Cruel

by Raven Kennedy

  But then the driver cursed, and the world shifted. Suddenly, the only thing I could hear was crushing metal and screeching tires and gravity seemed to bend. The car was rolling, my head bouncing against the roof as shattered glass brushed along my bloodied lip.

  I was weightless, floating in the car as we moved. Johnny Jack went limp, his head rolling as the gun dropped from his grip. I knew everything was happening fast, but it felt so slow. The force of our rolling pushed me into the lap of the girl who was sitting in the seat beside me. As soon as I crashed into her, she wrapped her arms around me, screaming into my neck as the loud noise echoed in my ears.

  I thought the world would never stop churning. It felt like we would be caught in this current of noise, blood, and broken glass forever as we continued to flip. I squeezed my eyes shut tight, and I held onto the girl as tightly as she held onto me.

  And then finally, the car came to a stop. Even once the car was done moving, the girl’s shrill pleas for help seemed to go on forever. My ability to process it all was slipping. I couldn’t see. Losing awareness wasn’t a gradual thing. One moment I knew I was going to die, and the next moment, I was certain that I was dead.

  Thirty-Eight

  Rogue

  Goddamn, everything hurt. I felt like I’d been hit by a freight train.

  Every time I tried to get up, O’Banion delivered another blow. When his boot connected to my ribs, I choked on my own blood and spat it back out at him.

  He knelt down in front of me where I writhed on the ground. “Would you look at that,” he said with a grin. “These blue-blooded boys bleed red just like everyone else!” he cackled, and I heard several other of the lackeys chuckle with him.

  I heard Scarlett scream, and the sound stabbed into my soul. It was the worst fucking sound I’d ever heard. I struggled to sit up, but I only managed lifting up onto one elbow before he was on me again, pressing his shoe against my neck as he stood up to hover over me.

  I couldn’t get to her. I couldn’t fucking get to her, and it was killing me.

  “Scar!”

  A kick landed to my face, catching me in the cheekbone and making me see stars.

  I heard a car door slam, and Scarlett’s screams were cut off. That sound was worse.

  O’Banion tsked at me from above. “You know, your boy Luis Salvador over there—he cut Johnny Jack. No one fucking cuts Johnny and lives to see the day.”

  He looked over his shoulder to talk to someone else. “Line these boys right up. The Heirs like to stick together, ain’t that right?” More chuckles sounded, and then Godfrey, Luis, and Bonham were dumped onto the ground next to me. “It’ll look bad, killing them all. But we can plant some drugs in their car. Rob ‘em. Make it look like a drug deal gone bad.”

  I couldn’t turn my neck, because the motherfucker still had his boot on me, but I saw that the guys were in bad shape. Bonham was passed out cold from the gunshot wound to his foot. Godfrey had a wound on his arm and was bloodied and bruised. Luis looked like he’d been up against a professional boxer, and kept spitting out blood. I knew that I didn’t look much better.

  I heard an engine start up, and then the car sped away. Panic consumed me, just as thunder cracked through the air like a goddamn whip. Lightning flashed and the clouds churned, ready to unleash on us.

  “Where is she?” I managed to get out, even with O’Banion’s sole pressing against my windpipe. I already knew, but I needed to hear it.

  Godfrey was closest to me, so it was him that answered around a split lip. “Car. Johnny Jack,” was all he could get out between gasping breaths.

  My furious eyes snapped up to O’Banion. “I’ll fucking kill every single one of you if he touches her.”

  O’Banion and the others laughed, like that was the funniest shit they’d ever heard. I didn’t care that we were outnumbered, that we were beaten and bloodied. I meant what I said. I’d bury them all. I’d fucking end them.

  He must not have liked the look in my eyes, because he finally moved his foot off and then aimed a kick at my gut, making me curl onto my side and grunt in pain. “I been watchin’ you boys for months. Johnny Jack knew you were up to somethin’, but holding evidence? Now that was just plain stupid. You had to be thinkin’ real highly of yourselves if you didn’t know you’d end up exactly like this.”

  “She’s got nothing to do with it,” I choked out.

  O’Banion shrugged. “We make some good money in the sex trade, boy. She’ll be a real nice addition for us, and we got her, thanks to you. We don’t often get good merchandise like her, but don’t worry, she’ll have company. We got Rocco Nomar’s daughter, too. Who knows? Maybe we’ll sell ‘em as a set,” he chortled, pleased as hell with himself.

  I saw fucking red.

  Before I knew it, I was on my feet, beating the shit out of O’Banion, ignoring the crack in my bones as I railed hit after hit. But my revenge was short lived. I was suddenly brought down to my knees by two other guys, and the cool metal of a gun was pressed against my temple.

  I could barely see through my swollen and busted eyes as I looked up at O’Banion, but I grinned cruelly at the blood that I’d taken from his face. I wanted more. I wanted to drain the fucker dry.

  He held his arm under his nose as it poured with blood. Even in this piss-poor light, I could tell that I’d broken it. I’d break his fucking body next.

  “You little shit,” he said, his eyes furious.

  There was no point in trying to get away from the guys who held me back. One more move, and I knew the gun at my temple would go off.

  “Johnny Jack was thinkin’ about ransoming you four, you know,” O’Banion said. “But accidents happen, right? There’s no harm in takin’ you out. I’ll enjoy slittin’ your fuckin’ throat like you did to our man before you threw him in your lake.”

  “Fuck. You,” I spat.

  O’Banion came at me.

  The knife was aimed right at my jugular. I took in a staggered breath, knowing I was about to be choking on my own fucking blood.

  But the knife in his hand never made it to my throat. A gun went off. Time stopped.

  Instead of blackness taking over me—instead of my brains blowing out of my skull and landing on the asphalt, it was O’Banion who fell forward with half of his face missing. He was dead before he hit the ground.

  A succession of guns went off, and the guys who’d been holding me dropped, and I dropped with them. Then, there was nothing but silence.

  Shoving the dead men off of me, I crawled over to Godfrey and Luis. Luis had taken off his shirt and was using it to bind Bonham’s still bleeding foot. Johnny Jack’s guys were littered all around us, lifeless and filled with holes that pumped blood out of their bodies.

  I looked over at the sound of footsteps and there was Rocco. “Evenin’ boys. Sorry I’m late.”

  “You motherfucker,” Godfrey snarled, but when he tried to get up, he stumbled back down with a grimace.

  “Easy,” Rocco said, watching him as his men circled around, checking to make sure all of Johnny’s guys were dead. Some of them earned a few more bullets into their skulls.

  “They took her, and they have your daughter too.”

  My words were a garbled rush, but the urgency in my tone made Rocco’s eyes snap to mine. “What?”

  “They have your daughter, and they have my girl!” I shouted, trying to make him hurry the fuck up before it was too late. If Johnny Jack went underground, I’d never find her.

  Like he’d just now noticed that Johnny Jack wasn’t here, Rocco looked around wildly. “Which way?”

  It was Luis who answered. “North. Only about three minutes ago.”

  The longest three minutes of my fucking life.

  In the next thirty seconds, half of Rocco’s men were gone, their car peeling out to catch up with Johnny Jack, and Rocco himself went with them. The other half hauled our battered asses into the second car.

  “Shit, Kelly. You gotta stay awake, man. Don’t p
ass out.”

  I didn’t realize that I was leaning on Luis with my eyes closed. I was too busy groaning and trying not to puke. Scar. Fucking hell, I should have locked her up somewhere. I was wrong in bringing her here, thinking she’d be safer at my side. So fucking wrong. I got cocky and she was suffering the consequences.

  The driver hit the gas pedal to the floor, and we flew down the Savannah streets after Rocco’s car. “Shit man, there they are.”

  I cracked open a swollen eye to stare at who was talking. Luis sat next to me, and I could tell the way he held his arm that his shoulder was dislocated. Bonham was bleeding all over the truck, still passed out, and Godfrey was swaying in the seat as he finished tightening Luis's makeshift T-shirt tourniquet for Bonham’s foot.

  I saw Rocco’s car ahead of us and then Johnny’s car farther up, in the distance. It was swerving in and out of the sparse traffic, barely maintaining control.

  “Does it look like they’re headed for the warehouse district?” I asked. If they got on the highway, it would be impossible for us to catch up to them.

  “Take a right here. I know a shortcut. They’re gonna try to enter the highway at the Red Rose exit. We’re gonna cut them off.” I could hear how slurred my voice was and knew it was a matter of moments until I lost consciousness. My skull felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it.

  I could feel everyone’s weary eyes on me, so I forced myself to sit a little taller. “Do it,” I ordered with a growl. The driver let out a disapproving exhale, but seemed to trust my opinion because he turned the wheel. We hugged each curve of the back streets as I spouted off directions. I could barely see shit as my vision flickered, but I knew these streets, knew my gut. “Take River Street,” I barked. “And hurry the fuck up.”

  In my haze, there was one thing I knew for certain. We only had a small window of opportunity. “The moment we hit Main Street and cross the intersection, they should be right there. If we time it good enough, we should be able to clip their car and stop them.”

  “Are you fucking stupid?” the driver exclaimed, looking at me through the rearview mirror. “At these speeds, we’ll wreck.”

  “That’s the point,” I groaned.

  “I’m not wrecking on purpose!”

  Luis growled in frustration beside me. Then, without warning, he leaned forward, grabbed the unused seatbelt with his non injured hand, and wrapped it around the driver’s neck. “Fucking do what Rogue said, or I’ll cut off your air, toss your stupid ass out, and drive this fucking car myself,” he snarled.

  The driver’s hands left the wheel to claw at the belt around his throat, making the car swerve violently. Rocco’s other guy, who was sitting in the passenger seat, leaned over and steadied the steering wheel. “You crazy ass motherfuckers!” he screamed.

  “Yep, we are,” Godfrey announced. “So tell your buddy to listen, or I’ll put your head through the fucking windshield.”

  The guy shook his head with exasperation. “Motherfucking Heirs,” he snarled under his breath, before smacking the driver on the chest. “Just fucking do it, dude.”

  Luis instantly let go of the seatbelt, and the driver coughed, taking hacking breaths as his hands went back to the steering wheel.

  When I cocked a brow at him, Luis just shrugged his good shoulder. That was one thing about being an Heir. We always had each other’s backs. Even if it meant I wanted to purposely wreck a car at ridiculous speeds.

  The driver listened to my every direction, and at the last turn, our car came careening out of a back alley, right onto the highway, and right in front of Johnny Jack’s car.

  “Do it!” I screamed, just as the entire sky lit up with lightning, and a huge boom of thunder ripped open the clouds and rain began to pour.

  When the driver hesitated, I launched myself up, gripped the steering wheel, and turned hard.

  Our cars collided with the terrible sound of metal against metal and glass shattering. Our car went flipping, and our bodies tumbled with it. When my head finally cracked against the ceiling of the car, darkness swallowed me whole. Scar’s name was stuck in my blood-slicked throat.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  I could feel strong hands gripping under my arms and dragging me across the wet pavement as rainfall poured down on my face. Shattered glass was imbedded into my skin and there was an odd sensation in my shoulder. If felt like when I popped it out of its socket during gymnastics a couple years ago, but worse. Like something had torn. It was a ripping sensation, burning at the joint as whoever was pulling me from the rubble tugged me backward.

  My vision was mostly black dots, but slowly, the world came into view. And damn, what a fucked up world I saw. Debris, flames, crushed glass, and twisted metal, all caught in the torrent of Savannah’s angry sky.

  “Come on, Scar. Just hold on a little longer,” a voice said. I think it was Luis, but I wasn’t sure. There was a loud ringing in my ear, so shrill that I wanted to bite down to stop the constant noise. But when I gritted my teeth together, a sharp pain shot through my jaw. I’d probably cracked a tooth.

  Luis vaguely sounded like he was in pain, grunting with each tug of my body as sirens in the distance closed in on us. I opened my eyes and had to blink away the salty moisture gathering behind my lids as I coughed on the smoke coming from Johnny Jack’s car.

  “There was a girl,” I said through clenched teeth, wincing again when I felt the shooting pain on my incisor tooth. It was definitely cracked.

  “Godfrey’s got her.”

  Godfrey was alive? Thank God.

  That damn ringing started harmonizing with the approaching sirens, making me want to hold my palms over my ears to stop its assault on my brain.

  I turned to look at the mess that was once a car. The way the metal was bent, I was amazed that I’d made it out alive. I watched while Luis dragged me backwards, shocked when I saw Rocco step up to the car, glass crunching beneath his black leather boots.

  “Where’s Rogue?” I choked out as Luis finally stopped tugging me. He dropped to his knees and positioned me so that my head was cradled in his lap. He began checking over my face and brushing his fingers over my shoulder, trying to block me from the rain as it flooded down. A sharp yet tingling pain shot through my limbs when he pressed on my collarbone, and he drew back when I screamed. My vision blurred from both rain and tears.

  “Fuck. That might be broken,” I gasped.

  “Ya think?” Luis shook his head and wiped the rain from his brow and slicked back his sopping wet hair. “I’ll admit, this isn’t your best look, Scar,” he said with a light chuckle. I knew the moment that forced laugh escaped his lips that he was avoiding my question.

  “You didn’t answer me. Where is Rogue?”

  His expression sobered. “Rogue’s okay. We were in the car that hit you. He’s gonna need to go to the hospital. The ambulance will be here soon, Babe. Hold on, okay?”

  “Shouldn’t you be with him?”

  “He’d have my ass if I weren’t here with you.”

  A shout drew my attention back to the mangled car. The sirens were getting closer.

  Rocco looked over at the car as he walked up to the passenger side. With a growl, he leaned inside. In a flash, he yanked Johnny Jack’s limp body through the window and onto the concrete. Johnny was bent at an odd angle, like his spine had broken right down the middle. Rocco leaned over and grabbed Johnny’s face in his hands. I couldn’t hear what he was saying over the ringing still going on in my ears and the dissonance in my brain, but I saw the way spit was flying from Rocco’s lips. I could see how his skin was a deep shade of red. I could see the murder in his eyes.

  Johnny was barely conscious, if at all. But I could feel his resignation from here. Conscious or not, he knew he was about to die. He reeked of helplessness. And just as the sirens grew loud enough to be just around the corner, Rocco took hold of his neck and twisted it with a sharp jerk, effectively killing Johnny Jack with a snap, just like that.

&nb
sp; Luis and I watched in horror, and I felt Luis shake beneath me, from either the cold rain, fear, adrenaline, or all three. But I was fading out of consciousness again. Luis stroked my sodden hair away from my face and swiped my wet cheeks. “Please hold on, Scar. I can’t lose you,” I thought I heard him whisper, right before my vision dimmed.

  The next thing to attack me were questions. My body flickered in and out of awareness.

  “Does she have an allergies?” a commanding female voice asked.

  “She’s allergic to amoxicillin and shellfish,” Luis answered automatically, and if everything didn’t hurt so damn bad, I would have felt warm and fuzzy at his astute memory of me.

  “You’re gonna need to let go of her, but move gently, we don’t know how extensive the damage is.”

  “It hurts,” I moaned as Luis began to shift. The thudding agony grew with each breath, each hitch and exhale made me burn with a searing pain. Another voice off to my side gathered my attention.

  “This man will need to be careflighted!”

  “What?” I moaned while hands felt around my arms and legs. I tried to lift up my neck, but a stab of pain made me instantly collapse back down and I saw stars. Tears pricked my eyes. “Rogue? Is it Rogue?”

  “Shh, it’s alright, Babe. Just hold still,” Luis said, but his voice sounded shaky. So unlike the usual playful suredness.

  “Please let him be okay,” I sobbed, even as the pain in my ribs and head flared.

  I looked off to the side, and saw Godfrey with the mystery girl across his lap. She looked unconscious, but it was obvious that he’d been the one to pull her from the burning car. He was looking down at her, his lips moving, but I couldn’t tell what he was saying.

  “Bonham?” I asked, looking back up to Luis.

  “He’s okay,” he assured me.

  “Are you?” I asked, my voice too high and unsteady.

  He gave me a small smile. “Don’t you worry about us Heirs, Scar. We always make it through.”