“You got a lot to answer for, pencil dick,” she muttered to Leonard.
“Please let me go, I have money. I could pay you.”
“You have money you stole from sick children. You’re scum. Now shut up, your voice makes me angry and when I’m angry I tend to squeeze my hands, if you get my gist.”
He whimpered but stopped talking. There was the sound of footsteps pounding down the alleyway then a bright light was in her face.
“Hey, do you mind!” she said grumpily. “You’re blinding me.” The light was immediately aimed at the ground.
Glancing up, she saw Hunter scowling down at her.
Her day was just getting better and better.
“Is she squeezing his balls?” That was Jaron. He let out a howl of laughter as he crouched beside her.
“What sort of takedown methods you been showing her, Tiny?” Jaron asked as Tiny hauled Leonard to his feet, snapping some cuffs on him.
Tiny shook his head. “Nasty but effective.” He winked at her.
Hunter reached down and pulled her up. Her ankle gave way and she cried out, nearly falling. He swept an arm around her waist.
“What is it?” he asked urgently.
“Just my ankle. I think I twisted it.”
Hunter swung her up into his arms.
“Let me down!” she ordered.
“No,” he replied.
Tiny was hauling Leonard down the alley. The other man wouldn’t stop crying and whining. Jaron grabbed hold of the kid, pulling him along.
“Josh is the injured one, not me,” Cady protested.
“Josh, can you walk by yourself?” Hunter asked.
Josh snorted. “Why? You offering to carry me too?”
“In your dreams.”
“He’s lost a lot of blood,” Cady said, trying to wriggle her way free. “He needs an ambulance.”
“They’re on their way,” Hunter told her as he walked with her down the alley. Sure enough, on the street were two police cars and an ambulance. Leonard was being pushed into one cop car, the kid into the other.
One police officer pulled away as he saw them coming, walking toward them.
Hunter ignored everything and headed toward the ambulance.
“She’s hurt her ankle and he’s been stabbed. Take them to the hospital.” He turned to glare at her. “I’m going to talk to the cops. I don’t want them talking to you until you’ve been checked over. Stay at the hospital until I get there.”
Orders imparted, he turned away, dismissing her entirely. Ass.
***
Cady sat on the bed in the emergency room, her leg raised, an icepack resting on her ankle as she waited for the doctor to return. It had been over an hour since they’d arrived and she was ready to leave. If it had been up to her, she wouldn’t have come here in the first place. She hated hospitals; they brought back memories of Rusty’s death. This was the first time she’d been in one since he’d died.
Just as well her job at Black-Gray came with good benefits, because there was no way she’d be able to afford this.