Page 91 of The Comedown

She mashes her lips together as she shoves a hand into her back pocket, and I tell her, “Strip him.”

The swish of her blade punctuates my order as she perches down beside the guy under my feet. In a flash, she swings the blade down, piercing his shirt just below his armpit and making him jump with more curses. Dragging the knife, she cuts down the side of his shirt before doing the same thing with his pants. They’re thin joggers, so the fabric separates like ripped paper. She goes to work on the other side of both pieces of clothing, then I lean down and pull them straight off his body with a couple of hard tugs.

With him down to his raggedy-ass boxers, I step off him, hoping to God I broke at least a few bones, and he curls up on his side to cry like the little bitch he is.

Slade coughs somewhere behind me but fuck him. He should’ve told me. I know his ass knew. His face is glued to both his phones 24/7. Even if he didn’t see Collette getting assaulted with his own eyes, he saw it on social media.

Shit, I don’t even have access to my log-in info, but it only took me a few seconds to find what I was looking for after Collette and I left the podcast. Within minutes, I was able to see what happened on the top of that bus from all different angles. Two scumbags went after Collette like wolves cornering a deer until the deer escaped by outsmarting them both. Axel tried getting Bare, then gave up when he didn’t see the bodyguard, and pushed through the rooftop party himself to tackle the one remaining wolf. My brother did a good job beating the shit out of him, I will give Axel that.

Speaking of, Axel’s got the still-bruised friend in a headlock, dragging him down the stairs, so when he deposits him in front of us, Collette and I give him the same treatment we gave the first one.

They’re both standing in nothing but their underwear when we’re finished, and with a jerk of my chin, I tell them, “Start walkin’.”

Collette crosses her arms over her chest, but not before I catch the shake in her own hands. She’s angry, too, but she’s scared.

That’s okay. I’m not. If this gets out, I’ll take all the blame. This feels more personal than anything that’s ever happened to me directly and I’ve had people legit empty entire bank accounts of mine before.

“We don’t have any money!” the first scumbag yells.

Money. Their first go-to. His shriveled up nutsack’s literally hanging out and all he’s worried about is money.

“Where are we supposed to go?” the other one asks a little calmer. A little nicer.

Too late for that.

“Don’t know. Don’t care. But you got fifteen seconds to get the fuck outta my sight before I have Collette use her knife on you again.” I give Collette a sideways glance. “Since you’re almost out of clothing to cut off, she’ll start with the first thing that sticks out…”

Every man watching the exchange sucks in a breath.

“Fifteen,” I count aloud, my focus on Collette now.

“Fourteen,” comes out automatically.

Thirteen never comes because they make a run for it, pushing each other in their panicked getaway.

Collette turns her head to the side, not quite looking at me, and blows out a wobbly breath. “This will look bad.”

“It’s a damn good thing you weren’t here to see it then, huh?”

Her eyes fly to mine and something unreadable passes right through them, as bright as a shooting star streaking across the midnight sky and just as mysterious.

“I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks, Collette. I’ll brag about what I did onstage tonight for everyone to hear, and I’ll take my beating from the press for it. I could’ve done this myself.” I would’ve. “But I wanted you to have the choice to strip them of the same dignity they tried taking from you.” And I’m so fucking proud she did.

“See you tonight,” she murmurs, before running back on to her bus. But, uh, what the fuck does she think she’s doing? She was just away from me for how many days? I’m not about to spend another without her. Hell can wait.

I’m on her heels the next second, making sure there’s no fucking way she can lock the door on me again, and as soon as I’m inside, I say, “Everybody off.”

Collette spins around, her eyes wide as hell and…watery?

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Ignoring her, I pull out several hundred-dollar bills, handing them to Irelynn. “Go get everybody lunch.”

“But you guys—”

“If we’re late, we’re late. I’ll take the fall for that, too.” Collette’s too busy pretending to be strong for everybody else, even me, and I need to know she’s okay. Nothing else matters, especially not the festival we’re supposed to be headed to right now.

“You want me to take everyone?”