Page 109 of The Night Shift

Holly

Now

In a random alleyway with a very unfortunate man

This is ridiculous. With my hands raised on either side of my head, I turn around slowly.

“Your wallet and phone! Now!” The scraggly-looking man nudges his weapon in my direction, its tip falling inches away from the exterior of my green jacket.

I glance down. A standard Cutco kitchen knife. I have the same one at home. Although mine’s sharper, shinier, and more lethal. With this one, the steel’s a little rusted, the tip is blunt as hell, and it has a wide, curved cutting edge instead of narrow and sharp. If he tries to stab me with this, all it’s going to achieve is some blunt-force trauma to my chest. It’d be painful, but I’ll live.

I bring my hand up to scratch the bridge of my nose and my perpetrator immediately flinches. Good god, if a small hand movement is enough to put him on edge, it’s obvious he hasn’t done this before. Do I really seem like the kind of girl an amateur mugger would practice on? That hurts my feelings.

“I don’t have my wallet on me,” I say.

The man’s eyes narrow into thin slits through the holes of his ski mask, and he shifts his stance. “Nice try, woman, but I wasn’t born yesterday.” He takes another step toward me, poking his knife at my chest. “Wallet, now!”

“Okay, okay. It’s in my pocket … just please don’t hurt me.”

The guy’s mouth twitches up in a smile. He’s obviously buying my bullshit doe-eyed act. His grip around the knife’s black handle loosens — just a smidge — and I don’t waste a single second.

Letting my phone fall to the ground, I turn my body to the side and grab his arm, yanking it forward.

“Hey!” he cries out as the knife falls from his hand, clattering on the hard tar surface. Using my other hand to hit his nose with the base of my palm, I step behind him and pin both his arms to the center of his back. “What the fuck — ow!”

I kick his shin and force him to the ground. Then I twist his arm, drawing another lamenting squeal out of his mouth.

“Shut the fuck up —”

Someone clears their throat.

I look up.

A tall silhouette leans casually against a streetlight pole at the alley’s entrance, one leg crossed over the other, and the world’s most annoying voice splices through our otherwise quiet surroundings. “Am I interrupting something?”

Of fucking course.

I bend down next to Ski Mask’s ear. “You still wanna mug someone? That’s your guy. I’ll even help you do it.”

Shaking his head, Theo walks toward us, one hand tucked into the pocket of his black suit jacket while using the other to smoothly unfasten its button. “Ever so eager to get your hands on me, aren’t you, love?”

The streetlight filters across his face, bringing his sharp jawline to life and I get a clearer view of his outfit. He’sdressed in an all-black three-piece suit, his black shoes polished to a mirror finish. Tiny gold cufflinks decorate his wrists, and his dark curls are styled in a classic, timeless slick-back. The kinda style that makes him look like he’s just stepped out of a James Bond movie. But it’s his headpiece that truly captures my attention. Gold, with two horns on either side. Which, except for the extra horn, looks exactly like mine.

“What the fuck is that?”

Theo tilts his head to the side, a mischievous gleam lighting up his eyes as a rogue curl falls onto his forehead. “My flawless face?”

“Thatthingon your head. Why are you wearing that?”

“This?” He gestures to the golden headpiece with exaggerated flair. “It’s part of my costume, Hollister. And, might I add, while I do admire the effort you put into matching yours with mine, your headpiece seems…broken.”

“It’ssupposedto be that way!” My patience snaps, and his mouth quirks up as he bites back a grin. He’s just been trying to get under my skin. And, evidently, he succeeded. “Why are you here, Theo?”

“I’m the best man.”

I frown as realization dawns. Of course. Parker invited him and failed to mention it to me, because why let poor, innocent Holly have even a single moment of peace? That slimy little rat bastard. I am going tocuthis face.

Ski Mask squirms, trying to wrench himself free from my grip, and I dig my nails deeper into his sleeve, keeping my focus squarely on Theo, who now has a grin so wide it’s begging to be slapped off his face. “Do you seriously have no other friends in this city? Why do you have to latch onto my sister and her fucking boyfriend of all people?”