Page 52 of Straight Shooter

Her chest tightened with each breath. The concrete floor’s hard, damp surface froze her bones. She cast another look at Max. His eyes fluttered open and landed on her as if the effort had taken the last of his strength. She swallowed and pleaded with her eyes for him to hang on.

She’d get him out of this. One way or another.

Footsteps pounded on the rickety stairs. Her blood pressure galloped over the rhythm of the stomps, driving out all intelligible thoughts from her head. Beanie. He’d get his revenge now. She stared at the burn marks on Max’s forearms and the unnatural angle of the bones in one of his fingers.

Her fate would be worse.

Beanie stepped into the room, and his laser-focused gaze singed her. Thick, raised skin surrounded the split in his forehead. Crimson coated the front of his T-shirt, and his hand was balled around the material he’d used to staunch the wound. The uneven ridges of his teeth showed through his slightly open mouth. He took a step forward. Her body screamed at her to run, to fight, to do something other than stand there like a whimpering idiot.

The adrenaline bursting from her heart turned to solid matter in her veins. She couldn’t leave Max. Couldn’t attack two armed men with her bare hands. And couldn’t beg for mercy where it wouldn’t be shown.

The cracks in her quickly drying lips craved moisture, but she didn’t dare make even the smallest movement. Fury flared from Beanie’s stare. Then he shifted his gaze to Max’s crumpled form and took a step closer to her friend. He cupped the top of Max’s head, the only part of him not battered, and turned it to get a better look at his face.

“Yikes. We sure did a number on him, didn’t we? Think you want to talk now?”

Alertness flickered in Max’s blue eyes and then waned.

“Huh. That so?” Beanie dropped his head and zeroed in on her. “Max let us down, Peyton. If you hadn’t gotten caught on Moretti’s ship, we wouldn’t be here.”

She opened her mouth, but he held up his hand. Confusion sizzled through her brain. She glanced between Beanie and Max and reality sunk into her core. If Max had let Beanie down, it was because Beanie had hired him . . . and her.

“B-But . . .” She shook her head.

Beanie dropped his head in annoyance. “C’mon, you’re just figuring this shit out? You think I’ve been after you just because Moretti wanted Jenny’s location?”

She unglued her tongue from the roof of her mouth and fit the pieces of the puzzle together. It still didn’t make sense. None of it did. “If you wanted Jenny’s address, why didn’t you just take it for yourself? Why hire Max and get me to do it?”

He turned to Len and made a gesture of confusion. “Can you believe this shit?” He whipped his hand out and struck Max in the cheekbone. Max howled and jerked up his head. “You said this bitch was smart.”

Guilt overrode self-control. She stomped forward and wedged herself between Max and Beanie. “Leave him alone.” The snarl trembled from her lips, but she’d be damned if she let them hurt Max further. He needed medical attention, and quickly.

Beanie snapped out his hand and caught her neck. A squeak erupted from her lips and her shoulder gave out under the pressure of his grip. He towed her toward him, drawing her body against his front. “You fucked this up. You’re the reason Max is here in the first place. All you had to do was get a piece of paper and get off the ship.”

She jerked away from the heat of his body, but his hold remained. Her knees shook.

“I hired you so I could keep my fucking hands clean. If Moretti had any clue I was the one who killed that slut, he’d have me in jail and Andre acquitted with the snap of his fingers.”

Strength suddenly flooded her weakening muscles. “You killed Raquel?” she whispered.

Beanie’s eyes narrowed into two gleaming lines. “Yeah. Looks like you’ll be next.” He snickered and let go of her neck with a shove. She tumbled backward and landed on her butt at Max’s feet. Beanie slithered his gaze over her bare knees to her cut-off shorts and white tank top, and his eyes blazed with desire. She inched backward and drew her knees to her chest. She had to keep him talking until she could figure a way out.

“But Andre was there when it happened. He must be involved.”

Beanie snorted and threw back his head. “That douchebag was so fucked up. He wasn’t even in the room when it happened. Doesn’t even remember me dropping by for a smoke and banging his hooker. He called me crying after I left saying he killed her.”

Len’s laughter roared through the room. “Andre’s such a pussy.”

“Why’d you kill her?” She pushed the words through her quickly closing throat. Her skin crawled over her bones. If she didn’t get out of this mess, Beanie would be free to hurt more people and Moretti would kill Jenny Carter.

Beanie’s mouth hitched up. “She didn’t realize how rough she liked it. She tried to bite my cock and I choked her out a little too long, but that’s what happens when you’re coming.” He shrugged and turned to Len. “Get her up. We’ve got twenty minutes to get the address from her pretty fucking lips, and I want to enjoy every second.”

Chapter

Nineteen

Rhett drew one breath in through his nose, then again. He didn’t take his gaze off Mandy. She propped the weapon on her lap, no longer holding him at gunpoint.

“You’ve been shot, and based on what you’ve said I can see why you would suspect there’s someone working from the inside. It’s not us, okay? We’ve been a team for two years. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”