Page 79 of Along for the Ride

Leaving Leana on the bed, I go to Karson’s side. If he can’t see my wanderer’s point of view, it can’t be helped. I won’t leave him to do this job alone.

* * *

Karson

“Karson,”Leana pleads, her voice a mere whisper.

“Save it, thief. We’re doing what we came here to do, which is kill this fucker.”

Gentry looks back at her, and the pained expression on his face disgusts me. Mostly because I feel it too. I want to give Leana what she wants because she’s given so much to me, but we can’t back out of this now. It’s too late. The fucker’s home, for Christ’s sake. We don’t run from hits with our tails between our legs, and we sure as fuck won’t start today. I will smother him like I’m smothering the flicker of guilt in my gut.

Her hand grazes my arm before I pull it out of her grasp and leave her and Gentry behind. Gentry will follow me, though. The only thing that feels better than Leana’s cunt is cold-blooded murder. She needs to understand that while we hold her higher than we’ve ever held another person, including each other, she can’t transform our hearts from two lifeless stones to beating flesh. It’s just who we are.

No amount of love can change that.

Gentry’s heavy steps follow mine as we descend the stairs and come face to face with the man of the hour. Ralph’s eyes widen the moment he sees us.

“Guys, wait,” he begins. He’s never seen our faces before. Most of them haven’t, but they always seem to know who we are, as if we’re wearing cloaks and carrying fucking scythes. They know we’re coming. It’s just the matter of when. And where. They also know there’s no escaping once we get there.

“Ralphie boy,” I say. He turns to run, but I draw my pistol. “I wouldn’t. Ireallydon’t feel like chasing you.”

He stops mid-step and slowly turns to face me. Gentry walks around me, and his overbearing stature makes Ralph swallow.

“Did you snort all your payment, Ralph?” Gentry lifts the bag. “Well, all of it except this.”

“Come on, guys! You got the money. Give it to George and call it even!” he pleads. His eyes round as he looks behind us, which means—

Goddamn it, thief.

She looks like a little girl as she slips beside my brother. I pull my attention away from her and return it to the task at hand. Specifically, Ralph’s hands, which need to be chopped the fuck off, pronto. My eyes clench closed for a moment as the embers of guilt catch hold of my insides and burn a little brighter. I shake my head and drop my hand to the blade on my hip, but then my eyes land on her instead of my target. How the fuck can I kill Ralph when I can’t even kill the gross feelings in my gut that tell me what I’m doing will hurt the one person I don’t want to hurt?

I draw my knife and step into Ralph, who recoils from my touch and pisses his pants. I’ve never wanted to get a killing done faster, and that thought terrifies me. I like to go slow and savor every moment before their heart ceases to beat and the funmostlygoes away for me.

“Karson!” she pleads, and the anguish in her voice reaches inside and chips away the stone surrounding my heart.

No, this can’t happen. This is a terrible time to get a conscience. If I get one afterward, fine, but not when Ralph has seen our faces. He has to die. Period. End of story.

Yet...I fucking can’t.

I release a long, drawn-out breath. Anger gnashes its teeth against my lungs, and my chest burns with the building rage. None of it’s directed at her, though. Or the rich piece of shit in front of me. It’s all aimed at myself.

I throw Ralph against the wall and hold the knife to his throat. He flails in front of me. “Please,” he begs, tears falling down his cheeks. “My son. My son needs me.”

Instead of increasing my guilt, his words smother it. Gentry and I didn’t have a father to give a shit about us, and Leana had it even worse. If this prick dies, he at least leaves his child with a fuck ton of money to live on. Our father left us with a mess to clean up.

I press the blade against his skin.

“Please,” Leana begs behind me. “Don’t let him live for his kid. Let him live for me. Show me that you believe in me, because that’s what you’re doing if you give him a second chance.”

My hand slams through the wall beside his head.

“You deserve to die, Ralph,” I say into his face. “You should be dead. I should torture you until your very last breath, especially when you use your kid as a bargaining chip when you can’t even stay clean long enough to spend any quality fucking time with him.”

He trembles, his throat knocking into my blade with every swallow.

“But I won’t kill you. Because of her.” I gesture toward Leana. “Because she’s walked in shoes like yours. Not the rich, expensive leather you wear, but the cement blocks that cling to your feet when you’re high off your face.” I take a sharp breath. “She wants us to show you a fraction of the sympathy we showed her, which is so incredibly gross. But this matters to her, so it matters to me.”

He tries to blubber out his thanks, but I press the knife against his Adam’s apple, and he closes his lips.

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