Page 23 of Sully
“You started the fight that got him killed.Same thing.”
“He started that fight.I haven’t started a fight atThrottlefor at least a month.”That was the stupidest thing I could have said, but there it was.Something else I had a talent for was not keeping my mouth shut.
He lunged forward, knife slashing in a wide arc toward my face.I ducked under his arm and drove my elbow into his ribs, feeling a satisfying crack as I connected.He grunted but didn’t drop the knife.I spun away before he could recover, creating distance between us.
“Ray was just doing a job,” he snarled, circling me like a predator.“Looking to get paid, that’s all.Nothing personal until you and your boyfriend got involved.”
“Hunting women for money is plenty fucking personal,” I shot back, watching his movements for tells.The way he favored his right side told me where to hit next.“Especially when I’m the one being hunted!”
He came at me again, faster this time.I blocked his knife hand with my forearm, pain lancing up my arm as the blade sliced through my jacket and into skin.Warm blood trickled down my wrist, but I ignored it, driving my knee up between his legs with all the force I could muster.
He doubled over, gasping, and I seized the opportunity to slam my fist into his throat.Normal people might have gone down then, but this guy was running on pure hatred.Even as he choked and sputtered, he grabbed my ankle and yanked, sending me crashing to the floor.
My head bounced and stars exploded behind my eyes.I rolled instinctively, narrowly avoiding the knife as it hit the spot where my chest had been a moment before.
I scrambled to my feet and stumbled for the exit.There were several people who’d stopped to either watch, film, or had phones to their ears.I hoped at least one person in the fucking place had the decency to call nine-one-one.
I sprinted out the door and across the road to the parking garage next to the mall.I made it to the second level before the guy caught me, diving for my legs to tackle me to the concrete.I kicked out, scrambling to my feet.I tasted blood where I’d bitten my tongue in the fall.
He charged me with a roar.I sidestepped at the last moment, grabbing his knife arm and using his momentum to slam him face first into the concrete wall.I heard a scream and people shouting but didn’t dare take my concentration off the bastard in front of me.
Even injured, he outweighed me by at least seventy pounds.When he turned from the wall, blood streaming down his face, his eyes held the mindless rage of a wounded animal.Before I could react, he tackled me, driving us both to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
The impact knocked the wind from my lungs.I gasped for air that wouldn’t come, panic rising as he straddled my chest, his weight crushing me into the concrete.My vision tunneled, black edges creeping in as I struggled to breathe.
“You’re gonna die slow, you little bitch,” he promised, his blood dripping onto my face as he leaned close.“Gonna make you beg first.”
Fear gave me a burst of strength.I bucked beneath him, managing to free one arm.I gouged at his eye with my thumb.He reared back with a howl, giving me just enough space to suck in a desperate breath.
Footsteps pounded heavily in the distance and closing fast.Then the guy was pulled off me and another man’s roar echoed off the walls of the parking structure.
The sound of flesh hitting flesh smacked close by.A grunt of pain followed, and I wasn’t sure if it was me or someone else.All I could make out was a silhouette backlit by the harsh beam of afternoon sunlight.Sully.I didn’t have to see him clearly to know the man coming to my rescue was Sully.
My body felt leaden as I pushed myself up to sitting position, back against the cold wall.Sully slammed my attacker into the opposite wall with enough force to knock the breath from the guy, Sully’s forearm pressed against the man’s throat.
“You do not touch a woman like that,” Sully growled, his voice menacing.“You especially don’t touch my woman.For any reason.”
The man tried to swing at Sully, a wild, desperate punch Sully caught without effort.He twisted the man’s arm until something snapped, the sound turning my stomach even as a dark satisfaction bloomed in my chest.The scream that followed echoed all around us.I thought I heard sirens in the distance, but my ears were still ringing from nearly being choked to death.
Sully fought like something primal and vicious.He drove his fist into the man’s face once, twice, three times, each impact punctuated by a wet thud.Blood sprayed in an arc that caught the lamplight, looking almost black in the dim glow.
When the man slumped, Sully didn’t let him fall.Instead, he drove his knee up into the man’s stomach, then slammed his head against the wall again.The brutality should have frightened me.Instead, I felt a surge of fierce pride.This violence was for me, because of me.I guess I was a sick bitch, but Goddamnit, no one had ever defended me before!How the fuck was I not supposed to lap up the attention?
“Sully,” I tried to call, but my voice came out as a croak.
If I really had heard sirens earlier, they weren’t getting any louder.In fact, they were all but drowned out by the loud rumble of motorcycles coming up the garage ramp.They stopped a few feet from us.As I looked around, I noticed for the first time, there were no people around us watching or taking pictures or videos.There were only the men on steel horses circling around us.I was dimly aware of Tiny directing the men on what to do.
Sully’s gaze found mine where he now sat next to me.The fury I saw there, which softened immediately to concern as he reached for me.
“Jesus, Darby,” he whispered, hands hovering over me as if afraid to touch me.“What were you thinking, coming out here alone?”
I wanted to be angry at the question, to maintain the independent facade, but I couldn’t summon the energy.Not when he looked at me like that, not when his hands were bloody from defending me.
“I needed to breathe,” I said simply.Then a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob broke free.“And I’m a firm believer in credit card abuse as retail therapy.”
His jaw tightened, but he nodded once, accepting my answer without lecture.His fingers ghosted over the bruise forming on my temple, feather light but still making me wince.
I glanced at the motionless form Tiny and Ranger were loading into a trailer.“Who is he?”
