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“You want me to put another of your boys in the hospital? It’ll be my pleasure.”
“There’s three of us, O’Malley, and only one of you. Or are you counting your woman?”
“I’m nothiswoman,” I grunted, trying to get free of the guy who held me.
I finally got a hit into his crotch. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for him to loosen his hold on me. I thrashed until I fell to the ground then scrambled over to Marco as fast as I could. I felt the skin of my knee rip on the pavement, but that was the least of my worries.
One of the other guys lunged at me, but Marco was there, putting himself between me and danger. He already had a knife in his hand.
“You’re not gonna want to watch this, missus,” he said to me as he and the other guys looked like they were waiting for someone to make the first move.
“You out with Callahan’s girl, O’Malley?” the first guy sneered.
“That’s not Harlow Vanguard,” another jeered. “I heard she was so fucking ugly Callahan wouldn’t touch her even for the Vanguard fortune.”
The three of them laughed and I felt anger surge through me. I got to my feet, frowning at them as impressively as a particularly cheesed off Sunday school teacher.
“Well, you heard fucking wrong,” I snapped, and I heard Marco sigh audibly.
If he was annoyed with me, he didn’t show it. “We gonna chat, or we gonna do this?” he asked.
Then it went off and I totally lost track of what was happening. Glints of silver flashed where knives caught light, but Marco kept them all away from where I was pressed against the wall and trying to stay out of the way.
One of Marco’s opponents went down and didn’t get up. I didn’t much care at that point if he never did again. The second one ran as the first one dropped, and the third – the guy who’d grabbed me – was lying on the ground with Marco’s knife at his throat.
“This is done, now,” Marco snarled at him. “Do we have an understanding?”
The guy nodded as furiously as Marco’s blade allowed. “It’s done, but if Callahan crosses another line, we take blood. Starting with his girl.” His eyes flashed to me, then he pushed Marco away, got up and ran off after his fellow.
Marco dropped to his knee and breathed heavily. I rushed to his side and fell down next to him.
“Are you okay? What can I do?” I put a hand to his side, then pulled it away to find it slick with blood. “Oh, fuck.”
“Oh, fuck,” he seemed to agree.
“What can I do?”
“Car,” he said.
I awkwardly got under his arm and pushed us to standing.
“I feel like you’re not really helping me here,” I said, trying to break the tension it seemed only I was feeling. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to remember that this was their life.
“Probably because I’m not.”
“You better run, O’Malley!” someone called from behind us, but I didn’t have the stability to turn around.
“Oh, my God!” I wheezed as I struggled under the weight of Marco’s arm. “What do you want me to do?”
He fired off a shot behind us from a gun I hadn’t even seen yet. Based on how wayward it seemed – from the person with zero knowledge of such things – I assumed it was intended as a warning shot.
“To the car, missus,” he answered, far more wheezy than me. “You’re going to have to drive.”
Panic welled in me. More than having random hands grab me in the dark. More than seeing Marco fight to what I suspected was someone’s death on my behalf. I couldn’t drive the fucking Viper!
“Me? Drive Valen’s prize possession?”
“He’ll be too busy bitching about all the blood I leave in it to worry about you behind the wheel.”
