“I don’t.”
That reply didn’t really satisfy him, but he accepted it. “All right. Get going then.” Glaring at Gaby as if the bout of conscience was her fault, he pulled out his cell phone and put in a call.
Moving closer, Gaby listened in.
“This is Jimbo. Get your sorry ass over here double-time. I have a job for you.”
After he’d stowed the phone again, Gaby crossed her arms. “I take it that wasn’t an ambulance?”
He moved with palpable agitation. “That’d be worse than the cops. I have a guy coming over to get him out of here.”
Dire possibilities occurred to Gaby. She had no real concerns for the man, but hell, if she’d wanted him dead, she’d have killed him herself.
“Where will your friend take him, Jimbo?”
“What do you care?”
Annoying jerk. “If you’re planning to dispose of him, after I did a number on him but refrained from killing him, then I have a right to know.”
“God damn, you’re a bloodthirsty bitch. No, I’m not going to
Selfish prick. She should have known.
The man groused a complaint, proving he was still very much alive. Jimbo looked down at him. “Hang on, you asshole. Don’t you dare die on me.”
“I need a doctor.”
“Yeah, well, tell me where you live and my man will take you there. What you do after that is your own damn business, but I suggest you figure out a story that keeps me and my girls out of it.”
The threat hung in the air until the man finally nodded.
“As long as we understand each other. Now where should we dump your miserable ass?”
The man gave his address, and Jimbo nodded. “Got it. In less than ten minutes, you’ll be out of here.” Under his breath, but loud enough for Gaby to still hear, Jimbo added, “And then you’re not my problem anymore.”
Drawn to him again, Gaby strode over to the wracked body. Seeing the wounds she’d so easily inflicted left her cold and indifferent.
Kneeling down at his side, she put her knee
“I could still kill you,” she told him in an eerily serene voice. “And as you now know, I don’t need my knife to do it, either. Your size and strength didn’t help you one bit. Bullies always meet their match—eventually.”
“Yeah, I get it.” Face pale with pain, he favored his arm. “Like I told Jimbo, I just want to get my arm fixed, that’s all. I don’t want no more trouble.”
Gaby wasn’t satisfied. “If it wasn’t for Marie, the woman you burnt . . .” Her lungs constricted with anger all over again, and she had to take a cleansing breath before she could continue. “If it wasn’t for her, I might have killed you tonight, and you and I both know the world would have been a better place for it.”
Pathetic and afraid now that he couldn’t harm anyone, he tried to turn away from Gaby.
Knotting her fingers in his thick, cool hair, Gaby brought his face back around. “You’d be smart to learn from this reprieve, because if I ever again hear of you harming anyone for jollies, man, woman, or child, I’ll hunt you down, and I’ll make you suffer a long time before killing you. I won’t leave a single bone unbroken, and just before you die, I’ll chop off your balls and carve out your black heart.”
Horror flashed in his eyes.
“Believe it.” Gaby released him and stood.
“God Almighty, woman,” Jimbo whispered. “Let it go now. He sees the error of his ways.”
“He better.”
With Jimbo mumbling and huffing beside her, Gaby turned and started to walk away. When she saw Posy and Opal rushing toward them, she paused and, thinking of them, turned back to Jimbo.
At her aggressive approach, his brows arched into his hairline.
She leaned in close so only Jimbo would hear her. “Blame any of the other women for my actions tonight, and you and I will have more than words. Am I clear on that, Jimbo?”
“Yeah. Real clear. Now get the fuck out of here, will you? I have to clean up the mess you made before we’re all fucked because of it.”
“You promise you’re just taking him home?”
“Yeah, cross my fucking heart. Now
Gaby studied Jimbo, decided he meant what he said, and headed off. Maybe she wouldn’t play at being a hooker tonight. She wasn’t in the mood. It’d wait. Right now, she felt no evil.
Except for the evil brewing inside her soul.
It was an awful thing to know she possessed the capacity to maim, to murder—to behave exactly as the wholly evil did.
God had made her a paradox.
He’d made her a paladin.
And in the process, she’d become an abomination of all humanity.
Sometimes, she didn’t even trust herself.
Chapter 13
From a safe distance away, Oren cowered in the obscuration of heavy night shadows, watching, waiting, drawn again and again to the tall figure.
Woman?
With the way she fought? He was starting to doubt it.
Flesh and blood? Definitely.
But she possessed abilities he’d never before witnessed. How could she look so plain, and yet be so spectacular?
Unlike the other stupid sluts he’d taken captive, this one would prove to be worthy of his time and refined effort.
She would fight to the bitter end. Never would she give up and surrender to death as an easy escape from the pain, as the other, weak adversaries had.
Not that one.
Adulation kept Oren glued to the spot until she disappeared into the adumbral night. Without her magnificent presence to hold him ensorcelled, Oren’s attention wandered to the gruesomely battered body of the man she’d just dismantled.
Ah. They had that in common:
While disciplining the big man, she had glowed with vivacious energy. Her face, usually so ordinary, had taken on an ethereal beauty.
Oren’s heart rate accelerated with sweet anticipation. Would she glow like that when he had her strapped down, naked and helpless? Would she still exude energy even as he issued a tantalizing test of pain-filled judgments against her lack of morals?
All along the sidewalk, people milled, seeing the beating as a twisted form of entertainment in their pathetic lives.
Did he dare make use of this golden opportunity? He’d done so much thus far without being stopped, without suspicion. Oren closed his eyes and drank in the sweet taste of bold arrogance.
Tonight he would extend his reach for the thrill of seeing what he could get away with.
Not about to lose this golden opportunity, Oren slipped away to get his car. Taking only enough time to change his disguise and, still maintaining a discreet but diagnostic distance, he drove up the block and waited in the idling car. Only a few minutes passed before another vehicle arrived to retrieve the injured man.
It took two of the hookers to help get the idiot into the car. They were more concerned with haste than
