in motion. “I’ve seen her before. She’s with one of Z’s sons.” I’m not sure if this is a bad or good thing.
“Shit, what do we do?” Eduardo’s voice hitches. It’s the first time since we arrived that he doesn’t seem so cocky. There’s definitely fear struck in him now that he heard the Marino name.
“Calm down. Let me think.” Gino starts to pace.
While I’m terrified, I still find it kind of cool how just hearing the Marino name has such an impact on people. I mean, I can’t say I blame them.
“We kill them and get the fuck out of here,” Eduardo suggests. Holy crap. If they’re going to kill us, we should try and make a run for it. There’s no way I’m going down like this.
