She’s not my problem.
And it’s not like Lance isn’t gonna get his jolliessomewheretonight. If she wants to be a fuckin’ idiot and live up to the color of her hair, who am I to mess with nature?
I hate that I recognize the tune on her breath.
Iloathethat her large, vibrant blue eyes lock onto mine just half a beat before Lance’s arm comes up.
“Stand down,” Flynn, Abel’s second in charge, rumbles in my earpiece.Yeah. There are security feeds all over this place.And they seeeverything.“Let nature take its course. This is the food chain, Bishop, and she ain’t your problem.”
Lance’s arm wraps around her throat. He yanks her off her feet and pulls a garbled scream from her chest.
Kicking her heeled feet up, she fights his grasp, but Lance is a fucking animal. He sees nothing but the woman. He knows cameras watch his every move, but he doesn’t give a fuck. He knows I’m somewhere nearby, but he doesn’t care.
Pussy is pussy, and Lance has picked his feast.
“Step back,” Flynn snaps. “You have a job to do. She’s in the wrong place at the wrong time. Don’t fuck this up.”
She screams like someone will swoop in and save her. Long blonde hair flies, and her purse – coveted by thieves, but useless in Lance’s eyes – snaps from her shoulder and lands two feet in front of my blood-stained boots.
I roll the butt of my blade in my hand, kick the flap on her bag open with my boot, and narrow my eyes when a tube of fire-engine red lipstick rolls out.
Focusing on the written details on her photo ID, I work to ignore the screaming and sounds of her heels slamming against the concrete as he drags her toward the shadowed edges.
Let nature takes its course.
I’m not here for her.
She’s not my problem.
According to her ID, she’s local. Leaning closer, I ignore her cries and study her address. Her birthday. Her photo; the freckles IknewI’d find beneath the makeup.
“Get off me!”
I don’t watch her. I don’t dare watch Lance rape this woman who’s older than I gave her credit for. She’s legal. She’s not so far from my age at all.
“Get off me!”
The sound of his switchblade makes my teeth grind.
“Stay where you are,” Flynn’s voice crackles in my ear. “Not a fuckin’ muscle. Let him do what he’s gotta do. We’ll deal with him when he comes back up, but you’re under orders to leave it alone.”
I nod.
They see me. They see every move I make.
Unfortunately for…I read her license… Jessica Ann Lenaghan, she’s going to be Lance’s twelfthfriend.
This month.
Her terrified cries turn to something that borders on rage. Like she already accepted her fate. Like she knows I’m here, and she knows Icouldhelp, but I won’t.
“Get. Off.” She grunts. “Get off me!”
“You’re a feisty bitch, huh?” Palming her ID, I stand tall and move back into the shadows when Lance’s belt buckle snapping open sets my gut on fire. “Good little bitches often are, but they shut up real quick once I show ‘em my cock.”
“No.” I peek around the corner and watch her throw wild fists that simply glide off the side of his head. Each time she hits him, his smile turns up another notch. The fight is half the fun for monsters like Lance. “You take it out…” she screams. “If you so much as touch me with it, I’ll rip it off. Get.” She slams her fist against his chest. “Off.” Slam. “Me!”
Dropping his trousers, that feeling of apathy I was hoping to conjure vanishes, and in its place is my knife in my hand, and my body standing behind his.