Page 102 of Twice the Rivalry

“You’re not doing shit to her until I’ve had my turn,” Slip told him coldly, shoving him aside. Crisp snarled, but when Slip pointed his gun at him, he stepped back. Slip looked at Glitch and gave her a slow, smug smile. “You know, Eliza, it’s refreshing to see you haven’t changed.”

“I like to think I’ve only become sharper and smarter, Forrest,” she smirked back at him. “You know, by making sure I don’t keep things in places where people could hack in and find them, and by not joining up with the three stooges over here. How was prison, by the way? Make any new friends in there? Or did you have to become butt buddies with someone to keep that pretty face intact?”

His eyes flashed with fury, but unlike Crisp, he didn’t lash out. Instead, he put his gun under her chin and lifted it until her neck was craned back and he could tighten his grip around it, stealing her breath. She shut down the instinct to panic, holding his gaze as he said calmly, softly, “I’m going to enjoy killing you, Eliza. I’ve been dreaming about it for years, so I won’t make it fast. I’ll make it so slow and painful that you’ll beg me for mercy. Beg me to end it. But I won’t. Because you need to suffer. You need to experience the kind of pain that will break you.” He gave one more hard squeeze, making her see spots, before he finally shoved her head away and let go.

Her head fell forward, and she heard a vague grunt of pain behind her. “Bitch,” Maggot snarled.

“You’re not touching me without a fight, fucker,” Karissa hissed at him. “When I get out of this chair, I’m going to kill you.”

“If you get that one, I get this one,” Maggot announced darkly. “She and I have a score to settle.”

“You mean you want to drug me and try to rape me again?” Karissa tossed back.

“I’m going to take every damn one of your holes until you’re bleeding and broken,” Maggot vowed. “Then I’ll slit your throat and let you bleed out all over your man. Let him be helpless to save you.”

“Fine,” Slip said with a shrug. “Spook?”

“I want my turn,” Spook said coldly. “I don’t care which one, but I figure it’s the least I deserve after all this fucking mess.”

Glitch looked at Slip, trying to draw his attention back. Karissa was almost through the rope and none of them noticed her small movements. They needed to keep it that way if they were going to have a shot at getting out of this alive. Though chances were slim, considering there were four of them and they all had guns, but it was a chance they were going to have to take. “As lovely as all that is,” she said impassively, “how about we get back to the matter of hand, huh? What’s the plan here, Forrest? Because we both know that even if you kill us, our team is going to be after you for the rest of your pathetic lives. They’re not going to just let it go.”

“Seems to me they already did,” Slip remarked, looking back at her. “Why else did they leave you here? You’re not worth anything to them. You’re just pieces of ass to keep their dicks wet. Women aren’t worth shit anyway, and if they left you here, I’d have to say that they don’t care what happens to you.”

“Possible,” she agreed carelessly, unfazed.Almost there. “So tell me, what have you been up to the past few years? Because you certainly haven’t been improving your skills. You couldn’t get into my system at all.” She gave him a condescending smile, which had his mouth pulling down into an angry scowl. “Just like back in high school, you never could figure out how to best me.”

“You fucked me over,” he flung at her angrily, showing the first crack in his cool facade.

“Slip,” Spook tried to interject.

“Shut up,” Slip snarled at him. Spook’s eyes flashed with anger, but Slip didn’t seem to care. He looked back at her, lowering his face to hers. It was exactly where she needed him. She felt the rope start to give as Karissa got through, both of them gripping the strands to keep it appearing tight until they could make their move. “You’re going to pay for everything you’ve done to me. Because of you, I ended up here instead of being the best hacker in the world. You deprived me of what I deserved.”

“You did that to yourself,” she countered coldly. “You were the idiot that tried to cheat his way into a school he wasn’t good enough for. I praticed for years, and you came in all cocky thinking the world owed you everything. You were no better on that mission we ran together. You fucked yourself over because you were too lazy to hide your shit, and you went down. Not to mention you were practically bragging about it.”

“Shut up,” he ordered her, fury turning his face an angry red. His fist came up and he slammed it into her jaw, making her head snap to the side.

Damn that hurt, she thought as her eyes watered for a moment before she blinked them back. She wouldn’t give him a single tear. She heard Karissa struggling behind her, and she knew she needed to speed this up if they were going to get out of here in one piece. She needed to get her hands on one of their guns so she could at least stand a chance. She gave a humorless laugh and shook her head. “God, you really are pathetic,” she taunted him further. “You will never amount to anything, Forrest. Your parents had such high hopes for you too. And what did you do? You disgraced them. You sullied their good name, and instead of acting like a man about it, you threw a giant fit like a toddler in a tantrum. And now, here you are, a killer for hire, and still unable to handle getting shown up by someone better than you. You’re not a hacker, you’re just a hack. Fucking pathetic. If you want to kill me, you go right ahead, but it won’t change anything. You’re still a pathetic excuse for a man, who will always be known as a cheater and a fraud who got beaten by a girl. It will follow you around for the rest of your pitiful life.”

Her words did the trick. He let out a roar of outrage, bringing the gun up, ready to fire. But before he could pull the trigger, the roar of bikes sounded through the clubhouse, and relief swamped her. Their team was here, and they were going to end this once and for all.

The sound of the bikes stunned them just long enough for her and Karissa to launch into action. The ropes fell and she used every ounce of strength she had to swing her chair up and send it crashing into Slip, who let out a roar as his gun went off and the bullet whizzed past her head. Her ears rang, but she ignored it as they both fell to the floor, sending the gun flying. She heard Karissa behind her, and another shot went off, a cry sounding. She couldn’t look or worry, because Slip let out another roar as he bucked her off and she flew into the air.

She managed to twist her body to keep from hitting her head. “You fucking cunt,” Slip raged as he staggered to his feet.

“Again, you need to get more creative,” she taunted him as she climbed to her own feet. “You want to kill me, Forrest, go ahead and try. Because we both know it won’t be me dying today. It’s going to be you. Because you’re no match for us. You’ll have been beaten by meagain. And this time, there’s no coming back. You’re done.”

He let out a cry and launched himself at her. She met him head on, landing a solid punch to his throat followed by a knee to the gut, and then shoving him backward. He fell back gasping, and she continued her assault with a roundhouse kick to the side of his head, making him fall to the ground. She was on him fast, pressing her knee to his chest as she pulled out the knife she kept stashed in a hidden pocket at the front of her jeans. She put it to his throat, pressing hard. He struggled, digging it in deeper blood pooling under the blade. “You don’t have the guts to kill me,” he gasped out, eyes wild.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong,” she said calmly. “I have all the guts in the world when it comes to those who mess with people I care about. Remember how you said you were going to enjoy slicing my throat and watching me bleed out until the life faded from my eyes?” With pain staking slowness, she slid the knife across his throat, cutting deep as blood sprayed, and panic flooded his eyes. “See you in hell, Forrest. Make sure you tell the Devil you were bested by a girl. Again.” She swiped the knife away, standing up and watching as he desperately clawed at his throat, like he could somehow seal it shut. Then he tried to reach for the gun a few feet away, his fingers just brushing it. She brought her foot down hard on his hand, feeling bones crunch under the force of it.

She turned her head when she heard a noise, seeing Karissa was standing over three downed bodies, but she was turning her back as she moved to greet their team who burst through the doors. Spook roused just enough to lift his gun. Glitch didn’t even hesitate. She let her knife fly, sinking it into his hand, making him scream in pain and drop the gun. It went off, but Karissa dove back, narrowly avoiding being hit. Then she was moving, picking up the gun and firing a final shot right into Spook’s head. He fell back lifeless to the floor.

Glitch nodded at Karissa when she gave her a grateful look, and then looked back at Slip, who was still bleeding out, gasping and gurgling in rage, shock, and pain. She stared at him, wondering briefly how it had come to this. “You could have been something, Forrest,” she told him calmly. “Instead, you let power and greed get the best of you. I hope it was worth it, because you’re going to die and no one is going to greet you on the other side. You’ll be alone once again.” She shook her head when he moved his lips but no sound came out. “I hope it was worth it.”

His eyes held hers, there was anger and fear at knowing he was dying, she couldn’t drum up an ounce of sympathy. Not for the kid she used to know, or the man he became. He made his bed, he tried to kill her, and he hurt her friends. Her family. That alone meant he deserved nothing from her. As the life drained from his eyes, nothing came. If that made her cold and unfeeling, well, she could live with that.

Finally, she turned and saw her team untying all the Dragons MC members. “About time you assholes showed up,” she drawled as she moved toward them. “Leaving the women to clean up your mess like always.”

Simba gave her a quick once over, and she saw the relief in his eyes that she wasn’t too worse for wear. She was going to be damn sore and sporting some interesting bruises on her face and body, but overall she was fine. She hurried toward the men, looking for Code.

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