Like he thinks he’s invincible.
The anger I was feeling before is nothing compared to now, and I clench my teeth.
“It’s a good thing she kept her end of the bargain, but now I’ll have to figure something else out to make sure she knows her place. Fuck, you should’ve hit her harder.” Mickey laughs so loud it hurts my ears as it reverberates off the side of the walls overwhelming me even more.
My chest tightens and my breathing quickens as I realize what this all means.
“You… You played me.”
Mickey just laughs and pushes through the doors, the warm night air hitting me in the face.
“Like a goddamn fiddle. It was so easy! All I had to do was threaten you both with each other and you bent over backwards.” Mickey keeps walking, his sinister laughter filling the night sky.
“You’re never going to let Roxie go, are you?” I speak softly, like all the cards just fell into place and I can see the whole play now. “You’re always going to try to hurt her.”
“I wouldn’t be talking as if you haven’t hurt her. You just knocked her the fuck out for Chirst’s sake.”
I grab his arm roughly, my fingers biting into his skin, and Mickey turns.
“Don’t you fucking dare compare what I just did to what you’ve done.”
His teeth shine dully in the low light as he glares at me like he’s about to fuck up my whole world. Again.
“You think what I did was bad? It’s nothing compared to what I’m going to do,” he says softly, menacingly enough that I know… I know I have to put an end to it all right here.
“Not while I’m around.” I pull my fist up to knock his ass out, but he justtsksat me, gesturing down.
“You sure you want to bring your fists to a gun fight?” He smirks, pulling up his shirt enough that I see the gunmetal against this pale skin.
This isn’t your smartest idea, Hernandez,I think, but it doesn’t matter anymore. The only thing that matters is her.
Roxie will probably never forgive me, never look at me the same way, but I can make sure she’s free.
I send a punch packing as much power as I possibly can into his temple, fully aware of the consequences. Mickey’s head snaps to the side and he stumbles, barely catching himself before going towards his gun. His hand slips under his shirt and I twist upward, throwing an uppercut to his jaw.
“I didn’t think you’d be this stupid,” Mickey snarls, and I hear the gun cock, the warmed metal against my torso. “Now, you’re going to die and she’s going to be my bitch once again.”
My heart beats faster, but at this point, I don’t have anything else to lose.
I grab the barrel of a gun and pull it closer to my side before twisting it as far from my body as I can. This fucker is strong, stronger than he looks for sure, but I’m better.
I sweep my legs out and catch him off guard, and Mickey falls to the ground, the briefcase opening. Someone could come up and grab the prize money, and it wouldn’t fucking matter as long as Mickey’s dead.
His head hits the ground with a sickening thud. I grit my teeth and pin his wrists under my knees, putting as much pressure on him as possible. There’s a sick satisfaction that fills my chest as he starts to gasp.
My knee pins the hand holding the gun down and he fires off a shot. The blaring sound ricochets in the darkness and a searing heat burns across my shin and ankle.
But I can’t look right now.
His eyes widen when he realizes that the shot didn’t do anything and I smile just as sinisterly as he did earlier.
“If you do this,” his voice is distorted as he gasps for air under my forearm where I’m crushing his windpipe with my weight. “She’ll never look at you the same way.”
His words hit me right where they’re meant to. Is he right? Will Roxie ever see me as anything more than someone who plays judge, jury and executioner?
Even in the dark, his beady eyes narrow as I stall, but then he laughs.He laughs.
“I’m going to kill you, and then kill her. Then as she’s bleeding out on the dirty, cold floor, I’m going to piss on her to show her that she truly was alwaysnothing.”
