Page 47 of F*ck Steal Kill

“Feelings?” the second voice scoffed. “The only thing I feel is pure annoyance that you don’t see how wrapped up in some stranger you’ve become. This isn’t healthy. It isn’t you. You’re supposed to be the emotional reader of our group. How could you let yourself become compromised by this slut?”

A loud thump had us jumping, our eyes wide.

“Out of respect for our history, I’ll let that one go. But I won’t hold back if you ever call her a name again. Either get on board and get to know her or leave us alone. That’s the two options, chief. She’s not going anywhere.”

“Fine,” Grady gritted, the anger radiating from his one word.

“I’ll check in later,” Quentin said, his steps echoing as he walked away.

A loud crash sounded in the hall before the door to the stairwell slammed open, and feet ran down the stairs. When it was quiet, Lacey peeked out and nodded it was clear.

A trash can lay in the middle of the hall, spilling out. Sighing, the three of us picked it up and righted it against the wall.

“I take it back. He doesn’t deserve your cream,” Lacey grumbled, upset after touching the trash. It rated right under bugs on her list of things she despised.

“No arguments from me.”

We managed to escape out the back and not run into anyone else. There was an hour and a half to change, grab our gear, and get to the location outside of town unnoticed. My heart pumped hard in my chest as we went through the steps, unease coating me for the first time.

* * *

Dressed in all black, I had a knife strapped to one thigh and a gun to the other. I didn’t want to use the gun, but if it came down to it, then I would. I had a cloth with chloroform and pepper spray as well in case the man was difficult to take down. The girls were dressed similarly but with different roles.

“Alright, we all know our parts. We ready?” I asked, watching the parking lot.

Lacey had convinced the motel clerk to send the broker—whose name we got from Phantasm—to our room, stating she was surprising her boyfriend. The clerk hadn’t honestly cared about the reason; the hundred was enough for them to agree. We’d gotten a room on the end, away from all the occupied ones and on the first floor, so it would be easier to move the bodies.

We knew it was our best bet to already be in the room to get the jump on the guy. Then Joy would take the child and leave, getting them to a safe location. That left Lacey and me to take care of both perps. Doing it during the day was risky, but we didn’t have the option of waiting this time.

“We have movement,” I whispered. The girls hid in their spots, and it felt like the three of us collectively held our breaths as the key was inserted into the lock.

Letting it out slowly, I centered myself as I pushed everything else aside and went to the place in my mind where I didn’t question my choices and operated off pure instinct.

The door opened, and the light poured into the dark room. The door hid me from view for a few seconds as I waited for the broker to step in all the way. He was thankfully staring at the ground as he shut the door and didn’t see us. Without hesitation, I jumped on his back as my hand covered his mouth. His body tensed, and he reared back, slamming me into the wall and bucking me off; my body fell onto the table, the cheap wood splintering with my fall.

Thankfully, the chloroform had started to work, his movements sluggish as he stumbled, reaching for something in his pocket. Lacey pounced, taking him to the ground and pulling his arms back, squeezing his hand until he dropped what he’d been going for.

“Shit,” I groaned, sitting up, rubbing my lower back. Another reason relationships wouldn’t work, I now had to explain a bruise.

“You okay?” Joy asked, running to me.

“I’ll live.”

She helped me stand, brushing off the wood splinters. We’d need to leave some money for damages, so we didn’t raise questions.

“Here,” Lacey said, tossing a set of keys to Joy.

She nodded, walking out the door and clicking it. A car beeped nearby, and she walked down the lot to check it out since he hadn’t brought the kid with him.

“We waiting?” Lacey asked, and I nodded.

I didn’t want to kill the wrong dude who had the misfortune of coming to our room. I picked up his phone; glad our gloves had touchscreen capabilities on them, so we didn’t have to take them off.

“He was trying to call someone,” I mumbled, peeking back out the window. Joy had a small child with her, waving that she was leaving.

“Joy’s on to Operation Rescue,” I said, sending a message to the contact with the room number. Once that went through, I slid a chip into the phone to copy the contents. “Let’s get to work before the next one.”

Lacey laid out the plastic, and we rolled the body onto the sheet. Releasing my knife, I debated how to kill him without it, weighing the fastest and cleanest ways. The decision was taken away from me when he reared up, reaching for my wrist that held the knife.

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