And that’s why he needs all the help he can get.
Not just from the three of us. This boy needs his mother too.
Carmen sucks in a rattly breath like she herself is on the verge of death. The horror in her eyes is wide, her jaw quivering open as she plays dot-to-dot with the hundred or so dead bodies littered across the ground.
“Some of the bikers…” Her eyes stop over one particular corpse who’s wearing a jacket with the Venom Vultures sigil. “Not…”
I cast my eyes over to Carter who is still in the same hopeless position as before. I race over to him with an idea. If he can see Carmen’s face, maybe he’ll actually start fighting for his life. There’s still plenty of him left in there to survive this.
“Oh my god.” Carmen places a trembling hand over her mouth. She starts to malfunction. A string of words fall out of her mouth, missing a few verbs and conjunctions. She eventually finds the right words. “Please don’t die on me.” She grabs his hand and shakes it frantically. “Please. I love you.”
It comes out as a whisper but it’s loud.
Loud enough to quiet every single man on earth.
“I love you too.” The best Carter can do is give her hand a little squeeze.
Pathetic. I’ve seen the bastard endure a bullet to the arm, seen him sucker punch two enemies to the ground at once. He can get over himself and stop being such a pussyhole.
“We should get out of here,” Vex says, joining in on the fun. “I can’t find Conrad.” He flicks his eyes down to Carter and tenses up. “Shit.”
“Attention-seeking bastard,” I growl. “He’ll be fine. But we need to get Carter to a hospital. It’s gonna be a two-man job to get him out of here. Carmen—grab Otis and take the lead. Let’s get out of here before sunrise.”
“You heard what I said before,” she says. “Look what I’ve done to Carter. You’ll end up the same if you keep protecting me.”
“Darling,” I snap. “If I leave here without you, I go back to being the lonely sailor out at sea trying to get away from myself. You saved us, Carmen. The least we can do is return the favor.”
Slow, intermittent clapping breaks us all out of our trance.
Conrad steps over his men’s dead bodies, working his way over to us. Of course there’s not a single drop of blood on him, nor his suit. Somehow, the linen shirt is still crisp white, his pants unripped.
He could use a beating. Maybe it would improve his appearance.
“Heartfelt,” he says between claps. “But pathetic.” He cracks a smile and starts to laugh. It’s a shrill kind of laughter that echoes through the warehouse, more earsplitting than any gunshot.
“What is the matter with you men? You stick your cocks into something warm and call it love.” He makes his way over to us at his own leisure. “At least one person here has their head screwed on.” He offers his hand out to Carmen. “Come on, darling. Let’s get out of here.”
My eyes must be deceiving me, because there’s no way Carmen just slotted her hand into Conrad’s. Willingly.
“Now, hand Otis over,” Conrad says.
“No.” She finally snaps out of her daze, eyes returning to the present moment. They’ve been elsewhere up until now. “I stay here. Otis goes free. That was the deal. You can’t go back on that.”
“The deal was broken when you decided to bring your cocksucking boyfriends out here. Life isn’t fair, Carmen. Wear a crash helmet next time you plan to undermine me.”
Backup approaches from behind. I catch their attention and give them a subtle shake of my head.
They don’t get to kill Conrad. I do.
Although I’m severely handicapped at the moment with Otis in my arms.
Vex is the only one who can do it. He holds the gun at his side, the weapon dripping blood. A knife is also sitting pretty under his belt.
I turn to him and we lock eyes.Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
Slowly, Vex slides the knife out of his belt and curls his hand around it, careful to not make any rash movements. Conrad isn’t going to make it out of this warehouse. Vex will make sure of that.
“Poor boy,” Conrad says. He registers the knife in Vex’s hand but doesn’t have a big opinion on it. Instead, he looks down at Carter and continues speaking. “Poor boy. His daddy is about to die, and he doesn’t even know who he is. I must say, Carmen”—his gaze shifts over to her—“that’s bad form. What mother keeps a secret like that from their own kid?”
