I have no idea where I hit. All I care about is that I did.
His eyes go wide as realisation hits him.
“You’re going to fucking pay for that,” he gargles, blood flying from his mouth as he spits each word.
I pull the blade from him as fast as it entered, and I manage to use his momentary distraction as he reaches for his neck to scramble out from under him.
He looks up at me as I stand above him, my knife still firmly in hand in case he tries anything more, but the longer I stand there, the only thing I witness is the life draining from his eyes.
30
Spike
“Zach. Spike.” Biff’s scream fills my quiet studio. The panic within it turns my blood ice cold.
Pushing my stool out behind me with such force it crashes against the wall behind, I run for the door and rip it open.
Looking as concerned as I feel from only those two words, Zach appears in his doorway.
He looks at me for the briefest of moments before he runs toward reception. I follow right behind him and collide with his back when he grinds to a halt in the entryway.
“What the fuck?”
Looking over his shoulder, my entire world seems to crash around my feet at the sight before us.
“Kas,” I breath, pushing a frozen Zach aside and running toward her.
My eyes flick over her. The amount of blood covering both her face and her clothing have my heart threatening to beat out of my chest.
“I-I’m okay,” she whispers.
Stepping up to her, I reach for both of her hands. I find one clenched tight with something in it.
Lifting her arm, I drag my eyes from hers to see what she’s holding.
My eyes widen when I find a blood-covered knife in her grip.
Prising it from her fingers, I place it on the coffee table behind me before taking her face in my hands.
“Are you hurt?” I have no idea if the blood is hers or someone else’s, but the fact she’s standing here and talking is a good sign.
“N-no.”
“What happened?” Zach barks, coming to stand beside me, having dragged himself from his shock.
“A… a guy j-jumped me. H-he…” she blows out a breath, her body trembling beneath my hands as her adrenaline starts to subside.
“Sit down,” I encourage, dropping down before her and pulling her onto my lap.
“We need to call the police,” Biff says, coming to sit on the edge of the coffee table with a bowl of bubbly water and a facecloth.
“No,” Kas cries. “Fuck,” she mutters, dropping her face into her hands. “He was one of Jet’s guys. He wanted the money.”
“Fuck,” Zach barks.
“Dawson,” I shout, making Kas jump on my lap. “D, get out here right now.”
In seconds, a door opens and heavy footsteps head our way.
“What the—”
“Call your brother now,” I demand. “They missed one.”
He doesn’t need any more explanation than that. He pulls his phone from his pocket and barks orders down the phone.
“Where is he?” he asks Kas.
“In the alley down there.” She lifts her arm, her trembling hand pointing in the general direction. “I… I stabbed him… in the neck. I think he’s… I think he’s…”
“Don’t worry,” he soothes. “We’ve got it covered.”
The second he hangs up, he pockets his phone and dashes back to his room before emerging with whoever his client was and the two of them go running out the door.
“Fucking hell, Tiny.” I pull her into my arms, rest her against my chest and hold her tightly as her body continues to tremble.
She doesn’t say anything. None of us do as the atmosphere continues to almost suffocate the four of us.
“Where’s your client?” Kas finally asks, breaking the silence.
“No show. But don’t worry about that right now.” She looks up at me with her huge blue eyes, and I fear I lose the last padlock I’d fused in place around my heart all those years ago.
“Jesus, fuck.” Zach barks, marching to the other side of the room with his hands threaded through his hair.
He paces back and forth for a bit while the three of us watch him with curiosity.
Eventually, he draws to a stop and stares between the two of us. His brows pull together, but some of the anger that was surrounding him when he first marched out here with me has vanished.
“You fucking love her, don’t you?” he barks at me.
Kas startles in my arms. “Zach, please,” she begs. “Don’t do this now.”
A beat passes, but before I know I’m even doing it, my lips part and I say the most honest thing I have in years.
“Yeah, yeah I do.”
Kas gasps while Zach barks a curse.
“Y-you do?” she whispers, looking up at me with disbelief in her tear-filled eyes.
“Yeah, Tiny. I do.”
“Oh my God,” she gasps, her small hand coming up to cover her gawping mouth. Her tears spill over, and despite the fact that she’s clearly got a smile on her face, the sight guts me.
Pulling her into my chest once more, I drop my lips to the top of her head as she cries.
“Take her the fuck home and look after her,” Zach demands.
My eyes lift to his. His anger and frustration are right there in his familiar blue depths, but there’s more. There’s understanding, compassion, acceptance.
“Thank you,” I mouth.
“Let’s clean you up first,” Biff says, wringing out the washcloth as I release Kas so she can get to her.
Once she looks a little better, she stands—quietly thanks both Biff and Zach—before tucking herself into my side and allowing me to walk her out to the waiting Uber.
As we set off down the street, we pass a cluster of bikes parked at the side of the road. Both of us crane our necks to see what’s going on, but it’s too dark.
“Come here.” Releasing my seatbelt, I slide over beside her and pull her into my arms. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”
“Yeah?” she asks.
“Yeah, and maybe a little scared,” I admit with a laugh. “Do you always
