Page 97 of Too Late

“Asa,” I say, backing her away from him. “Do you remember the last time we were locked up in a room together? You were very curious about the details of my first time with Sloan.”

He swallows hard.

“You still interested in hearing about it?”

Asa cocks his gun in a threatening gesture, pushing it beneath Ryan’s chin, forcing his head up.

I do the same to Sloan. It makes her cry even harder. Then I continue, hoping to throw him off his guard. “The first time I kissed her was in your bedroom,” I say. “Right next to your bed.”

“Shut your fucking filthy mouth, Luke!” Asa yells. “I’ll blow his brains out all over this apartment.”

“If you do that, you’ll see exactly what Sloan looks like on the inside.”

He winces. I’m getting to him.

“You think I care if she dies?” I ask. “There are a million more girls just like her, Asa. She doesn’t mean shit to me. She got me closer to you and that’s all I ever cared about.”

Asa lowers his head until his eyes are narrowed in my direction. “You think I believe that? I know you want to keep her all to yourself or you wouldn’t be here with her. Now tell me what it’ll take for you to give her to me. Alive.”

“I can’t do that yet. You’re right, I don’t want to give her up. I’ve only been able to fuck her once. She owes me a good fuck or two.”

Asa pops his neck. I can see his focus changing more to me and less on Ryan. I push him a little further, hoping I say something to make him lose the rest of his focus.

“You want to know what it was like the first time I fucked her or not? Last chance.”

Asa shakes his head. “What I’d like is for you to hand me Sloan so we can move on with our lives.”

“You were passed out in your bed upstairs.” I can feel Sloan’s tears and my heart is regretting every second of putting her through this, but I have no other choice. “She had just found out I was undercover. I was worried she was going to tell you, but I should have known better. Rather than running upstairs to save you, she gave herself to me in the back seat of my car.”

The blood is draining from his face. I force a smile. “She loved it, Asa. She loved knowing I was there to bring you down.” I push Sloan forward a step, getting just a little bit closer to Asa, digging that knife in a little bit deeper. “How does that make you feel? Knowing it turned her on more to know that I was an undercover cop building a case against you than it did when she thought I was just another dealer like you?”

Asa’s nostrils are flaring. He’s staring at Sloan, hatred in his eyes. “Is that true, baby?”

Sloan is right. She’s the only thing that can break him.I just hope she remembers that in the next few seconds.Her fear is forcing her chest to heave up and down, but then she finally whispers, “It’s true. And it was the best fucking orgasm of mylife.”

There’s a split second when I can actually see her words breaking his heart. Cracking his entire soul right down the middle. His eyebrows draw apart and he blows out a quick breath, refusing to believe the words she just spoke to him.

That split second is all it takes to aim my gun in his direction. I pull the trigger, hitting him in the arm that’s holding the gun. The second the bullet makes contact, Ryan breaks free and grabs Asa’s gun, shooting him once in each leg to ensure he’s immobile.

Sloan is wrapped around me, one of my arms holding her tight while the other is aimed straight at Asa’s head. My finger is around the trigger and it’s taking everything in me not to shoot him. To end his fucking worthless life for good.

Ryan can see it on my face. “Don’t do it, Luke.”

Asa falls to the floor and Ryan is on top of him, cuffing his arms behind his back. “Where’s Tillie?” Ryan demands.

Asa makes eye contact with him. He has three bullet wounds in his body—none of them necessarily life threatening—but he has a solemn look on his face, like he can’t even feel the physical pain.

“Fuck if I know.”

Ryan reaches back and smashes the barrel of his gun across Asa’s face. Blood splatters on the wall. He grabs Asa’s phone out of his pocket and says, “You’re going to call them off! Right now! You’re going to free Tillie and my sister, you piece of fucking shit!”

Asa is staring up at him, laughing. “Your sister was a lucky guess,” he says. “Found her online. Looked up her address. I don’t even have people at her house, you gullible piece of shit. That picture I showed you was taken last night.”

Ryan stares at him long and hard. He pulls his phone out and dials a number.

“Are you okay?” He pauses, then says, “Tillie, are you okay? This isn’t a joke! Where are you?”

Ryan closes his eyes, and then in a split second, his gun smashes against Asa’s head again. “You pathetic fuck!”

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