Page 41 of Hitch
I know our sellers’ names; I should hunt those men down right now. But all I can think about is Reggie. How I can’t stand the thought of letting anyone else touch her.
I drive aimlessly, not sure where the hell I’m going, but hours pass, and then it’s night. Tension consumes me until I know Ineedblood.
I should kill Reggie. She’s got too much sway over me, and that never helps anyone.
But instead, I check my GPS app. My woman is home at her apartment, and I’m glad for it. But my mind isn’t on her, exactly. It’s on something far more sinister.
It’s on killing Todd for touching her.My girl.
He ought to know better.
I park across the street from the strip club at the bowling alley. I wait there until it’s past closing time for the bowling alley and the strip club, but that doesn’t mean Todd is done yet. He has to wait until the private time is done, and sometimes, high rollers like to pay the staff to stay on call, simply because they can. I cross the street to the club and hide in the shadows behind the building with a cigarette in my lips, pretending like I’m a random smoker. Someone to pay no mind.
But my mind is on Todd.
I take out my knife, letting the switchblade click into place, the sound calming me as I wait at that back door. Todd should be coming out any minute now. Another truck slows down on the road, passing me and parking to the side, but I keep my eyes focused on the door.
“Duane?” Braden asks. I snap around, barely missing his face with the knife, and he jumps back. “Jesus christ. What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to kill me?”
I bare my teeth at him. “What do you want?”
“What are you doing here?”
I look down at the knife, then back to him, my vision red and blurry. I drop my hands to my sides, keeping the knife’s handle clutched in my palm.
“You’re not going to kill herhere,are you?” Braden asks.
I blink at him. He thinks I’m here to kill Reggie. He has no idea that I want to kill Todd for fucking my woman.
My woman.
“Think about what you’re doing,” Braden says. “We need to get rid of her, sure, but if you kill herhere,there won’t be any future for us. Once they get you for her murder, they’ll come after me for the mushrooms. We’ll rot in jail.”
My mind spins with images of Todd’s corpse in the parking lot. Blood gushing on the pavement, mixing with his brown hair. His vacant eyes. The solace it’ll bring me, knowing that he’s dead.
But I turn to Braden and try to keep my vision straight. Braden is right. If I kill Todd here, I’m more likely to get caught. Then I won’t get to see Reggie.
Why does it always come back to her?
“You gotta put the business first,” Braden says. “Think carefully, all right? What’s best for the business? If we fuck up and lose it all, it’ll be for nothing, and I can’t have her death end like that.”
I shake my head in disgust. Braden’s so damn guilt-ridden over his crush’s death, that now, he must think he has to make the business work to give her murder meaning.
But me? I’m in over my head because I can’t keep my thoughts in order when it comes to Reggie. It’s like she’s put a collar around my neck and shortened the leash until I’m following her like a sick little pup.
But Braden’s right. Business comes first. And that means letting Todd live. He’s part of our business.
Hell, I can let him live until he doesn’t have value to me anymore. After all, Reggie isn’t supposed to mean shit to me. She’s just a pussy to use. Some ass and tits. A little ant I can squish with my fingertips.
But as much as I tell myself that, I know it’s not true. She’s more than that, and it drives me crazy.
Braden tilts his head. “You all right, man?”
“Business,” I say.
He pats my shoulder. Unlike Todd, where I wanted to crush his skull for being friendly and touching me like that, it’s not the same with Braden. His paranoia is irritating, but I know he does it for the business. He may hate me from murdering his crush, but he knows I did what’s best for us.
“Business,” Braden says.
