AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But you do wanna be my daddy, don’t you, pretty boy?” She batted those long lashes at me, and I shook my head.
“Now? Now, you have jokes?” I grumbled under my breath, pausing before asking the question that was still weighing heavily on my mind. “What did he mean back there? The wholeyou’re dead and you don’t even knowit thing?”
She sucked in a deep breath, telling me I wasn’t gonna like whatever it was she was about to say. Though that wasn’tmuch different from the norm. “He was commenting on your technique. You left yourself vulnerable when you jumped him. Vital organs within reach. He was envisioning all the various ways he could have killed you in those few minutes. In his head, he’d already done it ten times over.”
“Why the fuck not just do it then? Why not just kill me if he was so sure he could?” My jaw was clenching so tight my temples were pulsing.
“Honestly?”
“For fuck’s sake, yes,honestly, Dani.”
“Because it would have been too easy. And it was more fun for him to wind you up like this than it would have been to just kill you.”
“Well, thank god for small fucking favors.” It was good to know I was entertainment for a bunch of fuckers who were too old to be playing dress-up. “Who the fuck are those guys anyway and what do they have to do with you?”
“Connor, don’t ask me shit you really don’t wanna know,” she huffed, her arms crossing over her chest and her eyes looking straight ahead again.
“I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t wanna know, Dani.” I slammed an open palm onto the steering wheel.
She was right about one thing. I was wound the fuck up. More twisted than I ever remember being in my life. Two seconds later, and I would have walked in on them… doing whatever it was they were doing. And part of me didn’t know if I’d saved her from something or interrupted her good time. With Dani, it could go either way.
“They call themselves the Renegades. Simply put, they’re kinda like a gang if a gang were full of ex-military ops and straight-up psychopaths specializing in torture methods. As for what they have to do with me? I take on jobs for them every oncein a while, whenever I’m short on cash or really just bored and looking to kill some time.”
“Right, and what is it that you do again?” I lifted a curious brow. Truth was she never told me. Baby girl loved to dodge the subject almost as often as she dodged bullets.
Dani shrugged. “I’m self-employed. Some people might even call me an entrepreneur.”
“Are these the same kinda people who consider glue a delicacy?”
“Maybe,” she hummed. “Or maybe they’re just the kinda people who know better than to jump in front of a blade that’s got someone else’s name on it.”
32
The shitty, rundown motel was something straight out ofHitchcock Presents,but we were short on cash and even shorter on energy. At least I was. Dani seemed to be fueled by warm whiskey, the occasional cigarette, and a hefty dose of rage most days. I wasn’t so lucky. I was starving. And for once, I wasn’t thinking dirty. Other than the IV bags full of God knows what that had been run through my system, I couldn’t tell you the last time I’d eaten.
I shoved a few bills in the vending machine three doors down and carried a couple of off-brand candy bars and colas back to our room.
Roach motel would have been putting it mildly. I was pretty sure nothing good went down on these beds, but it was a place to hunker down and regroup for a few hours. Especially since we’d been doing nothing more than winging it the last few days and it hadn’t gotten us far.
I peeled my t-shirt from my abs, taking some skin and a shit-ton of dried blood with it as I tugged the material over my head and tossed it into the sink.
Dani was sitting cross-legged on the bed in her usual tank top and sleep shorts, her hair piled high on her head as she watched me. “Let me take a look,” she said, jutting her chin towards the dozen or so stitches presently lining my lower abdomen.
It was the first real glimpse I’d gotten of the guy’s threadwork, and it honestly wasn’t half bad, especially when you took into account I hadn’t exactly been easy on myself. The wound was oozing but I didn’t see any sign of infection yet. It would be one hell of a gnarly scar though.
I took a tentative step towards Dani, standing just within reach. I wouldn’t say that I was mad at her. More like irritated. Hangry. And probably a little hurt too. But that much I wasn’t about to admit out loud. The woman knew how I felt about her, which meant she also knew exactly what she was doing when she’d left my bed in search of someone else’s. Whether or not she’d planned to go through with it was beside the point.
She trailed a fingertip over the end knot, before flicking her eyes up to meet mine. “Surge went with an interrupted stitch.” When I lifted a single brow in question, she added, “That’s a good thing. Means the few you popped won’t affect the overall healing process. I just need to wipe it down a bit and add a sterilized bandage. Then we’ll switch between covering it up and airing it out.”
“I think I got it, thanks,” I grunted in reply and watched her expression morph. Into what? Couldn’t tell you. She just wasn’t used to me pushing her away like this. Truth be told, I didn’t want to. I was just tired. And fucking hungry.
When I turned to step away, she tugged on the waistband of my sweats. “Connor, just stop.”
“Stop what, Dani? What is it that you think I’m doing now?”
“I get it, okay? You’re pissed off. But being stubborn ain’t gonna help either of us keep your ass alive.”
“Me? Stubborn?” I barked out a too-loud laugh, raking one hand through my hair before gesturing it between us. “Pot meet fucking kettle, baby girl. You were gonna fuck that guy or he was gonna fuck you—I honestly don’t know anymore—just because you’retoo fucking stubbornto admit you like me, and you won’t even tell me why? Why the fuck you’re like this? What the fuck happened to you to make you like…this?”
