“Close your eyes.” Nathem stepped in front of her, and I launched, stalking toward the asshole in a single stride.
“Threx, I did not do shit!” the SLC Punk poser-fuck shook his hands in front of me, backing into the others.
“Yes, you did,” I reminded, grabbing him by the bullring in his nose.
“Fuck,” he screamed, stretching his neck to compensate for the pain, but it wouldn’t work. “Threx. I was just pissed.”
“You threatened to kill my girl because yours was dying?” I yanked, watching the pretty little tears in his eyes gleam in the dusted light.
“I didn’t do shit.”
“You did not spit on her?”
“Come on, man! She was interfering.”
“To save MOLLY’s life, you dimwitted piece of shit.” I pulled until the sound of metal tearing through cartilage came sputtering out of his throat. “That is right, scream motherfucker. Because this is nothing compared to what I will do to you if you ever, and I mean EVER, so much as breathe on Daphne again. Do I make myself clear?”
“Get the doc down here,” Wolfe nudged a recruit nearby in a panicked shove.
“Holy shit, man,” Rinley bit back, attempting to catch the blood filling his palms. How cute. “You’ve lost your goddamn mind.”
A laugh fell onto the floor when I dragged him down by his windpipe and held him there with my boot. Oh, how fragile life is when you can stomp it out of existence. I thought about Daphne, her eyes, the slope of her shoulders, and the break in her throat when she leaned in to kiss me.
“You have no idea,” blood filled my eyes when my head fell back in a growl. “You really did pick the wrong day to come home.”
“Threx,” a bloodied version of a shiver swung at me. “Please don’t.”
And all I saw was Daph standing near Molly with her arms crossed.
“Please.”
“The only reason you are breathing right now,” I said to his asshole face, “is because that blonde thing on the couch needs you. So, take a good look, because the moment she doesn’t. The second she realizes you are a fucking piece of trash, like the rest of us already know…” I pressed hard on his windpipe until he choked. “You’re dead. And not the nice kind.”
I released his neck and hocked the slimiest, nastiest shit I could muster right on his lips.
“Feel good, fuckface?” I kicked him in the nuts, rolling him to his back. “Now get the hell up,” I ordered. “And stop bleeding all over our goddamn floors.”
“Yeah,” Wolfe said, pressing the phone to his ear. “Okay. Stay public. We’re coming.”
He glanced at Nathem and then at me.
“Karsten’s men are tailing Jessie and Blade. We need to move. As for you,” Wolfe bent low next to Rinley’s head, grimacing at the mess, “Clean this shit up.”
“Clean-up crew cleaning up their own sick. How poetic,” Nathem laughed. “Let’s go.” He nudged me towards the exitbefore adding. “I’m only going to ask once, and then I promise I will leave it the hell alone. Are you okay?”
I smirked, grabbing my gear and a dark hoodie off the rack.
“That asshole had it coming.”
“I don’t mean that.” Nathem tugged the ski mask over his face and opened the door.
“I know.” I buried my disappointment and turned to run after Wolfe, who jumped into the backseat of the Jeep parked in the makeshift driveway.
“Nathem drives!” Wolfe shouted through the rain at both of us.
I called shotgun, wishing I had one so I could cram it up Rinley’s ass.
“Get Jessie on the phone,” Wolfe ordered, fixing his vest and tossing us one to put on. “Hey,” he mumbled, arming himself and pushing the case forward.