Page 54 of Property of Quake

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I warn, closing the distance between us and yanking the knife from his pocket and shoving him across the room.

Keith stumbles, catching himself on the opposite wall. The door latches behind me just as he turns around, fear in his eyes.

“What’s going on, Quake?” he asks.

“Jackie.”

His jaw clenches. “That bitch. What’d she do?”

“That bitch didn’t do shit,” I say with a hollow laugh. “You, on the other hand, have gotten your hands all kinds of dirty.” I pull my gun from my waistband and close the distance between us, placing the barrel under his chin. “Tell me, bro, how’d you get her to trust you?”

All traces of fear disappear, and in its place is the cocky smirk of a man-child who thinks he’s smarter than he is. “You want a piece of the action? Is that what this is?”

Pointing the gun at his knee, I pull the trigger. He screams, dropping to the floor.

“What the fuck?”

“Answer the goddamn question!”

He shrugs nonchalantly, and that pisses me off so I shoot a bullet into his shoulder. His screams fuel my rage.

“It w-wasn’t hard,” he finally says, trying to breathe through the pain. “Girls like that always have a thing for bad boys. She was just waiting to let her freak flag fly once she was out from under the thumb of her parents.”

That doesn’t jive with what we found out about her. She’s smart, incredibly so. And all evidence points to a loving family, a girl who had the world in front of her and was doing everything she could to claim her little piece.

“So, you fuck her,” I snap, even though that goes against everything I believe in. She’s only sixteen, after all. But even I can admit that that’s preferable to what’s really going on. “You don’t traffic her.”

“Traffic?” he counters. “Is that what you think I was doing?”

For a brief second, doubt creeps in. Then I remember that Keith is in a vulnerable position and will say anything if he thinks it’ll save his ass.

“What would you call it?” I ask.

“I’d call it my civic duty,” he replies. “You see, girls like Jackie need to be taught their place, and that’s not in a classroom or in a position of power. It’s flat on her fucking back, earning me money and satisfying the people I answer to.”

Ah, there it is.

“And who do you answer to? Tom?”

He laughs. “Tom? Seriously?”

“You two went to high school together,” I remind him. “He volunteers at Sacred Haven where one of their residents was hurt. The two of you are two peas in a sick twisted pod.”

“Tom is sick,” he snaps. “He’s the one who likes the little girls, and he doesn’t share. Besides, from what he told me, the girl you’re referring to is just fine. She got away.”

I put a bullet in his other kneecap.

“He ripped her shirt, scared her shitless, and who knows how many others are out there that he’s done the same thing or worse,” I rage.

“And he’s been told not to touch the product,” Keith cries, his body trembling from pain and the loss of blood. “I’m not his babysitter. It’s not my fault he takes things too far.”

“Who is his babysitter?” I demand.

“We both know you’re gonna kill me no matter what so why should I tell you?”

“Because I can make your death a little quicker if you do.”

“Bullshit,” he says. “I’m not giving you names.”