Page 58 of Trigger Happy Ending

“You own those European shit cans outside?” Redneck number one sneers.

Any other day, I would immediately plant my fist through this guy’s face for referring to Ducatis as “shit cans”—honestly, that comment deserves an ass beating. I have to actively remind myself we’re on a mission and that it’s not worth the wrath of the Agency. If Raine and I do anything that could blow our cover, we’re dead.

I shrug on my jacket and think about all the ways I could kill this asshole anyway.

I said I can be civil. Doesn’t mean I will be civil.

“Don’t mind Hux.” A guy with a buzz cut and a steroid problem chuckles. “Cunt doesn’t have any manners. Where you two from, huh?”

“Out of town.”

Buzz cut steps closer and drags a menacing gaze down my body. “No shit.”

“You might want to back the fuck up,” I threaten.

He grinds his yellow-stained teeth. “Or what?”

Tension crackles in the air, and beside me, I feel Raine’s energy merge into something deadly. I’m surprised at how attuned I am to her. I noticed it that first night in the woods when we killed Lukas and his entourage. The synchronization has parallels to how it was with my terror squad. We anticipated each other’s moves almost perfectly, but that came from years of deployments, years of training, and fighting alongside each other. Raine and I barely knew each other, yet we knew how to operate together for maximum impact. Except for the part where she shot me; that part I did not anticipate.

“What do you reckon, boys? Should we show this cunt what’s up, then fuck his bitch?”

I welcome the rage with open arms. My jaw tenses, vision blurs, blood starting to boil and burn. Goddamn, I love this feeling. I’d roll it up and smoke it if I could.

I don’t care if I’m called a cunt. I am one.

But no one disrespects Raine like that.

Another grunt with a gnarly scar running through his left eye, grabs his crotch, and flicks his tongue at Raine. That pin-eyed motherfucker …

“You have about five seconds to step aside and let us leave.”

Scarface takes a slow step forward, fists bundled at his side, clearly choosing not to heed my warning. “Nope.”

I lazily roll my shoulders backwards and feel the knot in my shoulder blade click. I don’t give a fuck about blowing cover, I’ve decided. I’m itching for a fight. To feel like me again. Dead men tell no tales anyway. “Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”

“Oh yeah?” Scarface asks. “What are you going to do?”

My skin practically vibrates with excitement.

“I’ll snap your fuckin’ neck.”

It takes all of two seconds for hell to break loose.

Scarface lunges at me, a snarl twisting his face as his fist swings like a hammer. I catch it and crack him across the jaw in response, sending him staggering back.

Raine moves like an asp towards the one they called Hux. She reaches and grabs the pool cue leaning against the table and wields it like a fucking medieval staff. It becomes an extension of her, like she’s been professionally trained.

The force of the jab to the man’s chest knocks him backwards, and she’s already a step ahead. He doesn’t even have time to react before her cue connects with his skull. The sound is sickening, and he drops to the ground like a sack of bricks.

It sounds like a kill shot, but it’s not. He’s definitely knocked the fuck out though.

Raine and I move as if we’re two halves of the same whole, each anticipating the other’s next move with perfect precision. We cover the other’s blind spots, never missing a beat as we fight our way towards the exit. Raine makes these guys look like amateurs. Every swing is instinctive, the way she twists her body … Damn, she looks smokin’ hot beating the shit out of these guys.

I take down another one with a sharp strike to the liver, and in the same instant, Raine’s cue whips through the air, jamming into another’s balls. He drops to his knees with a loud groan before Raine brings the cue down over the back of his neck, also knocking him unconscious.

Four down. Two to go.

I grab the second-to-last guy who is rushing towards me. Like he thinks he stands a fucking chance against someone like me. I reach forward, grab him by the shoulders, and knee him in the ribs. He gasps for air, but I knock him out with a fist to the jaw.