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Apunch hit my jaw, knocking a tooth free. Never mind, it’d grow back.
Spitting it out my mouth, I tried to focus on the three shifters in front of me. “That all you got?”
The one at the front pulled out something shiny. Finally, it was getting exciting.
Please let it be cursed. Or better yet, just bite me.
Anything to end this pain.
Instead of whatever weapon he had, he booted me in the stomach. I flew off my feet, crashing back through several bins and landing in a sprawl on the floor. Rolling onto my back, I closed my eyes against the spinning sky.
That was a mistake. He appeared.
The one I tried so hard not to think about. It never worked. It was how I ended up in shitholes like this, drinking Adamanthea until I forgot the curve of his smile. His snuffly snores. The way his hands moved as he crocheted.
How he saw something in me I couldn’t see in myself.
It didn’t exist. I knew that. It was why I was letting these shifters beat the shit out of me, praying I’d get lucky and one of them would offer me the final relief I needed.
“Why isn’t he fighting back?” one of them asked. “I don’t trust this. It has to be a trap. LeClerc can’t be this easy to take out.”
Laughter rasped from my throat, the sound foreign to my ears. Stumbling to my feet, I tried again to focus on them through the Adamanthea fog. I was seeing double—six figures instead of three.
Or maybe others were coming to join them. That was good. No doubt my survival instincts would kick in at some point, and six against one would make the odds of them winning higher.
Hopefully.
“No trick,” I slurred, spreading my arms wide. “Just me. The infamous Sebastian LeClerc. Come on, who wants to claim the glory of sending me to my eternal rest?”
Three of the figures shifted, making me squint. Meh, it was probably just the Adamanthea playing tricks on me.
I grew impatient with their inaction. “What are you waiting for? Fucking come on! I’m literally asking you for it.”
Movement blurred in the alley. Finally.
I waited for the pain to hit. To get the distraction I was craving.
Hopefully it’d alleviate the crushing agony in my chest.
The one I’d carried for ninety-four days, six hours, and twenty-seven minutes.
Even the fact that I couldn’t see straight didn’t stop me counting.
The movement stopped, and I squinted down the alley. What the fuck?
There were now three bodies on the ground and two figures standing over them. At the mouth of the alley was a third figure. He stood back, like he was avoiding the fight.
“Don’t care who you are,” I called to the newcomers. “If you’re looking for a fight, I’m game.”
The one at the end of the alley started to stalk towards me. “Oh, I’m looking for a fight, all right. You’re a fucking piece of shit, and I’ve waited three months to do this.”
I had a split second to register the face of my attacker before he cocked his fist back and thumped me in the temple.
Leo.
Darkness slipped over me, and I welcomed it.
Anything to escape the agony.
