Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79747 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79747 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
He pockets my phone as I leave. When I turn the corner for the bathroom, I sense he’s only a few steps behind me. And more than likely, my bodyguard is following him. At least this will be taken elsewhere and take away the danger for the other patrons in the bar. My body shakes as I walk through the kitchen like I own the place. It’s not necessarily fear but a buzz, perhaps of adrenaline. Uncertainty. The kitchen staff offer peculiar looks but say nothing.
The cold air hits me as I step into the alley with the psycho right on my heels.
CHAPTER 55
Dawson
She finally picks up her phone as I frantically burst into the restaurant. Plates flying into the air as I run into a waiter.
“Honey?” I say into the phone.
For the first time in my life, I experience very real, living, livid panic.
“Not quite,” a man’s voice replies on the other end. Bang! The gunshot rings through the phone and from the back of the restaurant.
My entire body runs cold as my legs take me through the kitchen, a blur of screams and staff as I burst through the back door.
She can’t be.
No.
She’s not.
Timothy has his arm wrapped around Honey’s shoulder, a gun pressed to her head. One of Crue’s men rolls on the ground, moaning, having taken a bullet to the shoulder.
Timothy licks his lips. “Frisky little thing, this one. I had a clear aim before she interfered.”
I slowly take a step down into the gravelly alley. My gaze is locked with Honey, my heart pounding. Despite the situation, she looks pissed off, and she blows the hair out of her eyes with a puff. What the fuck?
My heart is pounding, yet her attitude, everything about her, reminds me she’s a Ricci. And with that, I calm down and collect myself.
“Lose the gun, Dawson,” Timothy says, licking his lips.
I ease the tension in my body, trying to see past the red overtaking my vision. Slowly, I pull the gun out and place it on the ground.
“Are you okay?” I ask Honey.
She nods and all but growls in response.
“Eyes on me, Mr. Bigshot,” Timothy snarls.
My gaze immediately goes to him. “How many calling cards did I have to leave to get your attention? My God! You took so long to find me.” He laughs hysterically, and I know it’s a combination of the liquor and whatever was in that needle.
“Let Honey go. This has nothing to do with her. This is between us.”
“On the contrary. Why do you get to have everything when we both came from nothing? Why do you get to have her?” he questions loudly.
He presses the gun harder to the side of her head, his hand shaking. Panic tries to grip me again as I look at Honey, who is completely calm. As soon as we make eye contact, she mouths, Drop.
I only have a split second to act, but, as do I, so does she. The trust is unyielding.
I roll to the side, and in a quick move, she pushes his arm into the air. The gun goes off again, and she throws him over her shoulder, the gun dragging against the ground as she pushes her heel into his throat.
He tries to scratch at her leg, but she steps down harder until he gasps.
Honey is dangerous and beautiful.
Lethal and sickly sweet.
I’m by her side within seconds, the gun in my hand and pointed at his head.
“You—” he tries to rasp, but I put a bullet straight between his eyes.
Honey looks away as she slowly lifts her heel from his throat and steps back.
“I just bought this fucking suit,” she seethes.
My heart is pounding with everything that’s just happened. And I’m mad. Fucking furious. Beyond enraged.
I grab her face. “Why would you come out here with him?” I demand.
She seems wary. All that lethalness edging away with her adrenaline levels to reveal the Honey I know. “There were children inside.”
“But you could’ve—” I am a desperate and wild mess. I’ve never known fear. But today, I felt it like a noose around my neck.
“Dawson, I’m here,” she reminds me, cupping my cheeks in her soft hands. “I know how to kick ass, remember?”
And for the first and only time in my life, I’m grateful for her father. That he forced her to learn how to defend herself when I couldn’t.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t stop staring at her.
“I failed,” I say miserably.
“Hey.” She slaps me hard across the face, and it’s shocking. “We did that together. That blood is on both of our hands. I’m not a damsel in distress, Dawson. We do this together. Everything together going forward. Do you understand?”
It’s a cold, hard dose of reality as I stare into the eyes of this unsuspectingly dangerous woman.
A click of a gun being cocked grabs our attention from the direction of the door. “Fuck me.”