Page 21 of Bleed (Two Wheeled Psychos #4)

The SUV behind me is getting closer, bouncing over the rumble of the construction site as we tear through the lot towards the urban jungle of rebar and steel beams. I’m making a good show for Valentino as I follow Dani, weaving around debris and equipment, revving Luna loudly and making hand gestures for him to keep following.

He needs to see me “kill” her for the plan to work, and I need to keep him right on my ass for that.

Things are going to move fast once we get off the bikes and into the maze of the building.

Having Antonio in the truck with him is just an added bonus.

He can play commentary in his ear while he watches the scene unfold, quenching any doubts my boss may have about the authenticity of the hit.

We’re racing towards the skeleton of the future shopping mall, where we can get on foot and take the show to the next level.

I’m just hoping that Valentino doesn’t decide to finish the job for me as a precaution.

That’s another reason I wanted Antonio with him.

An extra pair of hands can never be a bad thing.

Dani comes to a stop about a hundred feet in front of me, tossing the bike down as she jumps off of it, and I just know she’s cringing inside about the scratches that’s gonna leave on her wrapped fairings.

I already promised her that with the hit money I’m going to get I’ll have her repaired and back to perfect when this is all done.

She stumbles a step then takes off on foot into the structure, running as fast as she can, not bothering to look back for me as I pull Luna up next to the discarded Cbr.

“You can run, but it’s no use.” I call out after her as I put down the kickstand and slowly get off my bike.

I watch as her black and pink jacket disappears behind a wall of metal, smiling inside at the hunt that’s about to ensue. The chase is one of my favorite parts of taking a mark, and even though this one is fake, the stalking, finding, and bringing down is real.

My adrenaline is already pumping as I step over a pile of junk, making sure not to catch my boot on any shrapnel. She’s already a good distance ahead, and my slow movements are deliberately allowing her a nice head start to make the chase not only look better but be more fun too.

The Range Rover comes to a screeching halt behind me, and the sound of two doors slamming shut follows almost instantly, as well as the sound of an assault rifle being cocked.

“Fucking asshole. Of course you came armed like a bad ass.” I groan to myself as I try to both ignore them and keep a proverbial eye on them as well.

I can’t have him deciding to take her out from afar, but I don’t think he really will, because then it’s not me doing the kill and his plan will fall apart. Unless that is, he decides to just off us both himself.

“Head in the game, Reaper.” I remind myself, climbing over a stack of shiny metal beams lying on their sides, heading into the bone work of the building, starting the hunt.

I can see the pink of her jacket, and the sun shining off her helmet as she dips into what looks like it’ll become a large department store when completed.

The ceilings are high and still open, allowing the sun to beat down on her like a beacon announcing her location with the glimmering off the carbon fiber.

She’s running and climbing as fast as she can, and her panting breath in my ear tells me she’s giving it her all.

“Easy baby.” I remind her as she vanishes from view behind thick vertical beams.

“You’re hunting me. I’m prey to the Reaper.” She laughs back between heavy breaths.

“You are my prey, and when I get you alone, I’m going to eat you like the big bad wolf.”

“Ooohhh what large teeth you have.” She jokes as her head pops out of a pile of materials that shine in the daylight, making her look almost ghostly.

“Better to bite you with, my dear.”

“Promise?” She giggles then disappears again.

She’s like a prairie dog going down in one location, then rising up in another as she banters with me through the Cardo. If I weren’t trying to make this look serious, I’d be rolling with laughter.

My beautiful, silly, sexy girl.

“I promise baby. But in all seriousness, Valentino came armed. Keep serious enough to stay alive please.”

“What a douche canoe.” She giggles then goes silent for a second. “I see him, he’s behind you looking pissed. You’re gonna have to murder me quicker than we thought.”

“I’m switching to killer mode baby, let’s make this a good show.”

“Roger that.”

Just the thought of blood on my hands, whether it’s fake or not, has me getting more excited as she dips down under a low break in the structure and bolts across an open room.

“It’s useless Recluse.” I shout to her loud enough that Valentino can hear me from his place half a football field behind me.

The prick isn’t made for handling terrain like this, and he’s having difficulties keeping up now that we’re on foot and in the trenches. A bullet will though, so he’s still a major threat, and I can’t forget that.

Lifting my visor so I can see better, I dip into a shaded spot and hunker down, taking myself out of view for a moment.

“Where’d ya go?” Dani asks in my helmet.

“I’m on your six, a click back. Go right into that open space, you see it?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re going to sprint into the middle of the room, then trip on something. Do it…now.”

“Am I going down?”

“Just for a few seconds, let me creep up closer out of sight, then I’m gonna grab at you and barely miss you. Got it?”

“Roger.”

“Kick my helmet when I try to touch you. Do it hard.”

Here we go. Let’s do this.

Crouching down, I pull out my blade from the sheath against my back and move closer to her as she looks back and forth, choosing her direction. When she makes a run for it, I come up and go for her at a full sprint.

The sunlight pouring in shines off my knife as I chase her down and watch her fall visored face first into a pile of metal and plaster. She screams out loudly as if she’s hurt, and if I didn’t know it was all an act I would be rushing to her to make sure she’s okay.

She writhes on the ground as I hop over some equipment and get closer, hunting her down, hunching over sinisterly as I raise the knife above my head. I’m almost at her as she tries to scramble to her feet, but falls down again, and this time I think it’s for real.

“You good?” I ask her in my helmet.

“Fuck, I think I really hurt myself.”

“Improvise baby.” I tell her. “I’m going to strike out at you. Fight me. Can you do that?”

“Yeah.”

“Good girl.”

It’s only a second before I’m on top of her, my arm swinging down next to her head with the large blade, letting it bounce off the floor with a loud metal on concrete sound.

The images of me stabbing her to death from my nightmare flood my head as I swing again, missing her on purpose, trying to push them away.

I shake my head and blink rapidly, forcing the memories from my mind as best as I can, but they’re so powerful, trying to take over me, like they have ahold of my arm and are moving it for me, getting closer to her with each drive downwards.

It’s a fucking premonition. Damnit. I really do kill her don’t I?

As I stab at her again, the blade catches the sleeve of her jacket, tearing it, ripping it open, and a stream of red smears across the shiny blade. I freeze for a second, my consciousness fighting the subconscious force pushing me onward.

“Fuck!” She screams in pain.

It’s like I’m running on instinct, the plan faltering, the knife driving me to the muscle memory of my body as I fight the demon of the dream in my head.

You’re not killing her for real asshole. Snap out of it.

“No!” She screams as I drive downward again, the knife plunging into a piece of drywall next to her face, busting it open, coating her in white powder that dusts her visor.

Her hands brush it away as she kicks out at me, her foot hitting my chest right as she flips the mirrored shield off her face.

“Damien.” She says loud enough to leech into my head, but not enough for Valentino to hear as he draws closer, his rifle aimed at the struggle. “Damien, where are you in there?”

She can feel it just like I can, the shift in me, the way my body moves with the silencing of my words.

I don’t make noise when I kill. I do it silently, and if she’s been researching who the Reaper really is to know it’s me, she understands that.

My lack of words out loud must be terrifying her as much as it’s scaring me.

Her visor flips open, and I can see her blue eyes open wide in fear, and it snaps something in me.

I break into a million pieces as I see myself attacking the woman I love, have always loved, and will always love, just as I did in my dreams. Only here she’s not naked under me but clothed in riding gear and a willing participant to start.

“Fuck.” I grunt, bringing the knife down into the sheetrock by her head pausing over her to catch my breath, right as Valentino and Antonio come up on us.

I can hear the rifle shift in his hands behind me, and with the last shred of me that’s left I nod slowly to her and bring the knife slowly and deliberately across her throat.

Her hands fly up to grab at it, and she squeezes the blood packet in her fist, popping it open.

Red fluid pours out over her neck and chest, and she does an Oscar worthy performance of lurching and gasping under my body.

She kicks her feet and shakes her head, flinging the blood everywhere.

It splatters me and coats my hands as I pretend to hold her neck, grabbing another packet from her and breaking it open, making it squirt up into my face like arterial spray.

“I’m sorry Dani. I love you.” I scream into the air above me, flinging my bloody hands up into the air before clawing at the strap of my helmet, crying out in the agony of murdering the only person I’ve ever wanted.

It’s so believable that the tears pouring from the corners of my eyes are real as I rip off my helmet and throw it to the ground with a loud clatter. I curl into myself, grabbing my face, smearing the blood all over my skin, sobbing into my palms.

“I knew you had it in you.” Valentino hisses behind me as I hear the rifle cock, a round being chambered. “Too bad you won’t be here long enough to miss her.”

“What?!” I yelp out as the barrel of the gun touches my back, freezing me in place, making both my heart and breath stop.

Motherfucker.