“Trick or Treat,” they yell in unison.
I smile and bend down to their level. “Wow. You both look amazing,’ I tell them. “I’m so sorry, but I don’t have any treats to give you, I guess it’s going to have to be a trick.”
A woman, I assume is their mother comes up behind them both, placing her hands on their shoulders, she gives me a grateful smile. The boys look a little sad, then give each other a sneaky look and then they both pounce on me and yell, knocking me off my feet I fall backwards and laugh. Their mother mortified grabs at them, pulling them off from. “My God boys, stop it. The poor lady.”
The bothers turn to her, and their faces drop. “But she said trick. We’re sorry.”
“Oh,” I sigh out. “It’s my fault, I did say trick. I really don’t want to get them into trouble. I’m sorry,” I tell her as I stand.
“They’re a handful,” She replies, looking at the boys, and reaching for their hands.
I grin down at the boys and ruffle their hair. “I hope you boys get lots of sweets tonight. Happy Halloween,” I tell them and then give the mother a smile before heading off in the direction of my flat.
As I round the corner onto my street that uneasy feeling of being watched washes over me again. I slow down, letting my eyes adjust to the low lighting.
Almost every streetlight is out making it almost impossible to tell if someone is on the street, let alone if they are hiding behind any of the parked cars.
I swallow and blow out a breath, my flat is only about five hundred feet in front of me, my car sat right outside. It wouldn’t start this morning and I didn’t think it was such a big deal. I’ve walked to work a few times since I’ve been here, and it was warm enough this morning not to bother me. I forgot how dark it gets this time of the year though, and now I’m wishing that I’d called a mechanic.
As I slowly walk toward the block of flats, I hear footsteps echoing around the street. One set, or maybe two I can’t tell. I do know that my heart is pounding and the blood pumping through my ears is making it hard to concentrate.
I give a quick glance behind me but don’t see anything. Turning back, I quicken my pace, rushing toward my home, not much further. I quickly glance along the street making sure there are no cars coming as I race across the road, cutting between the cars to make it to the other side. I hear something behind me as I step onto the other side of the street, I stop and turn taking a second to look around I see nothing.
As I turn and step around a car I suck in a sharp breath, coming face to face with a masked man.
I take a step back hitting something solid. Hands grip the tops of my arms from behind and squeeze, but as I go to cry out, the man in front of me slaps a hand over my mouth stepping into my space. I’m trapped between them both.
I drop my laptop and bag as I try to fight them off. I hear them laugh as I kick and wriggle trying to free myself.
I manage to free one of my arms and swing my elbow back, catching the guy behind me in the chest. I hear him let out an, “Oomph” and he dips with the pain. Using it to my advantage Ipush away, trying to run, but the other guy grabs me, swinging me around and slamming me against a wall.
He grabs my cheeks with so much force I know I’ll bruise. Tears spring to my eyes and fall down my cheeks. He brings his face so close to mine, I can smell his breath, the stench of stale beer and cigarettes burn my nostrils.
His black balaclava covers every inch of his face, exposing his icy blue eyes, small round pupils. There’s something about them, deadly.
I push and punch at him trying to get him off me, but he doesn’t budge.
His eyes crinkle in the corners and my stomach begins to swirl. I don’t know how the hell I’m going to get away from these guys.
Chapter
Thirty-Five
It’s been almost two weeks since I last saw her, I’m sure by now she’ll think that I’m done with her. And I should be, but I’m not. I know she’s aware that the prospect is still tailing her, he gives me regular updates including the fact that she knows he’s there. When he told me that she had been in the Knights Café after I told her to stay clear, I couldn’t work out if I was pissed at her defying me or impressed that she did.
We’d tortured the Poisoned Devils’ member for three days straight before he gave up two of their hiding places. We’ve spent the last ten days clearing those places and hunting down other members. We thought they were small, thought that they were rebuilding after being ran out of Glasgow. But we were so fucking wrong. After we raided their second hide out, we realised that the club has at least forty members that we know of. So far, we’ve managed to identify only fourteen of them, but we have Data looking for as many links as we can to help us ID the rest.
My brothers and I stroll through the packed bar. The patrons stepping aside to let us through. It’s not just our intimidating presence that makes them part, the fact that we own this bar has an impact. We walk to the back of the room to our usual boothsand tables and before we’ve all even had a chance to take a seat, drinks are placed on the tables in front of us.
I reach for a bottle of beer, but it’s pulled a little out of my reach, I look up and see Lacey, one of club girls grinning down at me. I shake my head at her and reach for the bottle, but she takes as an opportunity and slides into the booth right next to me.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I bite out at her as I try and slide further back trying to put as much space between us as I can.
“Ah come on, Wrathy, baby. You know you want it.” She slides closer to me, rubbing her hand up my thigh. My brothers snigger beside me knowing she just pushed a button she shouldn’t have. I roll my neck tampering down my building rage.
She smiles thinking she’s winning me over. She couldn’t be more wrong. My eyes narrow and I bring my hand up to her throat, her eyes bulge with shock as I squeeze and push her back, her arse sliding across the seat until she’s off it, I let go and she falls to the floor.
I stand towering over her. “Don’t ever fucking come near me again. Stay the fuck away from me, whore.”
