Jon let his smirk fall. “You’re the one who shouldn’t be running his mouth.”
Colin lunged at Jon with a rageful yell, throwing his blade forward in a violent stabbing motion. The technique was rough. He was obviously used to overwhelming his opponents—his victims—with intimidation and fear more than actual skill.
Sucked for him.
Jon stepped forward, his body moving on instinct as he killed Colin’s charge, caught and twisted the man’s arm. In a couple of seconds, he had one hand over Colin’s sleeved wrist and the other wrapped around his throat, cutting off the bastard’s air supply as he sank Colin’s own knife into his spine. With Colin’s hand still gripping the handle.
Colin jerked sharply once and his throat strained, a wheezing sound escaping as he tried to scream like the bitch he was.
Jon pushed the paralyzed bastard to his knees and leaned close, speaking into his ear. “You saw me run out to my truck this morning, didn’t you, fucking stalker?”
Colin swallowed hard and Jon took that as confirmation.
“Did you pay any damn attention to the ink on my chest? How the fuck did you think this would go, Carr?” He released his double grip without warning, taking a single step back and allowing the bastard to crash to his face.
Colin’s arm flopped to his side and he made a gurgled, pained sound.
Jon hooked his booted toe beneath the man’s torso and rolled him over, letting Colin’s weight land on the knife still in his back. He watched Colin’s eyes bulge and his lips tremble, chest heaving, as he fought the next outcry. Blood bubbled past Colin’s lips as the man coughed. When he made no attempt to speak, Jon rested a boot on Colin’s chest—above where the knife was stabbing into his spine—and leaned forward. “Jenna was neveryours. Not really. And you will never lay eyes on her again, you overgrown piece of shit.”
Colin had enough coherence left in him to find anger, apparently, because his brow creased and his bloodied lips drew back in what might have been a snarl. He opened his mouth.
“No,” Jon said, standing upright and holding out one hand. “You’ve said enough.” He looked Colin in the eye as he reached inside the man and took control of every piece of him which identified as water. And because he wanted it to hurt, at least for a few seconds, he pulled it all up and out in arguably the most disgusting way possible—through the bastard’s vile mouth.
It wouldn’t be near enough suffering to balance the trauma and literal pain he’d caused. But it would have to be sufficient.
Jon glared down at the dried husk of a corpse that remained when he was done and gave the nearest leg a kick. “Bastard.”
“So he was.”
Jon jerked at the unexpected voice, low and male and entirely unfamiliar. He twisted sideways, putting the source in front of him, and balked.How in the fuck did I not notice this guy?Sure, the buildings and the thick foliage made some dark shadows no matter what time of day, but Jon knew the difference between a shadow and a living person. And this stranger had undoubtedly just seen him kill Jenna’s ex.Fucking great.
The unfamiliar male moved forward, not seeming bothered by Jon or the husk that had so recently been a human. It was hard to see his movement, as if the shadows moved with him.
Jon scowled but held his position. “Who’re you?”
The man lifted his head to meet Jon’s stare, dark, swirling gray eyes set in pale skin beneath a head of long, black hair. But even looking at him, Jon wasn’t prepared for his answer. “The Grim fucking Reaper,” he replied.
Jon blinked. That was just about the last place or way he would have expected his own taunt to be thrown back at him.
The figure in black held a gloved hand over the husk and shadowy bands hooked around it, pulling it down as if into the earth. “Apparently today I’m also an errand boy.” The mess of life fluids Jon had been holding suspended seemed to vanish without a trace and the mysterious man turned, literally disappearing into the darkness.
For five seconds, Jon held perfectly still. Nothing else moved. He looked back down at the spot in the dirt where Carr’s body should have been, but there wasn’t a trace. There were only a couple of scuff marks from their non-fight, and Jon easily spotted an open, freshly exposed area of earth that about matched the size of the damn rock that had come through Jenna’s window. But that was it.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, so he reached for it in case it was one of the people he’d contacted that morning. It wasn’t. It was a text from an unknown sender.
I got a good giggle from what you said, so I called in a favor. You’re welcome. ~ Ella
Jon stared at the screen as something Lance had said replayed in his memory.
“Crazy Ella tried telling me she was a goddess.”
Shit.He was supposed to factor actual gods into the equation now, too?
His phone buzzed and another text popped up on the screen.
Enough with the ‘Crazy Ella’ thing, okay? Yes, I’m a goddess, get over it. Don’t make me have Fenn bring back that asshole’s corpse. (btw, ew!)
Who the fuck is Fenn?
