Page 139 of Stand: Part One
Still one step ahead of you.
Motherfucker.
Stepping forward, I crouched down to Dean’s body and pressed my hand to what was left of his shoulder. My blood became nearly as frozen as his. He’d been dead for hours, which meant that text couldn’t have come from Dean.
This was a setup.
“Call Clive. Now,” I ordered, standing from my crouch and waving for my men to circle back with me. “Burn this place to the fucking ground,” I told Russel as I pulled out my own phone and dialed Owen.
The unbridled violence coursing through me grew colder with each unanswered ring, Scott having just as much success with contacting Clive. None of us could reach anyone.
Fuck!
34
Plot
A smack to the face woke me from my blissful unconsciousness.
“Ow,” I muttered under my breath as my cheek smarted.
The stinging pain made me wince and groan until my eyes could finally focus again. My hip ached something fierce while my leg buzzed with annoying sharp tingles.
Testing my limbs, I found my wrists tied to the arms of a chair and sighed in irritation. This was going to suck.
At least they left your legs free.
Yeah, their mistake.
Lifting my stiff neck, I struggled as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, my only visibility granted by the city lights outside. My vision bounced in several directions until they finally settled on Clive and Owen, both also bound to chairs in front of me, duct tape over their mouths, and looking like complete shit.
Fuck.
If they were down, then I was completely on my own until Darren came back from being an absolute fucking monster elsewhere. Hopefully, he was already on his way because I had no idea how long I could keep whoever these people were occupied without actually killing me first. But I had to try.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked aloud, finding several more men standing guard scattered throughout the shadowed room. Then the man whose jaw met my foot earlier walked into the room.
“She wakes,” he declared, his hands coming together in a single clap.
I sighed quietly to myself, attempting to keep my anger at bay. “Who the fuck are you?”
He shrugged and took a step closer. “Oh, I’m just the hired hand, but you can call me Smith.”
“The fuck do you want, Smith?”
His dark hair fell over his brow, reaching well past his shoulders in long, greasy strands. A single gold tooth caught the moonlight when he opened his mouth and smiled.
“I’d watch it with that attitude, baby girl. Maybe you’re not used to dangerous cities, but around here, that kind of disrespect can get you killed real fast.”
I frowned at him, tilting my head. “Bitch, I’m from Detroit. Don’t lecture me about dangerous cities. Now what the fuck do you want?”
He chuckled as he took a few steps closer, his hand dipping into his pocket and pulling out a decent-sized switchblade.
“I heard you were a feisty one. I like that.”
I growled in frustration. “I’m not going to ask again.”
He flipped the pocketknife in his hand. “You’re in no position to be making demands, sweetness, but for the sake of time, I’m only here to collect some information from you. That’s all.”
