Benny’s threat chills me. His hand trembles, but I don’t dare move. I can barely suck air into my collapsing lungs.
Without saying a word, Hot Guy trains his gun on Benny. A humorless smile curves his lips.
“Take your hands off her or lose them. Your choice.”The stranger’s threat to the handsy customer resurfaces in my mind.
In this moment, I understand with a cold certainty that he wasn’t bluffing.
No wonder Benny’s terrified.
“I mean it!” Benny wraps his free arm around me, sour breath steaming my neck. “I’ll kill her and won’t think twice.”
Hot guy and I lock gazes. A beat passes. Then another. An indecipherable emotion flickers in his eyes. Indecision? Calculation?
He lowers the weapon.
A streak of hot anger pulses through me. Do these assholes actually believe I’m just going to give up and die? Or worse, be used as their bargaining chip?
Un-freaking-believable.
Still sitting in the pile of garbage, I elbow Benny in the gut. He grunts, unleashing a string of almost unintelligible curses. The gun at my temple wobbles. I grab the hand holding the weapon and manage to wrench it away from my head.
More curses follow.
Breaking free from my captor’s grasp, I dive and roll. Benny scrambles after me, clawing at my neck with his free hand. He clutches a handful of my hair and yanks. A startled cry escapes me as a fiery sting engulfs my skull.
Ignoring the burn, I twist and kick out as viciously as I can from my awkward half-lying, half-sitting position. The heel of my shoe connects with his shin. Benny shrieks, but I don’t let up. I kick out again and miss.
“Sukin syn.”Hot Guy’s closer now, but I’m sort of busy.
My next two kicks strike their target. After the second one, Benny releases my hair.
“Fucking bitch!” He lurches toward me, but I’m already evading.
My heart pounds with fury and fear as adrenaline propels me forward. I army crawl toward the dumpster. If I can just make it there, I’ll call 911. Tell them two guys are threatening me outside of Red Bird’s. Benny wouldn’t dare shoot me then.
As for Hot Guy?—
A hand grips my ankles and tugs. “That’s it. I’ve had enough.”
I whip around to find Benny releasing my ankle and training the gun on me. His finger curls around the trigger.
Terror slices through me, rendering me speechless.
I’m going to die in this filthy alley. My sister will be all alone. No family to love and support her. She’ll drop out of college. Never go to med school. I won’t fix her veil with teary eyes on her wedding day.
I’m so sorry, Sam.
There’s a sudden pop, no louder than a wine bottle uncorking.
Hot, wet liquid splashes across my face and neck. A coppery tang permeates the air. Beside me, Benny goes slack, his gun clattering to the concrete. Vacant eyes stare into mine, the life behind them gone.
A hysterical laugh bubbles up as I struggle to process what just happened. I reach for Benny’s gun.
“Chyort vozmi. That didn’t go as planned.”
I blink up through the shock to find Hot Guy towering over us, his own gun raised.
He shot Benny.
