Page 124 of Love Thy Brother
I moved fast, hurdling the sofa bed and coffee table.
The dude was still on the floor, but he rallied as I neared him, scrambling to his feet to throw a punch that was pathetic compared to the weight Cam had thrown at me earlier.
I evaded and smacked him down again, catching his jaw, his nose, crunching his cheekbone.
“Hey—what the fuck, man? Fuck, stop—”
I didn’t stop. And it didn’t scare me that I couldn’t. I smashed his eye socket, splitting his brow with my fist, blood seeping over my knuckles. Used my hammer on his fucking ribs. His kidneys.
Kill him. Fuck, I wanted to, but something held me back. Not fear. Not morals. I wanted this guy dead. But more than that, I wanted Rubi to look at me and know that any blood on my hands came out in the wash.
I wanted to be as good as him.
You’ll never be as good as him.
True facts, but the will to try reined in my rage. I hurled the mark back over the couch and to the floor. Then I cold-cocked him.
Bang. Lights out.
I was done. And so was he.
“I thought you might kill him.”
Cam’s voice startled me. I spun around. He filled the doorway, watching me with a calm that belied the shouts and chaos somewhere behind him.
I shook my fist out, tucking my hammer back into my belt. “Why would you think that?”
“Cos you had good reason. I’m glad you sent me to the door. Not sure I’d have had your restraint.”
“Are we torching the car?”
“Nah, I don’t want to cause that much of a scene for the neighbours. It didn’t actually hit you, right? You jumped over the wall to avoid it?”
“I didn’t jump. Rubi threw me. I have no idea if it hit him or not.”
My gaze strayed to the unconscious wide boy on the floor and a fresh lick of anger ignited in my gut. In my blood and my bashed-up fist.
Maybe I did want to kill him after all.
Lucky for him, Cam moved before I could.
He crossed the threshold into the room, a black holdall I hadn’t noticed clutched in one hand. “We’re taking the lot. Grab the cash. I’ll get the product.”
“What?”
Cam poked me with the pipe he’d had no cause to use yet. “The stash, Riv. Bashing heads ain’t our only weapon.”
It slowly dawned on me that I was standing in a room with more ket, mandy, and ’drone than I’d ever seen. Literal tubs of it—Wall’s Vanilla— and hundreds of baggies already weighed and sealed.
Fuckinghell. I licked my lips, every nerve a thousand watts more alight than they’d been for the fight. Damn, I could taste it. Feel it burning my nose. The back of my throat.
I want it.
No.
No, I didn’t.
But damn, I really did.
