Plan B it is.
“Alright, big guy. You win.” I dropped the stake and smiled, sidling toward him with all the confidence I could muster, which wasn’t much, considering how hard I was shaking. “What are you doing with a scrawny little kid, anyway?”
He looked at the kid, then back at me, his lecherous gaze burning through my skin. The stench of cigarettes and cheap booze lingered on his breath, like old fish and sour milk.
“I’ve got everything you need right here,” I purred, choking back bile as I unzipped my jacket. “Unless you’re not man enough to handle it?”
His gaze roamed my curves, eyes dark with lust. “You’re about to find out, ain’t ya?”
He was a hell of a lot faster than I’d given him credit for.
He shoved the kid away, and in one swift move, he grabbed me and spun me around, pinning me face-first against the bricks.
“So you’re an all talk, no action kind of bitch?” He wrenched my arms behind me, the intense pain making my eyes water. “That ends now.”
His sour breath was hot on the back of my neck, his hold impossibly strong, my knife impossibly out of reach.
“Mmm. You got some ass on you, girl.” He shoved a hand into the back pocket of my jeans and grabbed a handful of ass. “I like that in a woman.”
Of course you do.
All these years making illegal, late-night deliveries in the seediest places in town, this wasn’t my first rodeo. The one-liners, the threats, the grabby hands…
Human or monster, guys like this never managed to deviate from the dickhole playbook.
But this was the first guy who’d actually pinned me like this.
At least he’d ditched the kid. I tried to get her attention now, get her to take off, but she was rooted to the cement beside us, paralyzed with fear.
The man pressed his greasy lips to my ear. “No more bullshit, witch.”
You don’t know the half of it, asshole.
He didn’t—that much was obvious. Just another dude with a tiny dick who tossed around the word “witch” like an insult.
My vision flickered again, rage boiling up inside, clawing at my insides like a caged animal searching for weak points.
It wanted out.
I took a deep breath, dialed it back down to a simmer.
God, I would’ve loved to light him up—spell his ass straight to oblivion. But I hadn’t kept my mojo on lockdown for damn near a decade just to risk exposure forthisprick.
So magic was out. I couldn’t reach my knife. And my top-notch negotiating skills had obviously failed.
Fuck diplomacy.
I let my head slump forward in apparent defeat.
Then slammed it backward, right into his chin.
He grunted and staggered backward, but before I could spin around or reach for my knife, he was on me again, fisting my hair and shoving my face against the wall.
“Nice try, little cunt. Now you eat brick.”
“Don’t!” the girl squeaked. “Just… just let us go.”
“Aw, that’s cute. You’ll get your turn, baby.” He let out a moan, soft and low, like he’d just discovered the last piece of cake in the fridge.
