Page 154 of Himbo Hitman
I echo her. “Air ut?”
“I’ll match what was paid for Colin St. Clare. I’m over this whole ordeal. End it.”
She holds up the business card between two fingers. “I’ve actually got plans.”
“I promise it’ll only take a second.” There’s a warning in those simple words. “I won’t even make you clean up your mess.”
Arlie’s hesitation lasts too long, but what the hell else is she supposed to do? Shoot me? Not an option I’m comfortable with.
“Unless you’re more friendly with Perry than you made out?”
Arlie rolls her eyes, pulls out the gun, and stalks toward me instead.
It happens so fast I don’t have time to think beyondfuck, she’s throwing a Tommy. Whether Arlie actually would do it or not is way too uncertain grounds for me to rely on, so instead of waiting to see what she has in mind, I let my instincts take over.
With Luther’s attention on Arlie, he doesn’t see me coming. I push from my chair, set my heavy boot on the edge of Luther’s table, and flip that fucker onto him. It hits Luther somewhere in the midsection before his chair flips, and he goes down under it.
There’s a huge crash as everything slides off onto him, and before Arlie can react, I snap the fake cuffs and tackle her into the ground.
“Perry, what are you?—”
With one hand, I yank down the gag and hiss into her ear, “Pretend to be knocked out.”
Her eyes immediately close.
I’d bet anything Luther has security cameras in here, and it’s still better for us that he doesn’t know we’re in cahoots and are secretly the ones after Carson. Without a second thought, I fish the business card from her pocket and climb to my feet.
There’s a grunt and heavy shifting, but before I can leave, the office door flies open.
The man who’d tried to intimidate me last time barrels through the door, gun out, ready to take me down. I yelp at the sight of him, but my brain is still offline, and before he can turn in my direction, I bulldoze him.
He’s strong. Way too strong. I think I only get him down because I caught him by surprise, but as we wrestle and shove and scratch—well,Iscratch—he’s quickly getting the upper hand. The problem is I’ve never been in a tussle like this in my life, and now that we’re tussling, it’s not as easy as the movies would have you believe. I can barely see. Barely have time to process I’ve been punched before the next one flies at my face.
None of it hurts, so my adrenaline must be running deliciously high. I stop shielding my face, and before the guy on me knows what’s happening, I grab a fistful of hair and pull like I’ve never pulled in my life. Strands snap loose, and the more I pull and he pulls back, Ifeelthe way it’s trying to tear from his fucking head.
Bile rises up at the feeling, but I don’t let go, not even when he aims a bruiser right at my cheekbone. I gag some more, but finally, his head jolts back in my hold, and I get enough space between us that I can bring my knee up hard and fast between his legs.
“Fuck!” he roars. The split-second distraction is enough to throw him off me and scramble back to my feet.
I don’t stop, don’t look around, don’t know where Luther or Arlie are or what they’re doing, but as I yank the door open, hands latch around my wrist.
Luther’s thrown himself across the room to get to me, and he snarls up through bloody teeth. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”
I try to shake him off, but his grip gets painfully tight. I’ve already had to fight more than I have in my life, and asmy ragged breathing gets my head all spinny, I’m acutely aware that this is my last chance to get free, and I gotta use it.
I twist and shake and yank in his hold, sure I’m destroying my shoulder more even though I can’t feel it … and then I remember my gun.
Motherfucker.
My hand closes over Judy, tucked in my waistband, and I bring her out and into contact with his forehead.
“Let me go!”
Luther laughs, eyes unnervingly locked on my face. “You’ve never shot anyone.”
You know what? I’m getting sick of being known for that.
With a flicker ofsomething, I lose my goddamn cool.
