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Gunfire.
It came from every direction, the rain blurring out any chance at seeing anything clearly. But the horrible sound was deafening. I’d been unlucky enough to watch someone shot in the street in broad daylight only two blocks from my high-rise office building a couple of years before. While the scene had given me nightmares, this would keep a dull thrumming in my brain for months.
If I lived that long.
There were no clear definitions regarding those who obeyed the laws of humanity and those who’d turned their backs long before.
I’d watched the young man begging for help, blood pooling under him as people walked by and over him. While I’d been across the street, traffic coming in both directions, I’d fought my way through the chaos to try to provide assistance. After calling 9-1-1, I’d screamed for help.
And no one had offered it. Not for a single second.
He’d died, his blue eyes staring at me, his hand wrapped around mine. I hadn’t wanted him to leave this world without hearing a kind last voice, so in my horror of what was happening, I sang to him. I sang a freaking song to a man dying on the sidewalk in front of a posh women’s clothing store. At least as he’d taken his last labored breath, a smile had crossed his face.
I liked to think I helped him find a ride to heaven.
How ridiculous was that?
As we raced for our lives, the entire world had pulled to a stop as if we were in a cartoon, watching as the bullets headed in our direction. The screaming little voice in the back of my head reminded me that this was no Saturday morning show, more like Netflix after hours. Still, the horror of what I was facing had yet to register.
Maybe it was because of the crappy day I’d just had or the realization that the man who’d fucked me several times was a monster. Or maybe I was so numb my brain had become an iceberg.
I vaguely registered several men piling from the SUV, returning fire. I also knew that Phoenix had shoved me in front of him, making himself the target instead. Wasn’t that sweet? A maniacal laugh almost pushed up from my throat. Obviously, I’d cracked enough that the reality of what we were facing wasn’t terrifying like it should be.
“Get her in the car. Now. Now!” Phoenix’s voice left a dull echo in my mind.
I wanted nothing more than to choke back sobs, feeling sorry for myself but there weren’t any tears. Maybe I refused to allow a single additional teardrop to fall. Fuck him. Fuck his need for revenge. Fuck his hatred of my father.
Even as the angry bitterness swirled in my mind, the pinging of a bullet into the black SUV was a solid reminder of just how much danger we were in. We. There was no we. There was the monster then there was the fool.
“Goddamn it,” another deep voice yelled from the other side of the vehicle. “You know how to initiate a party.”
Suddenly, there were no more shots coming from the other side of the block. I threw a look over my shoulder, the sight of several bodies dumped onto the street and across two hoods of the three cars not nearly as horrifying as it should have been.
“Yeah,” Phoenix hissed before pushing me inside.
“Tyler, you and the others start the process but get a cleanup crew out here to help you,” the other man said as both he and Phoenix jumped inside, the driver seconds after that.
I kept my eyes on the windshield, marveling at the efficiency of the four men as they dragged bodies from the street, dumping them into the unknown cars, preparing to drive them away from the scene.
“Are you hurt?” Phoenix asked.
How many times would I hear that? How many times had he asked the same question to the people he cared about? I slowly turned my head, blinking rain from my eyes. “Would it really matter if I was?”
I could sense the two men in front were amused by my less than approving attitude.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend?” the second guy asked.
“News flash. I’m not his friend. In fact, I’m not anything,” I started. Then I threw another hateful look in Phoenix’s direction. “Oh, wait. That’s right. I was just a game piece in a round of roulette. Or was that five card stud?”
The man up front in the passenger seat laughed, the low rumble reminding of the first time I’d heard Phoenix’s deep baritone. “She reminds me of Jade. I’m Constantine.” I wasn’t certain if the man thought I should be impressed he’d introduced himself.
I wasn’t.
“I will assume you’re another mafia asshole?” The question slipped from my mouth before I could stop the words.
“Whew,” Constantine muttered. “I’m from the Thorn family out of Kansas City. You’ll need to ask my wife whether I’m an asshole or not. Granted, after the fight we had earlier today, she’d likely answer yes.” The man was nearly as attractive as Phoenix, and it was obvious they’d worked together before.
“I’d be happy to let her know what you do in your off time,” I told him.
