Page 41 of Collide

Of course, he ignored me.

“You fed me a load of bullshit, Blaze,” he sneered and then launchedat her, wrapping his big hand around her throat. His hand squeezed her delicate neck and her eyes widened in fear. Within seconds, her lips started turning blue and her whole body shook in the chair she was tied to.

I froze in the spot I was standing in, this was the real Kai. The one I’dheard rumors about and I understood in an instant why people were scared of him. I would have to remember this moment the next time I sassed him, remind myself what he was truly capable of.

“I told you the truth,” Leandra wheezed when Kai let up on his grip alittle.

I was sure if her hands weren’t tied behind the chair she was sittingin, she’d be doing her best to pry his big hands off her. Her panicked eyes found mine and it was enough to snap me back into the here and now.

“Kai, what in the ever-loving fuck is going on right now?” I practicallyscreamed in order to draw his attention away from the woman he seemed intent on killing.

His head turned in my direction and thankfully, he released his grip.Leandra sucked in huge gulps of air in between sobs.

“This bitch and her smack dealer thought they could blackmail mewith bullshit information about who killed Theo,” he growled.

If I thought he had seemed mad when we were in the car earlier, itwas nothing to how he was now. So terrifying I was pretty sure my knees would start knocking together any minute.

“What are you talking about?” I choked out past the terror that wasgripping me. Kai straightened himself up and marched over to me, getting right up into my face. I couldn’t help but flinch at his anger now being directed at me.

“Her crack dealer showed up at my nightclub one night claiming heknew who killed Theo. Claimed he would tell me everything I needed to know for the right sum of money,” Kai spat.

I looked back at Leandra, tears sliding down her puffy cheeks. Sheat least had the good graces to look remorseful, although I suspected that was because she was currently fearing for her life.

“How does she fit into all of this?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear theanswer but my brain was struggling to comprehend what the hell was happening.

“Her crack dealer knew fuck all. She on the other hand-” he pointed toLeandra, “She knew. Or at least her dealer said she did. He told me Blaze had the information and the pair of them concocted a plan to blackmail me into getting the information from them.”

Fuck me.

Leandra was an idiot and her brain was drugged up half the time, butseriously? She thought it was a good idea to try to blackmail the craziest motherfucker in the city.

She really was the biggest dumbass I’d had the misfortune ofknowing.

“I told you what I knew,” she sobbed loudly as tears and snotstreaked down her face. Kai turned back to face her and I hated myself for admitting it, but I was glad his anger was focused back on her instead of me.

“Bullshit. There’s no cop by the name of Anderson in Hollows Bay.You fed me shit, Blaze, and I don’t tolerate being lied to.”

“It’s true!” She howled before turning her tear stained face to me.“Riley, you remember him. He was the one that showed up every day for like three weeks and insisted on only me dancing for him.”

Oh, shit.

I knew exactly who Leandra was talking about. There was a dudewho showed up in the club one night looking like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. There was nothing distinctive about him, he was just like any other dirty Bertie the club attracted.

Leandra had pounced on him the moment he had sat his ass downand had pawed at him for the entire night, she had a way of sniffing out those who were at their lowest. It was a total cringe-fest to watch, but he ate her attention up like a starved man, and then after that, he came back every single night for three weeks.

She harped on and on about how much money he was paying herand he had zero interest in any of the other girls, he’d come in every single night and request Blaze dance for him. And then one night, he just stopped coming to the club, vanished into thin air.

Kai turned his beady eyes on me and a malicious smile grew on hisface.

“You know who she’s talking about?” he asked.

I slowly nodded, wondering what this meant for Leandra. Thiscouldn’t be good for her, surely she would realize this meant Kai no longer had a need for her.

“I don’t know who he is as such, I mean I couldn’t tell you his name oranything,” I clarified, hoping to throw Leandra a lifeline. “Who is he?” I asked her, but it was Kai who answered.

“She said he was a detective in Hollows Bay. She was being a goodlittle whore and sucking his dick when she overheard him on the phone talking to the cunt who killed Theo. Apparently, he gave his name as Anderson. But there is no cop with that name.”

“He must have lied about his name but I swear to you, he said he wasa cop, he even showed me his badge. Please believe me,” Leandra cried.

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