Page 12 of Crush (Deadly Hearts 1)

I turn from her, leaving the wet sheet seeing as she is still sitting on the bed, and scoop up my clothes again from the floor where they were dumped. I should’ve listened to my rational side. I should have run from here the second he said my name, but I was too caught up in my dark need to pay any attention to it. I was fooled.

No more.

I am nobody’s fuck toy.

This asshole thinks he can treat me this way, he has another thing coming.

I stalk out of the room, stark naked, slipping my knives back into their holsters. When I reach the coat check I slip into my dress and shoes while I wait for my belongings and then shove my underwear into my handbag.

Marching defiantly out of the club and onto the street, I don’t look back as Giselle runs after me. “Ruby! Wait, please!”

I will never return to her place of business, and I will make sure she is ruined before this month is done.

My temper is still hot a few minutes later as I round the corner of the street where Black Widow is. I’m startled when I’m yanked roughly into the narrow alleyway that runs down the side of the club.

“What the fuck?” I growl, but have no time to assess the situation as I’m slammed face first into the alley wall, bruising my cheek and making my lip bleed. My attacker grips my left hand, crushing my bones, making me grunt.

“Jake sends his regards,” the man breathes into my ear. I recoil from the stench of his breath and take a second to compose myself, shaking off the surprise and going into battle mode. He clearly knows about the stiletto blade attached to my left thigh, but there is no way he can know about my new gift from Ramsey. I slowly inch my dress up until I feel the holster and place my hand around the hilt of the blade.

“Yeah?” I snarl. “What does that fat fuck want this time?”

“He wants to see you dead, but first he wants to strip you bare,” he growls, gripping the messy bun still on top of my head, ready to smash my face into the wall again.

“Ugh!” I spit out and bring my bent arm up to slam into my attacker’s nose so that he stumbles backwards in shock.

“Fuck!” he cries. “You broke my fucking nose, you bitch!”

“That’s not all I’m going to break,” I tell him, gripping the handle of the knife tightly. He is too far away from me to lunge forward with any precision. I need to get in closer to send a message to Jake that you don’t fuck with me.

The man, ugly and much taller than me, gets over his nose issue quickly as only a seasoned fighter can and dives forward, shoving me back up against the wall. I’m ready for it and hold my left hand out, keeping my blade hidden for now. He is surprised at my strength as I force him back with just one shove. I back it up with a knee to the groin, which doubles him over with a loud groan.

I reach out to grab his shiny shirt, my fist tight, the material biting into me. With all the force I can, I slam him up against the wall in this tight space.

“You tell Jake that if he wants me dead, he can come and do it himself and not send amateurs to do the job for him,” I hiss at him and then I bring the knife up to his gut and stab him roughly in just the right place to miss his vital organs.

He grunts at the white-hot pain and slaps his hand to the wound as I twist the knife and lean harder on it.

“Got it?” I growl.

“Got it,” he rasps.

I pull the knife out and let him go so that he slumps to the dirty, wet ground and I kick him for good measure.

He howls as my foot connects with the stab wound and then I spin on my heel, dropping the bloody blade into my handbag on top of my underwear. I drag the hair band out of my hair and my damp black hair tumbles around my shoulders. Snapping the hairband around my wrist, I walk steadily out of the alley the few short meters to the club door, my lip still bleeding and my cheek aching. I enter and go straight to my office, pushing David out of the way, who exclaims loudly and rushes after me.

“Ruby! Ruby! What happened? Are you okay?”

I ignore him and head into the en-suite bathroom attached to my office, glaring at my nasty appearance in the mirror with a groan of dented ego.

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