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“Oh, fuck off,” the man snaps. “I’ve had a long night.”
Juniper sets her empty glass on the table, then squares her shoulders, facing him full on. “Let me guess. You’re not aVanorian. You’re a Rippie, and you think women are beneath you, so you talk to them any way you want.”
The man turns, nostrils flaring, reddening at the edges.
“Juniper.” I tug on her arm, my heartbeat ratcheting.
“I said.Fuck. Off,” he growls, stepping closer to her.
Juniper gently pulls her arm away from my hand, and before I can even blink, she’s drawing her gun and pointing it at the center of the man’s forehead.
The man tosses his hands in the air, his grimace transforming into sheer panic, while bystanders watch the encounter, their eyes wide with worry. Some of them back away, trying to get out of the room, as if they sense something very bad is about to happen.
“Would you like to repeat those words?” she asks, pressing the barrel to his forehead.
“H-how the hell do you have a Blackwater gun?” the man demands.
“Oh this?” She smiles as she studies the side of it. “I own it, and I do love to use it. Now, do me a favor.” She pulls the gun away and walks around the man, pointing it at the back of his head. “Apologize to my friend, and we’ll squash this.”
The man’s hands are shaking, his face turning redder, but not from anger. From fear. She nudges the back of his head with the gun. “I—I’m sorry,” he mumbles.
“Louder. I couldn’t hear you.” She presses the barrel harder into his head.
“I’m sorry!” the man bellows. “Damn!” He moves away and Juniper steps back, a satisfied smirk on her lips.
“There,” she says, tucking the gun back into her waistband, “See how easy that was? It’s not hard being kind to women.” She grabs another drink and then presses a hand to my shoulder, ready to guide me to another part of the room.
“You fuckingbitch!” The words come out in a roar, and the next thing I know, glass is shattering over Juniper’s head. She buckles forward, stumbling, and I gasp as the shards trickle off her dark hair. She freezes, stunned, and the house falls quiet, minus the music.
Then, her whole upper body vibrates with rage, from her head to the tips of her fingers. Her face crumples into a deep frown.
In one swift motion, Juniper snatches her gun and swings her arm behind her, shooting the man in the head.
Twenty-Four
WILLOW
The gunshot makesmy ears ring. I drop my drink to cover my ears, and the glass shatters on the floor.
“Thatfuckingasshole!” Juniper’s accent is thick and heavy with rage. “I wasn’t really going to shoot him, but he asked for it, the fucking prick!”
A man stomps in from the back of the house, a wide-barreled gun in his hand. He sees the body of the man on the ground, blood pouring from his head, then hollers, running straight for the only other person with a gun in the room. Juniper.
“Juniper! Behind you!” I scream, but it’s too late. He grabs her by the throat, slamming her against the nearest wall.
“Let me go. Right now,” she growls through clenched teeth.
“Fuck you,” the man growls back.
“Fine.” I don’t know how she manages it, but Juniper raises something between them. It’s not a gun, but some kind of thick, long metal weapon—the same one I saw when her shirt lifted on the way here. She presses it to the man’s chest, generating a large volt of electricity, and it zaps him so hard, he fliesbackward and crashes through a glass window. I look over my shoulder at where the man went, and he lies there, unconscious. Then I look back at Juniper, and she’s holding the weapon in hand, smirking.
Another man stomps into the kitchen, and then another. They’re coming from all angles, armed with guns, and I freeze, unsure where to go or what to do. What the hell is happening?!
“You lot better back the fuck off right now or you’ll regret it,” Juniper pants raggedly, rubbing her throat. “You saw what happened to your friends. Let’s be wise here.”
One of the men growls and lunges for her, but she grips him by the wrist, twists it, then cracks it, all in one swift motion, causing him to cry out in pain. As she forces him to his knees and uses the electrical stick thingy to put him out, one of the other men points his gun at her and shoots, but she ducks just in time for the bullet to miss. Retrieving her gun, she points it at the shooter and the bullet pierces him in the chest, just as another man charges toward her from behind and tackles her to the floor.
A gasp escapes me, and I rush forward, attempting to yank him off. “Leave her alone!” I shout, but he shoves me off and my back hits the edge of a counter. Pain seizes me and I cry out, crumpling over. I knew I should’ve stayed in the palace. What is Juniper thinking? She’s killingeveryoneand I’m in the midst of it. What if she goes prison? What if I have to testify? There’s a room full of witnesses! Is she out of her fucking mind? Damn it! Now I see what Caz was worried about.
