Page 52 of One Bad Knight

Panic choked my brain. This was actually happening. My weak hands uselessly batted against him.

Fuck. Why couldn’t I wake up from this nightmare?

The feel of thick, hot flesh brushed across my bare thigh and I instantly felt sick.

A rush of cool air replaced Jimi. I pushed my dress back down as fast as I could and wrapped my arms around my stomach. In a second, I’d stop seeing double and I’d get up and run.

But when I looked up, I was struck dumb by what I saw.

It couldn’t be. He wasn’t real. I’d sent him away.

Even so, Gatsby stood there in all his beautiful, violent fury. Gatsby gripped Jimi by the scruff of his neck, and snarled in his face, like a pissed-off wolf.

It must have been the drugs, but I could see red energy crackle and pop all around Gatsby. My renegade angel had come back for me.

I could have cried with relief. Maybe I was, but my face was too numb to tell.

“She fucking said no,” Gatsby seethed in Jimi’s face.

A breath of relief went through me as I sagged off the bench and onto the ground.

Jimi shrugged out of Gatsby’s grip. Then he threw a punch Gatsby easily ducked. He threw two more and Gatsby took a step back each time. Cold hatred lined his face. I recognized the look on Gatsby’s. It preceded an absolute blood bath.

He continued to let Jimi throw his shots, but Jimi was unaware he was the prey, and the predator was toying with him. Right before the predator was about to tear out his jugular.

Jimi began to slow, having tired himself out. Finally, Gatsby landed a single sucker punch to his gut. Jimi doubled over and vomited. Gatsby leaned over to make sure Jimi could hear him. “You fucking touched her. You touched her like a goddamn animal, and now you are going to die, painfully.”

I wanted to tell him no. Tell him not to cause more violence, but a disgusted shiver ran through me. Jimi wasn’t going to stop. I wanted Gatsby to stop him.

I like it when my dirty little sluts put up a fight. It always makes it more fun.

Jimi’s ugly words circled around my brain. He’d done this before. I knew it to my core.

My hands came up to squeeze either arm where I sat on the ground, and I realized I’d leaned back into the rose bushes. Their thorns ripped and scratched the flesh on my bare back and shoulders. Blood dripped down my arms.

Gatsby’s fist next landed in Jimi’s eye socket, and then his cheek. “You’ll never touch her again. You’ll never even get to look at her again because I’m going to rip out your eyes and cut off your unwelcome little prick.”

All his rage had been unleashed and Jimi moved like an unnatural marionette under Gatsby’s blows, they came so fast and hard.

A low threatening rumble reached my ears. At first, I thought the drugs were affecting my other senses. Had I imagined something growling? But when I looked to the side, I met with the milky white eyes of what at first appeared to be a dog. But as it crept forward from the bushes and shadows, I could see the flesh had rotted off the animal. It resembled a terrifying zombified version of a canine.

It tore across the cobblestone path, heading straight toward me. I sat frozen, unable to move.

Then my brain caught up and I scrambled to get to my feet. But my legs were Jell-O and I stumbled before falling. A frustrated scream caught in my throat. Adrenaline fought the fog of Jimi’s drugs, but I was still disconnected from my body.

The animal was so close, the stench of rotting meat gagged me. The dog sailed through the air, about to pounce on me, and I knew I was dead. I was dog food. Canine kibble.

Gatsby jumped between us, directly into the dog’s trajectory. When the dog collided with him, they went rolling into the rose bushes. Gatsby cried out in angry pain.

I scrambled to my unsteady feet, losing my footing twice. I had to cling to the woman statue to stay standing. The hellhound sunk its teeth into Gatsby’s shoulder and wouldn’t let go, even as they rolled in the thorn-filled rose bushes.

If I couldn’t find a way to help him, Gatsby was going to die because of me.

21

Gatsby

The hellhound had been stalking me, and when I’d gotten too close to Kat, it launched into action. Except her blood called to it. I’d just finished breaking Jimi’s nose, when I saw it leap at her.