My brow arched at Mannix. Tanner’s dick had gotten us more information than any of our‘questioning’sessions. I’d only ever seen one chick say no to him. And she didn’t just reject him; Ava Whitley hauled off and punched him in the gut so hard the fucker doubled over. Take a wild guess which female he was obsessing over.
“What about you?” Mannix said.
“What about me?”
“You could go in there and find out everything we need to know in five minutes.”
“I could,” I stared at the sign written in Chinese lettering, “but there’s a big difference between beating the information out of someone and having them offer it up.”
The road to hell was paved with good intentions. I couldn’t remember who told me that. For some reason, it stuck with me. I didn’t hide my actions behind some just cause or the greater good. I simply did what needed to be done. Pop some motherfucker in the head, crack his skull, even took out a few family lines. My pathway to hell wasn’t a nice brick road crackling with fire. It was built from blood and bone and paved in misery. The devil best be ready because when I rode my bike down into the pits, I was gonna show him what it meant to be damned.
A second later, all hell broke loose. Tanner came bursting out of the laundry, waving his hands and yelling. A hail of gunfire came flying out behind him. Before I could figure out what the fuck was going on, Mannix jumped up, kicked the table over, and we both ducked down behind it.
“I told you he was going to get us killed,” he growled while pulling out his 9mm.
I did the same and peeked around the side of our makeshift shield. Three guys with grim reapers on their patch marched across the street, pumping bullets into the crowd. Tanner was a few feet in front of us, ducking behind a car with a mother and two kids. He looked over at the frightened woman and smiled before raising his hand over the roof and returning fire.
“Is that motherfucker flirting right now?” Mannix grumbled and popped off a few bullets, hitting one of the Reapers in the leg. “I should fucking shoot him.”
I looked at the sparkle in the mother’s eyes and shook my head. I’d be the one to challenge the devil, but that Tanner would be the motherfucker that sweet-talked the prince of darkness into handing over the throne.
Chapter 4
Naomi
My lip curled at the rundown buildings lining the street we were driving down. Ava said we were going for a drive. I should’ve known better. From the second I arrived at the Phi Kappa Mu sorority house, she made it her personal mission to torment me. My roommate was a living testament to that. Apparently, being best friends with the president didn’t mean anything. Then again, Ava was not what some would call a normal friend. Still…
I rolled my eyes her way, “What are we doing here?”
“Spring rolls,” was all she said as she turned down an even worse street.
Great, so I was in the armpit of Miami because Ava had a craving. This neighborhood was worse than the docks in Ashen Springs, definitely what I came to college for. I scoured the surface of a department store to my left and sighed. At least they had some designer brands–that was something. So it wasn’tworsethan the docks–nothing was that bad. An opinion I doubted Micha Kessler’s girlfriend would agree with.
Riley Adams was the epitome of docksider trash. Her dad married up, so she could afford designer label, but did she? Apparently, the thrift store was a better choice. Why Micha picked her over me, I’d never get. I was the Mayor’s daughter, captain of the cheerleading squad, and the most popular girl in my high school. The pairing was a no-brainer. What kind of prom king took a servant to the ball?
Oh well, no big loss. Besides, I never really liked Micha. Actually, I kind of hated him. He gave new meaning to the term dick. Not my fault if he didn’t understand the importance of reputation. He certainly wasn’t the only one.
I glanced over at Ava. She was tiny, like a doll, with a complexion other girls would kill for. Hell, even I was jealous of the natural red highlights in her hair. Not enough to take away from the golden sheen, but enough to give it this pretty strawberry tint in the right light. I had to go to the salon for better highlights. Brown did not mix with blonde. Ava didn’t even have to try. There was so much she could do. Driving to a shitty neighborhood for spring rolls was not one of them.
There were four families that ruled my hometown–the Kesslers, the Hudsons, The Creswells, and Ava’s family, the Whitleys. Her lack of interest in this was a complete waste. Both her brothers were psycho, especially her twin, Preston, and don’t even get me started on their mother. The only normal person in the Whitley family was Dean, their father, and I still had my doubts about him.
There were two types of men in the world. The ones that hurt you, and the ones that pretended they wouldn’t. The trick was to play them before they could play you.
It wouldn’t be too hard. Ava already had daddy wrapped around her finger. A couple of tears, and she could control the whole Whitley empire. The only person standing in her way was her brother Preston, and he was a diagnosed sociopath. No one wanted someone like that in charge. After all, there was something to be said about sanity.
“Look at that guy,” Ava nodded at a man on the corner, flashing us a sly smirk. “He thinks he’s pretty suave.”
I scoffed in agreement. Growing up around cocky assholes allowed me to recognize the glint of superiority in his eyes.
“We should run him over,” she hissed while tightening her fingers around the steering wheel.
Okay, maybe sane was too strong a word.
Anyone who’d been through what she had wouldn’t be all there either. Sometimes I was surprised any of us survived our childhood. Ava and I weren’t friends because we grew up in Ashen Springs' upper echelon or because we went to the same schools. No, we bonded over one thing: Ryker Hudson. The term sick and twisted was invented for that man. He did things to us: horrible, evil things that no little girl, let alone child, should experience. Ava got the worst of it. He took away the one thing she wanted most in the world her ability to have children.
That was exactly why I needed to land myself an influential husband. Someone who could protect me from other powerful men. I thought that was Micha. The Kessler boys were the only ones to escape our horrible childhood. It turned out Ryker was just bidding his time. Last year he took Micha’s girlfriend and brother, Mason. Breaking the strongest man I knew without even laying a finger on him. Maybe daddy was right? The only person, anyone, could really rely on was themselves.
Ava nudged me with her elbow, pulling me out of my thoughts. “You ready for tonight?”
