Page 7

“I'm not telling him shit. We all have our orders, and boy did he make sure we knew what to do with you if we found you.”

I couldn't see the other man, and I wasn't sure I wanted to. Whatever was going on between them, I didn't want to get in the way. This had nothing to do with me, so staying out of it was my only option.

“Just tell him—”

Cutting him off, Frankie snapped. “You don't get it, you just don't fucking get it. There's consequences, you know that. You knew that when you got into this, this is how it fucking goes.”

Long shadows moved against the wall on my right as the man I was about to screw in the bathroom used his arms as he spoke. “No! It never had to be this way!”

“It's too late, it's already done. You had your chance and you chose to walk out. I have no more patience for you and your shit.” A faint click rang out in the silence, forcing my heart to seize.

The shadows on the wall stood still, and I held my breath, afraid that one exhale would remind them that they weren't alone, that there was someone else spying in the background.

He's got a gun. . . That guy has a gun.

I knew what that sound was, it was hard to mistake it as anything else, even if my brain did its best to alter my perception. But I was in tune with that noise, the heavy click, the croaking of metal as it was pinned back.

That sound was now burned into my brain, a nightmare that I knew I'd relive every time I closed my eyes.

“Don't make me do this right now, you can walk away from this, it's your free pass. But it's the only one you're getting.”

Peeking around his shoulder, I saw a tall, thin man blocking the exit. His eyes were black as hell and a thick scar ran down his cheek. He had short hair, buzzed on the sides, and a little longer on top.

But his eyes, his eyes scared the piss out of me. There was nothing in them, no remorse, no shred of compassion. They looked dead.

“You aren't going to do a fucking thing. You should have listened in the first place, but you didn't.” The scarred man tipped his head into his shoulder, lifting the gun higher. “This is your fault, you fucked up.”

“I did what I had to do. I thought he understood that, it wasn't done out of disrespect. I just couldn't do it.” I felt a protective hand on my side as the man in front of me stepped back. “Let her go, let her out and then the two of us can talk.”

The angry man prowled closer, bringing the gun eye level with my protector. Baring his teeth, he snarled. “There is no talking. As far as I'm concerned, she's here, she's a part of you. Did you forget how this shit works?”

Instantly I wanted to vomit, the heat filled my cheeks and I had to do everything I could to not drop forward and hurl. Choking as I swallowed the lump in my throat, I covered my mouth with the back of my arm.

I don't belong here, not for this.

I need to go, I need to leave right now.

Desperately I looked around for another exit, but was met with nothing but brick walls. All I wanted was to go back inside the club. I shouldn't have been there, I wasn't meant to be a part of any of this.

I'm fucking trapped, there's nowhere to go.

I had one way out of that fucking death trap and it brought me right past the man with the gun.

Taking in long slow breaths, I raked my fingers through my hair and pushed deeper into the wall, anxiously wishing for a new escape to emerge and grant me a free pass.

Maybe he's just trying to scare him. Maybe he wants to make a point.

Closing my eyes, I dug my nails into the brick, listening to the man as he threw down threats and last words.

“Nothing will ever make this right—not now, not ever again. You know what I have to do, don't pretend you don't. This wouldn't be happening if you had just done what you needed to do in the first place. But you didn't, you fucking left like the pussy you are.”

“You weren't there, you have no fucking clue. I'm asking you to walk away, just leave. I know you, Frankie, I've known you for a long time.” He was pleading for a solution, doing his best to keep his voice level and calm. “Is this worth it, man? Am I worth all this trouble?”

My body tensed up as I heard his plea floating through the air like a thin sheet of paper, splitting apart with every word. He had no way out, no way to stop whatever was about to happen.

We were trapped like caged animals, the predator a stone throw away, eager and ready to end it all.

“You want the truth?” The man asked, his voice eerily collected. “You ain't worth shit. . .” There was a moment of silence, a single second where all I could hear was my heart hammering inside my chest. “But none of us are, we're all disposable.”