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Be that as it may, I was here for one thing.
“Get dressed,” I ordered, keeping my gun pointing at Johnny’s partner.
The woman scuttled away, pulling her clothes close to her chest, wide eyes frightened. “Please don’t hurt me,” she whispered.
“My beef isn’t with you, honey,” I told her. “It’s with the piece of shit you were about to let fuck you in the ass. Trust me, I just saved you from a bad decision. No telling what kind of disease his dick is crawling with.”
Johnny jerked on his jeans with shaking fingers but he was spitting mad. “You’re going to pay for this. You don’t know who you’re fucking with, asshole.”
“Sure I do. Put a shirt on. No one wants to see that,” I said, grimacing at his concave chest and complete lack of muscle. “Jesus, man, get yourself to the fucking gym once in a while. Have some respect for yourself.”
Johnny looked like he wanted to pull my head through my asshole but he there was nothing he could do about it. His impotent rage blackened his eyes but he threw a shirt over his head and shoved his legs into his jeans.
“You got a name?” he asked, no doubt picturing all the ways he was going to exact his revenge. “I like to know the names of the people I kill.”
“Big talker,” Tito said, amused. “Do you even know how to use a gun?”
“Give me one and we’ll find out.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” Dressed, I grabbed him roughly and shoved my gun into his back.
“Now, here’s how we’re going to play this, sweetheart. We’re going to walk out of here, nice and easy. No one is going to get hurt and you’re going to be able to walk on your own steam when we’re done. Got it?”
“Fuck you.” Johnny turned and spit in my face. Like, actually, spit in my motherfucking face. I wiped at the spittle that’d landed on my cheek and Tito buried his fist in Johnny’s gut, dropping him.
The woman screamed, curled into a ball on her sofa.
“Okay, or we could do things the hard way, which sounds more fun for me, but definitely could end with you shitting out your kidney,” I said, jerking Johnny back to his feet as he gasped, trying to draw air into lungs. “What’s it going to be?”
“E-easy way,” Johnny wheezed like a fish out of water, caving like a weak ass pussy. “E-easy!”
“Let’s go then,” I said, dragging him out, my gun pushed so hard against his back it was probably leaving a muzzle shaped bruise.
Before we exited, Tito said with a wink to the woman, “That’s a respectable cock you have there. Be a doll and forget you ever saw us, okay?”
She bobbed a nod and we left with our prize.
Chapter 31
Holly
I tried to act as I always had before Butcher dropped his bombshell on me about my parentage but it was damn near impossible to forget that I was sold into some weird relationship by my own mother.
If Butcher was being truthful, that was.
What was to stop Butcher from creating a horrid story to make him sound like some generous benefactor when in fact, he was the devil?
I had no proof of anything, no way to verify the facts as he’d presented them.
I didn’t even have a name to go on.
My real name wasn’t Brannon, that was for sure.
Was my name even Holly?
I rubbed at my temples, hating the throb that’d begun to pulse, rattling my brain.
What happened now?
Butcher was supposedly giving me time to adjust to my new reality but clearly, he didn’t realize or care that there was no amount of time that would persuade me to accept him as my husband.
Even if I hadn’t grown up thinking he was my brother, I wasn’t attracted to him.
At all.
Butcher…wasn’t a good-looking man.
Nor was he kind or generous.
He was a ruthless criminal who happened to be smarter than the average bear, which had enabled him to build an empire.
Money hadn’t changed the fact that he was a street hood at his core.
Butcher was a sledgehammer who dreamed of being a power tool.
I’d felt some sense of loyalty to Butcher out of obligation before the big reveal, now I felt nothing Butcher hoped I would.
If anything revulsion choked me, clawing at my throat until I couldn’t breathe.
I didn’t believe him that my mother had sold me to him for drug money. I think the most truthful statement he’d offered was that he’d made my mother go away.
Permanently.
Maybe this was my penance for never asking questions, never having the balls to ask more about my past, for being content to let Butcher hand-feed me bullshit so that he would continue to pay my bills.
With that newfound awakening, I understood why Cason had shown me nothing but contempt in the beginning. He’d lost his sister and her best friend at my brother’s hands.
In his eyes, I was the spoiled princess who’d happily gorged on the advantages Butcher’s blood money had provided.
I rubbed at my stomach, trying to calm the tension twisting my bowels.
Butcher wanted to spend the day with me.
I wanted to run away.
But Cason had instructed me to play along, to give him time to find the information needed to hang Butcher.
I wasn’t a good actress. I didn’t know if I could pull off that level of deception, especially when the sight of Butcher made me want to retch.
Suck it up, Holly.
Cason was counting on me. Wasn’t it the least I could do in light of the circumstances?
I rose and walked to my closet, opening it with a resigned sigh. Oh, good God. Seems Butcher had done more than just buy me a dress.
He’d purchased an entire wardrobe.
But the clothes had a distinct split personality feel to them.
To the left, the clothes were similar to that awful dress — slutty and gross.
The right, the clothes were conservative, almost virginal.
What was this? A joke?
I shut the closet doors in disgust, thankful I’d brought my clothes from college. Grabbing a pair of shorts and an ironic tee-shirt, I pulled my hair into a messy pony tail and prepared to meet with Butcher.
As I descended the stairs, I heard raised voices.
Butcher was yelling at someone.
I crept closer, ears straining to catch anything that might prove useful.
The blood drained from my cheeks when I recognized the wheedling voice of that scumbag pimp. Why was he here? Did he know Butcher?
The urge to run was tantamount to a rabbit trying to evade the fox.
I backed away, attempting to return to my room but I ran straight into one of Butcher’s men, who then hooked me by the arm, dragging me into Butcher’s office.
“Here she is,” he said, thrusting me toward Butcher.
I glared and rubbed at my arm, choosing to ignore the pimp.
“You’re saying this girl right here, is the same girl you are talking about?” Butcher asked, suddenly deceptively calm. He looked to me and I frowned as if completely confused and annoyed. To me, he said, “Holly, according to Roy here, you and him have already met. Is that so?”
I balked as if that was the most ridiculous thing Butcher could’ve said. “Unless he hung out at the campus library, I sincerely doubt that.”
Butcher considered my answer and said, “It does seem far-fetched, Roy. Now why would you come in here to lie to me?”
Roy turned lily-white before pointing an accusing finger at me. “That bitch is lying through her goddamn teeth, man! She came to my house and I tried to offer her shelter and what did I get for my troubles? My lady dead, that’s what. Some man came busting in, tore up my face, broke my hand, killed my Juanita and took off with this cunt. Why would I lie about that? I’m coming to you because she got taken from me before I could call you up. I was trying to return her to you.”
