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FUCK!
I threw a sideways kick at the onrushing goon, who’d thought to get the better of me while I was busy staring at his boss. There was the crack of bone as his leg collapsed inward upon itself. There was the snap of tendons and the wet popping of cartilage being ripped away too, but those things happened at audible levels far too faint for the human ear.
Besides, the man was screaming like a schoolgirl with a dozen paper-cuts by then.
Get out.
The tall man wasn’t just staring at me now, he was glaring daggers. I could feel his cold eyes tracing my face. He was scanning and memorizing every aspect of our encounter, from the way I looked to the way I dressed… even the way I moved, as I bent to scoop up the semi-conscious woman who was just now trying to get to her feet.
“C’mon!” I practically shouted. “Let’s go.”
My hand clamped over her upper arm. There was no surprise there, no recoil, no anything, really. She was still in shock from what happened. Still dazed from being blindsided after stepping through the metal door.
“Can you move?” I asked quickly.
For a long moment she stared at me as anyone would stare at a complete stranger. Eventually she nodded, groggily.
“Good, because we need togo.”
I pulled her out of the alley and onto the sidewalk, huddling her beneath my arm as we crossed the street. She muttered something under her breath. I couldn’t tell what it was. All I knew was she began loping along in some up and down motion. Lurching awkwardly like Frankenstein’s monster, or maybe someone with a shattered hip.
“My shoe,” she gasped. “It’s broken.”
I glanced down. The spike of one of her heels had sheared clean off, leaving one leg a good three inches shorter than the other.
“Kick them off,” I ordered.
Thankfully she did as she was told, and quickly too. A look back told me that no one had cleared the alley yet. That was good, because from there we crossed the street and ducked into the next one without incident.
It was definitely him.
The knowledge was grim. A bitter pill that had to be swallowed.
And he knows you, now.
I glanced at the sky just as the rain started up. It came fast and hard and from out of nowhere. For once I welcomed it, as it would further shield us from view. Especially since it was pouring down in sheets.
“Hang on a second,” I muttered, pausing momentarily. “Here.”
Shrugging my way out of my jacket, I draped it over her. It offered minimal protection if anything, but it was better than nothing. She huddled under it gratefully.
“Thanks.”
I dragged her even further, sprinting down side-streets and diving our way through a twisted maze of alleys. As we fled, a thousand questions bounced around in my mind. None of them were good ones.
I wanted to know how she knew them. Even more, I wanted to know how she’d ended up in that alley, and why they’d attacked her in the first place.
At the same time, I wanted even more to mind my own fucking business. And that instinct took over for everything else.
“Hey…”
The woman standing next to me was barefoot, bleeding, and soaking wet. But she was heartbreakingly beautiful, too. She had smooth mocha skin, with luscious, straight dark hair and deep brown eyes. Hell, if she weren’t covered in fresh blood and alley slime she might even be gorgeous.
“You’re safe now,” I told her, and at this point it was the truth. We’d moved at least six city blocks. Not to mention the fact our pursuers probably weren’t up for much of a chase.
“W—Who are you?” she asked me. “Where did you come from? And why did you—”
“Don’t,” I shushed her quietly. “You’re okay, and that’s all that matters.”
