Page 13 of One (The Towns Syndicate #2)

“Coming all this way to leave empty-handed,” Shepard yelled. “A true leader?—”

“Let me insult the mother of your children by saying she spreads her legs for power,” I snarled. “She is a whore for men who can give her what she?—”

“You will keep her out?—”

“Don’t be a fucking hypocrite,” I snapped as he walked to me, fury blazing in his eyes.

“Don’t disrespect me if you wouldn’t stand for disrespecting the mother of your children.

Now go fuck yourself, Shepard, and if you want my product, you can pay me one-and-half, and visit me with a fucking apology. ”

I walked away, fuming. Turning my back on him was idiotic, but I wasn’t going to show him an ounce of fear. Arthur walked with me in silence as we climbed into the cars and left. Not even distance could make my anger dissipate and the need to cry only grew stronger.

Fucking men and the need to bring down a woman in power saying she only got where she was because she spread her legs.

The jet was ready as we loaded everything back up. After take-off, Maverick handed me a glass of Tequila. I took it back as a shot even though it was more. She took the glass back with her eyebrows raised.

“Don’t,” I sighed.

“I wasn’t, but that was kind of sexy.” She smirked.

I shook my head as my chest grew tight, wondering if I had done the right thing and if I had reacted irrationally.

“A man would have shot the other man for any disrespect, so don’t think bad about your decision,” she said. “I’ve seen a man die for less, and you need to show men who’s boss.”

I looked out the window pondering her words. If I were a man, he wouldn’t have said what he said. He would have respected me from the get-go, maybe be wary of me, but this deal would have gone down without a hitch. Since I was a woman, why did men feel so threatened by me?

The flight felt quicker and by the time we landed, I was angry and starving.

“Let’s stop by the burger joint that has great milkshakes,” I said to Maverick, as we got off the plane.

“You got it, boss,” she said, as I walked to the SUV.

She and Winchester climbed onto their bikes, riding ahead of us to scope the area out. Arthur was quiet, but it was tense in the car.

“Say what you need to say once,” I snapped.

It was so silent that I thought he was goingto ignore me. My irritation was at breaking point. I was about to stab him when he started to speak.

“At first I thought it was a rash decision,” he said softly. “He was teasing you, but the more I thought about it and dissected his words, I knew what he meant. He wouldn’t have said that if you were a man and if he did, he would be praising you and not making it sound like you were a slut for it.”

It was stupid to feel validated, but I needed it.

“If you disrespected him like that, he would have shot you for it and I think he got off easy,” he said, as I turned to look at him.

“I don’t need people to fear me because of Boogie and King, I need to be the one they respect and fear,” I said.

He nodded. “Fear from an outside source will get us nowhere.”

The car stopped and relief hit me. I was really hungry and I needed to eat my feelings before I shot a man.

“I need to do this on my own, help me do it on my own.” I held out my hand.

“Let’s do it.” He grinned as he shook my hand. “Come on, let's get you fed.”

He exited the car, but I was too impatient to wait. I opened my door and got out. The glint of a knife was all the warning I got before I leaned back into the car and kicked the unknown man. He grunted as he slashed my thigh. I hissed at the pain, but kicked him again, this time harder.

He grabbed my foot, dragged me forward as I held onto the seat and kicked him with my other leg.

He let go of me, my lower half of my body falling down as I looked over to see Arthur pulling him away, punching him in the side.

I slipped a knife out of my thigh, got up and ramming it into the man's abdomen.

It was enough of a shock for Arthur to get the upper hand and he broke his neck.

Both of us were breathing hard as he let him fall to the floor while he turned around to see if any more people were coming. I looked to see where our driver was, only to see him slumped in the front seat with a bullet hole in his temple. I hadn’t even heard the shot.

“Get back in the car,” he said, as Maverick and Winchester walked up to us.

“Ally, leave with Maverick now,” Winchester growled, looking me over. “Shit.”

I followed his eyes to my thigh.

“I’m fine, it doesn’t feel deep,” I said.

“It’s the adrenaline,” Maverick said, taking a closer look at it.

“Have Ruger patch her up, go, now,” he growled, pushing me to Maverick, who grabbed me by the elbow, leading me to her bike.

Four men were on the ground and two more were slumped by a bush.

“What the fuck, Maverick?” I whispered as she put her helmet on me. “Where is the other car?”

“I don’t know how the hell they knew we were going to be here,” she growled, looking furious. “And we also don’t know where the car is.”

“Do you think Shepard had us followed?” My chest tightened. “Did that asshole steal the product?”

“I don’t know,” she said looking around. “We didn’t leave anyone alive so we might never know.”

“We need to?—”

“Winchester will figure out as much as he can, but we need to leave now,” she snapped. “You are in danger and the longer we stay here we might run into more people.”

She swung her leg and scooted up as she motioned for me to get on.

I was hesitant to leave on the damn bike, feeling more comfortable running in the SUV, but I trusted the triplets even if they were a pain in the ass.

Maverick drove even more wildly than Boogie, but she got me home safely.

The moment I was in the compound, I felt so much better.

The fear that this was only going to get worse didn’t go away.

I didn’t know if I would ever be safe, all because I thought I could run Christmas Town.