A small smile graced her lips then. But she didn’t get up. She was always good at this. The waiting, the thinking to fill that silence. The small tick, tick, tick that echoed in both their minds until one of them exploded.
Boom.
He came at her from behind. A coward’s move, Ray couldn’t help but think as he stepped over her bed and went to grab the back of her hair. She moved before he could by turning on her ass, and grabbing the hand he’d wanted to use and pulling with a strength she’d built over the years.
Her eyes narrowed at his masked face just as she lifted her knee and slammed his chin right atop it. His head jerked back with a sickening crack, making Ray relish the sound. Allowing her to see the way his eyes rolled into the back of his head for a second and he fell. Right on his face, beside her.
Ray blinked at his unconscious figure for a minute, pursing her lips at how easy that had been. She’d expected better of the damned Santos. Her hand reached out then, and she ripped the black hood off his face. His entire body slid off the bed and onto the floor then, making a slippery sort of sound that Ray hated. She shuddered before pushing his head roughly to one side. Strawberry blonde hair and a dark face. Ray reached out to force open his eyelids and saw the dull color of brown.
“Are you done?” a voice crinkled from his earphones, making her jump in surprise, her hand automatically darting to her gun again. She raised her brows when the voice echoed the same words and ripped the earphones out of his ear, keeping it close to hers to hear the words.
“Has terminado? You done?” the voice was male, deep, and almost lazy as it droned through the earphones.
She heard his sigh, “If you are, get her down already, I want to see her face before she dies.”
Ray chuckled quietly, making sure to not blow her cover, as she slowly rose to her feet. She glanced at the man lying on her floor as she tossed the earphones aside,
“What do you say Shadow?” she whispered, “Should we show our faces?”
She didn’t wait for his response. Just grabbed the hem of his black suit and started dragging him out her doors. Or she would’ve if she hadn’t jerked back at how difficult it was. She sighed down at him and grabbed him with both her hands, groaning as she pulled him with a silent curse.
When they reached her stairs, Ray didn’t pause to think.
She just pushed him down.
He slid far more silently than she thought he would. He landed on the cold wooden floors like silk, not making a sound except the light thump of his head. Before heading out, Ray went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. As she drank from the cold glass, she looked at the unconscious man. Wondered if she should do what she was about to do.
But the Santos had never been her end goal after all.
They’d just become far more meddlesome than she liked.
Ray sighed and set the cup on the platform before going ahead and grabbing the man. Ray twisted her door handle with her free hand, took a calm breath in, and let it out.
Easy to die.
Far more difficult to live.
And with that, she pulled the doors open.
Click.
Ray didn’t have to look up to see the guns that rose in her direction. She didn’t bother looking at anyone as she hurled the unconscious man out of her house until he lay atop her porch. It was then she looked up.
And saw a pair of dangerous amber eyes staring right at her.
A smile twisted her lips as he rose a lazy grin. This far, Ray could still see his striking features. Could recognize him almost immediately.
“Hello.” He said, a scent of accent lurking in his words as he looked at her.
Well, at least she hadn’t managed to get blood on herself for the introduction.
In response, Ray shot him a venomous smile and placed a foot on the unconscious man’s body. The man ahead didn’t do a thing as she kicked her shadow off her porch and down onto the cold ground.
“Well,” he said, after a moment’s pause, frowning at her shadow before looking up at her, “That wasn’t what I was expecting.”
Ray blinked.
“Annoyed the golden spoon doesn’t fit your taste,” she said then, her words slithering like a snake as his dark hair swayed with the wind,
