“This cliché routine of yours, Randolph.”
He gasped at my use of his real name and smashed the pipe into my jaw again.
Not yet. Not yet. I thought furiously, spitting out a wad of blood before grinning at Rufie. “I didn’t realize you hit like a girl, Randy.”
Rufie snarled, eyes burning with hate. He raised the pipe again, higher. I prepared myself for the blow. This one was really going to fucking hurt.
Instead, Rufie snorted out a chuckle and took a step back. “Girl. Fuck, I almost forgot about the girl. Thanks for remindin’ me.” He turned and waved the pipe in a come-here gesture to someone I couldn’t see.
Ice filled my veins. Wrapped my chest. Churned in my gut.
I let out a ragged sigh of relief as Grub half limped, half shuffled into the clearing.
Rufie chuckled again, turning back to me. “You did a good job on Grub, I’ll admit. I think he’s gonna be shittin’ and pissin’ blood for long while. But his cock still works—so he tells me—and he’s gonna use it on that fuckin’ hot cunt of yours.”
I blinked, my head roaring. “What the fuck are you talking about, Randy.”
The dick gripping my hair tightened his fist a split second before smashing a punch into my right kidney. I hissed and struggled against the arms holding me again, for good measure.
Not yet. I sent out the silent order even as my entire body protested at the pain flooding it. Not yet.
Rufie smirked. “Grub told us all about the chick swimmin’ naked in the pool at that house of yours. He’s got plans for her.”
The ice returned to my veins; this time, however, it wasn’t from fear but rage. Cold, murderous fury. “Touch her and—”
“And there’s Trip’s Achilles heel,” Rufie crowed, swinging out his arms to grin at the Trinity members around us.
A part of me was impressed he even knew the Achilles heel mythos. A distant part. The rest was ready to kill him. Slowly. Painfully.
Gleefully.
“Now here’s the thing, Trip,” Rufie said as Grub reached his side. “You ratted out on us. Betrayed your Trinity brothers. Not just to the cops, but to some fuckin’ reporter.”
Not yet.
I flashed Rufie a smile. Blood oozed from the corner of my mouth. A bell rang in my head. “What can I say? I’m a prick.”
My Trinity brothers shouted at me. None of it was nice.
Rufie strutted closer, stroking the side of my face with the end of his pipe. “Ya got a price to pay, Trip. A debt. So this is how it’s gonna go down. Y’ gonna call that sweet little piece of cunt of yours an’ tell her to get here now. Y’ gonna tell her everything is okay. And when she gets here, y’ gonna stand still an’ watch Grub have his fuckin’ fun fuckin’ her. Then you’re gonna do the same as your Trinity brothers take their turns. Then, and only then, will I fuckin’ finish you off.”
I snorted. “Finish me off? You?”
Rufie grinned. “Ah, Trip, you have no fuckin’ clue how long I’ve been lookin’ forward to—”
The sound of glass shattering somewhere in the warehouse shut Rufie up. He swung around, pipe raised. Grub cowered, flicking nervous glances at me through swollen eyes. The Trinity members did the same, guns jerking from me to the empty space around them, and back to me.
I gritted my teeth, the roaring my head growing louder.
What was going on? Breaking glass was not part of the plan. I needed more info from Rufie. Like how he’d found out about Lila’s ex-husband. How he’d found me.
Rufie turned back to me. He looked on edge.
I bit back a grunt of cold satisfaction. Good. He needed to be.
“How did you learn about the reporter,” I asked. “Who told you?”
“Y’ think I’m gonna tell y’ that? How fuckin’ dumb do you think I am? This ain’t a Bond movie, Trip.” Sneering at me, he shoved his hand into his hip pocket.