Deciding to give Neon some breathing space, I joined Dutch at the bar. My ass had hardly kissed the seat when Dutch glanced up at me. “You notice anything weird with Manic?”
I froze, my ass only halfway on the leather barstool. “Nope.”
“You sure?”
“Yup.”
Dutch turned in his seat to face me full on. “Are you really sure?”
“Jesus Christ. What are you? A fucking bloodhound?” I held out my hand. “Yo, Dice. Gimme a beer.”
I settled in my seat, yet I could practically feel Dutch’s stare burning holes in the fucking side of my face.
“Dude, you’re staring at me like you’re about to start humping my leg.”
“Something ain’t right around here.”
This time I looked directly at him. “What do you mean?”
“I dunno. It’s just a feeling.”
“Listen, Nostradamus, things haven’t been right around here in a long time, so tell yourfeelingto calm the fuck down.”
Dutch narrowed his eyes, his nose all scrunched up like a dog who just caught a scent. “I noticed you and Neon have been spending a lot of time together without her throwing a boot at you.”
I snorted. “Yeah. I can see why that makes you feel like shit ain’t right around here.”
Dutch snickered before turning back in his seat. “You love her, don’t you?”
I picked up my beer, holding it in front of my mouth. “Yeah. I do.” There was no use in denying it. I’d loved Neon for so long I hardly remembered what it was like before she waltzed in here with her leather boots and kick-ass attitude. Pity it took a tragedy for me to realize it and accept the fact that I wanted no one else but her.
“Good. Now, don’t fuck it up.”
“I don’t plan to.”
Dutch downed the last of his beer before he got up.
“Hey, where you going?”
“I got some people keeping an eye on Boa, just in case Slither pops up on the radar. Need to check in and see if there’s any new intel.”
If only I could tell him he was wasting his fucking time, and that Slither wouldn’t be popping up anywhere. But I just nodded, keeping my secret.
For months, I dreamt about having Slither at my mercy, torturing him, fucking him up in the worst possible ways. Just imagining it thrilled me to no end. But it was turning into a fucking shit show with Crow getting involved, and now having Manic in on it too. This was not how I envisioned it, all these added factors that overcomplicated it. It was supposed to be simple. Torture the fucker. Make him bleed. And then slit his throat…slowly.
Simple.
“Don’t touch me!”
I jerked around when I heard her scream, adrenaline instantly manifesting in my veins. My ass was off the chair and hauling in her direction within a single fucking heartbeat.
Breaking through the crowd, I was just in time to catch her as she stumbled back. “What happened?”
A guy standing a few feet away was clutching his nose, blood spilling through his fingers. “The bitch broke my nose.”
“What?” Trying to steady her against me, I saw the look of horror on her face, like she had just seen a ghost.
Alyx came rushing from the other direction, panic written all over her face. “Neon, you okay?”