“Maybe you shouldn’t provoke me on your first day here.” she said softly as if she were talking to a child. Angel knew that flash in Noah’s eyes. Because the way Raylene Walker spoke, the way her simple words wielded so much mirth and disrespect, anyone could lose their minds.
Now however, Noah scoffed loudly and took a step away from her, sweeping a hand through his hair as he grinned down at her and turned to look back at Kyle,
“I like her.” He said.
“I don’t give a shit,” Kyle snapped but Noah had already turned to the crowd of people, his eyes searching.
Angel couldn’t help the slight tilt of his lips when Noah’s black eyes found his and he grinned maniacally.
Suddenly, Angel was back to the week he’d left home and had stepped into Las Vegas. Noah Hassan had been there when Angel was cleaning up his father’s mess and had offered him a chance to be a part of a dangerous poker game.
One that Angel had won, and Noah had lost.
Now as the two men looked at each other, both knew the strength they both wielded and, in that hatred, they found some mutual understanding. For the time being.
“Santos!” Noah called out and wove through others to get to him. Angel winced with a smile at his attention span but still returned his handshake when he neared him.
“Hassan.” Angel said with a tip of his chin and saw Noah’s grin widen. Like this, he seemed almost harmless, but as Angel matched Ray’s surprised gaze over his shoulder, he knew exactly what he was capable of.
Was unable to decipher it completely though.
Because right then and there, out of nowhere, the hotel that was lit by the bulbs on the chandelier above their head flickered.
Angel froze as one light turned off. Another. One byoneuntil sheer darkness enveloped them, almost choking in nature.
Nobody made a sound, nobody moved as the silence descended on them like a sheet.
Angel’s fingers inched back to the gun tucked in the waistband of his trousers, and in the pitch-black darkness, he heard the shuffling around him. People were grabbing their weapons, one by one, all ready for a situation like this but unnerved, nonetheless. Angel wasn’t breathing, the only sound he could hear was the thumping of his heart.
Thump. Thump. Thump,it went.
And the lights flashed once, making Angel startle in surprise before the darkness swallowed them again. He bent lower in a defensive position, a gun in his hand, a knife in the other.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The lights flashed again, but no one made a sound.
It was in that flash that Angel saw someone or something shuffling far away. It shifted in the dark as well, but just as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the lights flashed again.
Now Angel could hear it. The faint footsteps. The hiss of clothes as someone moved. Lights flashed again and he saw that figure shuffle closer. The dark body neared.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Lights flashed again. The body closer. The footsteps nearer.
Angel breathed out harshly as his eyes cut to Ray’s when the light flashed again. Those honey eyes were looking at him, her stance ready and her lips pursued. The lights blinked in and out of existence again and suddenly that hooded figure was closer to her. Ray had her back turned to the figure when the lights flashed again, making him blink.
Making him almost scream out loud as Ray mouthed only for him to see,
“Run.”She said and Angel’s brows furrowed, his heart beating faster as the light disappeared again.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The lights came on.
And Angel saw the hooded figure right behind her. It was then he saw her eyes narrow, and those lips thin. That figure was close, so,so fucking closeras the lights blinked out again. Leaving them in darkness again.
Someone screamed then, and it was that darkness that started it.
