Page 50 of His to Burn

I was surprised when he froze, wrench still raised, and looked at me.

“They’ll leave,” I said, looking at him, then to the other three people. “Right?” I added, making eye contact with the woman.

She nodded, and then she and the others grabbed the injured man’s arms and limped away, his blood dripping onto the pavement. Jack stared at them, chest heaving with his heavy breaths. His grip on the wrench tight, like he was anxious to use it again.

“Let’s go.” Jack’s voice was low.

Dangerous.

He kept the wrench at his side as we moved, his grip giving away his rage.

Rage I suspected was directed at me.

“You have something to say?” I asked.

“Not now,” he said curtly.

“Yes, now,” I said.

His eyes were black with anger when he finally looked at me.

“Fine. You’re fucking naive and it’s gonnaget you killed. I’m not gonna let it get me killed,” he said.

I bristled. “I’m not naive.”

“Fucking fooled me, Counselor.”

“If you think I’m naive, I guess I did fool you. But trust me, I know what this world is. I know what people are.”

“Is that so?” His stance screamed that he dared me to disagree.

I did.

“Yeah it is. So I’m not naive. I just haven’t given up,” I said.

I knew this was dangerous, knew that everything had gone to shit. But I wouldn’t let that take me, wouldn’t let it destroy the womanIfought so hard to become.

Jack frowned at me, but before he could speak, I kept going.

We walked on in silence, the tension between us was thicker than the smoke that hung in the air.

We didn’t make it more than two blocks before the world decided to call my bluff.

TWELVE

Jack

The fucker cameout of nowhere.

One second, I scanned the intersection for threats or maybe something useful.

The next, it was on me.

The impact surprised me so much that I loosened my grip on the wrench.

I barely heard it clang to the ground, instead focusing on what attacked me.

A man.