She was panting hard.
“But you didn’t,” I hissed. “I made it out alive and you shouldn’t be on our turf. What did you think was going to happen? You’re right under the casino.”
She hunched her shoulders, attempting to turn her body around.
I shook her hard. “Stop struggling!” I barked. “If you don’t, I’m going to put you in a sleeper hold.” My jaw clenched tight as I was ready to do it.
After my warning, her body relaxed. The straggly ends of her hair covered her face. “Why are you holding me? You can let me go now.” She tried to use this sweet, come-hither voice.
I wasn’t buying it. “Bullshit. Who are you working for, Samantha?” My eyes burned into hers as I held her wrists firmly.
“None of your business.” Her eyes bored into mine.
I pointed my chin up to the sky with a dry chuckle. I saw the same agitation from our last meeting. If I wanted to, this would be the time to sneak a revenge punch in. My rage was still in the tank, buried in the bottom of my stomach. I could literally hear the lick and roar of the flames around me as I came to on that day.
Instead, I drew in a deep breath. “It’s my business because you’re on Rebel Saints turf. Now I’ll ask you again. Who. Are. You. Working. For?” I spit out each syllable.
“Snake. He’s got my back and he told me this was the spot.”
“He told you this was the spot?” Disbelief projected from every pore of my body. “That’s a bad joke. You know this is our turf. I’m going to give you a chance and I shouldn’t after what you did the last time, but I will. Get outta here right now, and stay away from the casino.” I released her arms with the inner knowledge that she might strike. My body remained rigid, anticipating any sudden movements, my breathing was calm.
Her breathing sounded ragged. She saw the tension in me. For once, she didn’t retaliate. “I might.” Her cocky sneer said it all. This was the same chick who used to live with Naomi and study engineering. Someone needed to help me add this up, because it was like bad math to me. “Snake is using you. You’re nothing to him, don’t you see that? He’s using you to get to us. That is all. He will dump you just like he dumps everyone else. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” I delivered the brutal truth to her with coldness.
She looked down her nose at me as she retreated into the dusk of the night. “What do you know? Last time I checked, you were getting beat up by a girl.” She laughed hysterically as she made her way to her vehicle and got in.
My fists were curled and the force of blood rushing through my system took a few seconds to calm. I called Bones as a plume of grey smoke gushed from the back of Samantha’s vehicle.
“Hey.”
“Solved our little problem. Or at least I think I have,” I said with a weary sigh.
“Samantha?”
“Yup. Caught her. She was dealing in the underground parking lot.” I walked in through the double doors to the casino and past the lights from the machines. I headed straight upstairs to the security room.
“You get her to move on? What did she say?” Bones asked.
I climbed the stairs to clock in as I replied, “She wasn’t too excited to see me. I told her that Snake was just using her and she lashed out. The conversation was pretty one-sided, but eventually she went to her car.”
“Safe to say that’s not the last you’ve seen of her. Let me know if I have to get the cops involved. How do you feel seeing her again? You good?”
I knew what Bones was talking about. He felt concerned I would be shaken up and reminded of the fact the woman put me in a coma. I signed in for work before I answered, “I’m okay. Things did cross my mind, but not enough to stop me from getting to her. I’m not afraid of some junkie, if that’s what you mean.” I wanted to nip that in the bud and let him know.
“I wouldn’t think less of you if you were. Just checking in,” he claimed.
I believed him because that’s the type of guy he was. “Thanks, Bones. Anyway man, I gotta get back to it. I just clocked in. I wanted to call and give you the heads up in case you see her around the area.”
“Appreciate that. Have a good shift and see you soon,” he added.
“Later, brother.” I hung up the phone and switched gears back to the casino.
One other security sat in the room eating at the trestle table.
“Hey, man, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Ink.” I held out my hand to the short stocky guy.
He finished the bite of his sandwich and took my hand. “Damien. Nice to meet you. I saw your name on the roster. I thought you were new. How are you finding everything?”
“Pretty good so far. Seems easy enough. How long have you been here?”