Page 41 of Changeling (The Incubus Saga #2)

Nathan quickly sank a couple more balls and set the table up to make it easy for Pete to clear it.

Pete stepped up to the table and tipped his beer up to finish it.

Nathan tried not to grimace as he finished his own.

Pete smiled as Nathan almost missed the side of the pool table with his empty bottle.

This time as Nathan made his way back to the wall, he was pretty sure most of his steps were unsteady.

Pete managed to sink the remaining balls fairly quickly, although he did give Nathan a short moment of panic when he almost missed a dead easy shot. Finally, it was over.

“Good game,” Nathan said as Pete sank the last ball. “Guess I was pretty lucky before.”

“Yeah,” Pete drawled. Suddenly he was in Nathan’s personal space. The room was spinning, and Nathan was finding it a bit hard to breathe. “Seems like maybe you used up all of your luck.”

“Hey, just a friendly game, right?” Nathan had checked his snark at the door.

Jim would deny that Nathan ever held his tongue, but he did know when to keep his mouth shut—occasionally.

He was pretty sure this was a lost cause though.

He figured he might have a chance to get out with a few bruises.

It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that most of the money was going to be staying in Pete’s pocket.

Nathan smirked a little at the thought of the money he’d had the foresight to stash in his boot when he went to the bathroom earlier.

Smirking was not a good idea. Pete suddenly pushed Nathan hard up against the wall, leaning into his face. “You think you can just walk into our bar and try to hustle us? You fucking pervert. Don’t think we don’t know what you are,” Pete ground out, disgust dripping from his voice.

Between the heat and whatever had been in the beer, Nathan was having a hard time processing what Pete was talking about. Then it dawned on him.

Sasha.

“You fucking faggots come in here, snubbing our women, thinking you’re better than us…

” Pete grabbed Nathan by the shoulders and slammed him back against the wall.

Nathan was already woozy enough that he wasn’t able to entirely prevent his head from making contact with the wall, which didn’t help with the already spinning room.

Not to mention that his shoulder was still a little sore and his remaining chest wounds jostled.

“Hey, dude…I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nathan tried. He could tell he was slurring his words slightly.

Pete slammed him against the wall again. “Do you think we’re blind?” His breath was hot on Nathan’s face. “I saw you checking each other out all night. Candy did too.”

“Is this about us not wanting to catch something from the local talent?” At this point, Nathan figured what the hell; he was going to have to fight his way out anyway.

Candy leaned in around Pete. “You bastard! I saw the way he kept looking at you all night. He barely gave me the time of day. You think you’re so special? Your kind make me sick,” she screeched and spit in his face for good measure before storming off.

A woman scorned , Nathan thought, and not a very attractive one either …

It was time to stop screwing around. Nathan knew he had to get out of there fast or he wasn’t getting out.

He’d hoped he could diffuse the situation enough to still walk out of there without running, figured the drugged beer had just been to make sure he lost—now he started to wish he had listened to Walter from the start.

“Nathan, it’s more than just Pete and his friend. There are others now, too. You need to get out of here,” Walter’s voice filtered dimly over to him.

Nathan closed his eyes briefly and took a long, deep breath to steady himself and stop the room from spinning, waiting for his opening.

When Pete loosened his hold slightly and leaned back out of Nathan’s space for a moment, Nathan took advantage of it.

Before Pete could react, Nathan shoved him back hard with one hand and, bringing his pool cue up with the other hand, slammed it against Pete’s head.

Pete was too close for it to do any real damage, but it was enough to surprise and stun the guy, bringing him to his knees and giving Nathan an opening.

The effect of the drugged beer slowed Nathan’s reaction time and reduced his ability to respond to his environment. He hadn’t realized that Joe had moved in from the right and another of Pete’s goons was closing in from the left. He was vaguely aware of Candy screaming.

As Nathan bolted for the door, Joe grabbed his arm.

Nathan used the momentum to swing at Joe, catching him a glancing blow with the pool cue that staggered him and got him to let go.

Nathan righted himself and turned again to try for the door.

By now Pete had regained his feet, Goon Two was right on him, and reinforcements were arriving.

Nathan ducked and managed to avoid a left hook from Pete. As he came back up, he swung at Goon Two, connecting at the same time as he kicked back at a new player, catching a guy in the gut and sending him crashing back into yet another goon.

All the bobbing and weaving on top of the drugs was disorienting Nathan.

He caught movement to his right and swung the pool cue.

This time, however, Pete was ready for it and grabbed it with both hands, wrenching it out of Nathan’s grasp.

Nathan gave a weak grin and made another attempt at breaking for the door.

His way was blocked by Joe and goon’s two through five.

“Grab him!” Pete barked out.

Nathan threw a right hook at Joe who was closest, but by now he was so unsteady that he completely missed as Joe easily dodged his fist, countering and connecting with his own right to Nathan’s jaw.

Nathan staggered to the side to meet with Goon Three’s right hook.

The only thing that prevented Nathan from simply crumpling to the floor was Goon Four and Five grabbing both his arms.

Nathan shook his head in an attempt to clear it. He glanced desperately around himself. The bar had pretty much cleared out, leaving only a couple guys behind the bar, and a panicked looking Walter standing amidst the goons.

“Okay, asshole,” Pete seemed to come out of nowhere to leer in Nathan’s face again, “you really didn’t need to piss me off any more.”

Nathan’s head lolled forward as Pete’s voice faded in and out. He snapped back to consciousness as Pete started roughly going through his pockets. He pulled back with Nathan’s hard earned cash in his fist. He didn’t bother to count it.

“Let’s show this asshole what we think of his kind,” Pete directed his goons. He had Nathan’s ankle blade in his hand.

Double shit. Nathan knew he was in real trouble with no back up.

He was having a hard time seeing. One of the blows to his face had opened up a cut over his right eye and blood was running into it and down the side of his face.

He still felt weak and disoriented from whatever he’d been roofied with.

Nathan was able to focus and concentrate on his knife, though.

He knew better than anyone how sharp it was.

He watched as Pete lowered the blade down his body and cut off the button to his jeans.

Nathan swallowed hard and closed his eyes.

He felt Pete’s hand slide in to hold his waistband as the blade slid in and sliced up beside where his zipper was.

The blade nicked his belly as it slid through the waistband, then Nathan felt his ruined jeans fall to the floor around his ankles.

This is NOT happening. Nathan’s inner voices were screaming. He could hear Walter calling his name, telling him to fight, run . He struggled as much as he could, but it wasn’t enough.

The goons holding Nathan on either side dragged him toward the pool table and bent him over it.

Nathan’s face pressed into the felt. Suddenly, Pete slammed a pool cue down beside his face, leaning in over him.

He rolled the pool cue away and toward Nathan under the palm of his hand. Nathan’s knife was also on the table.

“You like it like that…you’re gonna get it like that.” Pete’s breath on his cheek made Nathan shudder. He fully understood what Pete intended to do to him.

“I’m gonna kill you, you fuck,” Nathan ground out.

Pete pushed up off of Nathan’s head. The pool cue disappeared from Nathan’s vision.

Nathan pulled and bucked against the hands holding him to the table.

His jeans prevented him from even attempting to kick out at his attackers.

His panic grew and he struggled harder as he realized how helpless he was.

Nathan was fighting to remain conscious let alone keep struggling. His blood ran cold as he felt a hand in the waistband of his boxers. He was seeing spots as he started to hyperventilate.

The retort of a gun brought everything to a halt.