Page 56 of Slaughtered Firefly
“What was that?” she asked as she slid further off the sandbag and her dress hiked up more.
“Uh a little to the left,” I closed my mouth to stop from drooling. Where the fuck were her panties? Did not she pick any up at the hospital? I racked my brain, desperate to remember, but ultimately distracted and too far consumed in the way the wind tickled her bare cunt, the muscles that flexed as she settled. This woman would be the death of me. She made a few adjustments with the scope, her butt shimmed against the mat. God, it excited me. I didn’t even register that she had shot another round.
“I fucking love this rifle,” her excited tone snapped my eyes back to the rangefinder.
“Almost perfect but you over-corrected, try breathing with the wind. Settle the butt of the rifle within your shoulder tighter,” I remarked as I watched the wind tease the end of her dress up once more.
The gravel crunched. I looked up to see Cody coming to check on us. I quickly pulled her dress over her ass and scooted next to her. Another shot rang out as he came to stand at our station.
“Ah that’s really good for a first try,” he commented, and I looked down my scope.
She had shot in the far right corner of the target, her previous shot two inches from center, but she turned and blushed, feigning innocence.
“You were right, it has much more of a kick than I thought,” The lie dripped off her sweet smile, and he drank it up.
“Well, I will leave you guys to it, holler if you need me,” Cody patted my shoulder and left after that.
“Why did you lie?” I questioned.
34
THE DEVILS CAN’T SAVE YOU…BUT MAYBE SHE WILL
Present day—August 9th
Iwas pissed as I walked back toward civilization. My hands were still gripping the bloodied knife I had picked up on the way out. I struggled to make sense of it. I didn’t give a fuck if Cole died on that track; the bastard was just as bad as Midas. The last time I saw Midas, I was confirming his bail amount. ‘don’t skip town’ I reiterated, but of course, great and mighty that he was, he would do as he pleased, and it was always me picking up the slack.
“Fuck it, fuck him, and fuck all of this!” I screamed out my anger as if it would help. A bunny rabbit dashed out of a garden and dove for its hole as I yelled out nonsense.
Midas was going to die; I just didn’t have the resources to kill him yet. I made it to Reyna’s house, and part of me thought for an inkling of a second to knock on the door. Let her know I didn’t kill Cole despite my rage. But I didn’t; instead, I rolled Cole’s motorcycle out the driveway and jumpstarted it and sped down the street.
If I knew anything about the organization besides being the bitch boy, it was that I knew absolutely jack shit.There’s one person you could ask.The thought crept in with its gentle caress, a promise of hell if I didn’t have my head on straight, but I was right. My uncle would be no help, barely able to wipe his own ass, but with Grandma it was a bargain. Grandma Obsidian was no joking matter. Despite her actually being my grandmother, she was the grandma you didn’t cross. The brutal bitch who clawed her way to power when her husband passed. Some said she killed him, and the way our family deals with each other, that is hardly a lie.
April Blacklett was a woman not to be trifled with, a shadow that I had been escaping from all my life. She hated Midas with a passion, but the Syndicate brings good money, good slaves, good stock. In exchange, Obsidian moves them with the drugs, and somewhere in between the guns get tossed in as well, fuck ifI knew. The little taste of mafia life was too much, and that was before my own grandmother sold me into Midas’ control. My thoughts unraveled back to that day.
Halloween eight years ago
Smell hada funny way of sticking in your brain, of reminding you what deeds you’ve done, the people you’ve met, the actions you took all connected to a smell. Right now, that smell was gunpowder. I thought my problems were over the moment my heel came down on Uncle’s spine, but that was a mistaken assumption. ‘Once you’re in, there’s no going back,’ the words cursed me, taunted me, and owned me.
The gunpowder was a rich intoxicating smell otherwise known as my latest addiction, sure it had been fun at times to pummel the shit out of someone but the satisfying splatter that came with blowing a chuck of flesh off a person with a high-powered weapon was a new high.
“Obsidians and Syndicates united under one roof to celebrate the latest achievements. Th Black Syns. Thanks to a few very special arrangements I can announce that business has never been better,” Cheers were heard from the mansion as whoever the accountant was this time finished his speech. I cursed as I shoved the pistol back into my suit pants.
“Guess there’s no time to clean up,” I sighed as I kicked the body to the side, Dickhead should have known I wouldn’t play games tonight, and as much as it pained me to dispose of ‘one of our own’ it was easier than I expected. Grandmother would not be happy about this rat in her garden. I would have to deal with that later.
Parties were not my strength, but as I slipped in through the side door, the black half mask fell into place. Everyone here had masks, some full face others hid their eyes, and I had chosen a lower half masquerade with closed lips, copper etchings like it was unpainted, unworthy to be among the crowd of fleeting gold jewels and over the top masks adorned with anything and everything. Resin points where my mask had been broken and formed poked into my cheeks at odd angles as I adjusted to the new restriction. It was better to keep my mouth shut and observe, gain the knowledge and hope to hell that one day I could escape this life.
Only my second ‘party’ this one having fallen on hell’s night, I should have been out with friends getting drunk and fucking in a corn maze but no I was here with a bunch of killers or worse. I loosened the tie on my neck as I scanned the room. Women and men weaved through the tables in skimpy costumes, serving platters of food and drink. All the help wore simple eye masks in colors. I checked the card in my pocket for the codes:
Gold - Pure virgins.
Black - kill, eat, fuck, we don’t care.
