Page 36 of The Bratva King

“Yep. And rain. Come on.”

He slides off the swing and retrieves his backpack from where he’d dropped it. I take his hand, and we start back toward the street. The wind has picked up, blowing my hair around my face.

We make it half a block before the first fat drops hit the sidewalk. They’re warm. Summer rain in Vegas sounds nice until it starts coming down sideways.

“It’s raining,” Luke observes.

I pick up the pace. He trots beside me, his sneakers slapping the wet pavement. The rain comes faster. A massive clap of thunder makes me jump and let out a loud yelp.

“Mom, I don’t like this,” Luke says.

“Me either, buddy.”

And then the sky opens. It’s more water than the shitty showerhead in the apartment has ever managed. The wind nearly knocks me over, and rain soaks through my shirt in seconds. Luke makes a sound of shock. I scoop him up, and he wraps his legs around my waist and buries his face in my shoulder.

“Hold on,” I tell him.

I run.

It’s hard to run with a four-year-old clinging to you like a koala. He’s thin but tall, and I’m short, which means there’s not much real estate left. The gutters are already rivers, and the street is becoming a lake. Lightning splits the sky somewhere to my left. Luke’s legs tighten around my hips, making it even harder to run.

“It’s okay,” I shout over the rain. “We’re okay. Almost there.”

Headlights sweep over us from behind, and a car slows beside me. The window rolls down.

“Hey! You need a ride?”

I glance sideways. I can’t see the man clearly through the rain or the wet hair plastered to my face.

“No, thank you,” I shout.

His car blocks the crosswalk.

“Get in.”

“No!”

I will not get into a car with a stranger. I run behind his car and cross the street as water rushes around my ankles. A trash can floats past, and more debris strikes my legs. This is a flash flood. This is what the locals warned me about.

I don’t stop. Our building is ahead, but it feels a hundred miles away. I catch my foot on an uneven seam in the sidewalk and nearly go down. I regain my footing and turn my face up to the sky.

Rain pelts my face. “Fuck you!” I scream. “Fuck you!”

Then I tighten my hold on Luke and run through the rising water.

10

Nikolai

I haven’t seen Collins in almost two weeks. She was off for a few days after the incident with her son, then called in for her last two scheduled shifts.

I don’t realize I’m looking for her until I’ve made a full round of the floor and still haven’t seen her.

No one comments on the fact that I’m looking for her. No one asks why I’m interested in a dealer. Pasha knows, but he has the good sense not to say anything.

I find Raymond near the tables.

“Collins,” I say. “Where is she?”