Ezra
Ezra stabbed and stabbed, sending hot spurts of blood in every direction. Xan groaned and gurgled as his will to fight faded. His muscles twitched beneath him as he attempted to lift his head, until finally, he went still. His eyes stared out at nothing, and the last gasp of breath shuddered from his body.
This was the first time he’d been happy to kill someone.
He dropped the blade and rose to his feet, still amped up from the adrenaline of getting here in time. Once Willow and Ryker had left, Xan ordered his guards to bind him to the chair. Then, Xan had him gagged and called Davidiuk to hash out their fucked up deal.
Ezra couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t let Willow get forced into working for the sharks.
His breath came out in short bursts as he took in the room. Xan had been holding someone at gunpoint, and now he was sitting on the floor with his head between his knees.
A tiny body slammed into him, and arms encircled his middle. Willow.
He squeezed her back, but then he remembered he was covered in blood.
“Sweetheart,” he rasped, “You gotta let go. We need to clean this up, and I don’t want to get blood on you.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” she replied, face buried in his chest. “I thought we were all going to die.”
Finally, Willow let go and backed away. A smudge of red was on her cheek, so he wiped at it with his sleeve.
“What do we do now?” she asked, grimacing at the body surrounded by a dark pool at their feet.
The man seated on the floor spoke. “Pin this on the other guy. Dump the body in the river where he does his other jobs.” He stood and started gathering the laptops.
Willow rushed over to help, shoving a few devices into her bag. “That’s a good idea. He’s all stabbed up, so they probably wouldn’t question it. The water will probably ruin any evidence, too.”
Ezra looked down and yanked off his coat and bundled it up. His jeans had managed to avoid any of the blood, and his t-shirt was a dark enough color that he couldn’t see any stains. “Van is around the corner,” Ezra said to Ryker. “I have a new cleanup kit in the back.”
With a stiff nod, he practically ran out the door to gather their things used for disposing of bodies when they couldn’t do it in a secluded area. The kit could be used for things like oil and chemical spills, so it wasn’t exactly suspicious to carry around since he was a mechanic.
Willow was staring at the body again, her gorgeous face so pale. “Go home and wait to hear from us, sweetheart. You shouldn’t be here, just in case.”
A protest was on her lips, but her friend cut her off. “He’s right, let’s go and let them do their thing.”
She bounced on her heels and clenched her jaw. “Fine.”
Before she could get by, he pressed a kiss to her lips, careful not to get anything else on her. “Rinse your coat when you get home and then dump it. I’ll buy you a new one.”
With a final nod, they left, right as Ryker was making his way back in with their kit. Silently, they worked. They rolled the body onto a sheet of plastic, and Ryker spread the absorbent powder on the ground to soak up the pool of blood. At least the floor wasn’t carpet. That would have been a much bigger job.
While they waited for the powder to work, Ezra said, “What do you think of that friend of hers?”
He shrugged. “A nerd just like her. Not a threat. You, on the other hand…”
Ezra cocked an eyebrow. “What? You want to fight over her?”
Ryker let out a long breath. “No. I don’t know. It didn’t sound like she would be interested in just one of us anyway. What do you think?”
The thought of not having her at all was worse than having to deal with him.
“We’ve managed to kill people together without fucking things up, so why not?”
“Might be a little awkward when I bring you both around to see my parents,” Ryker teased.
He shoved him with an elbow before continuing with the cleanup. “Fuck yourself, Ry.”
Ryker spread disinfectant on the floor to continue removing evidence. After a final sweep, they would be able to leave and finish this morbid job. The entire room smelled horrible, but it didn’t look like anyone had been here in a long time. So, the chances of anyone showing up were probably slim.
