“Two guys. With like denim jackets. Like motorcycle guys. One had sunglasses. They know you, Owain. They’re trying to break down the back door.”
“Are you in there? Right now?”
“I’m still here.”
“Get out the back. Run. Go.”
But the door burst open with a loud bang. I screamed and threw the phone. It hit Sunglasses in the chest as he stumbled into the room. He let out a grunt and a growl of anger as he came at me. I tried to get past him, running for the back door, but he caught me and threw me up against a shelving unit. It teetered and fell into the rack next to it. Shirts and packing equipment scattered onto the floor.
I lashed out with my fists and nails. I caught skin along his face and he shouted with rage. I felt something hard slam into my gut and doubled over, all the air shoved from my lungs. I wanted to throw up but all I could do was groan and gasp as Sunglasses grabbed my hair and pulled me back up.
“Should’ve made this easy, bitch,” he said.
I smelled smoke drift in from the other room.
“Asshole.”
“Where’s the pills?”
“What pills?”
He hit my stomach again. I coughed and moaned. He yanked me up again.
“Don’t make me hurt that pretty face,” he said, thumb running down my eye and along my cheek. “I don’t want to cut you bitch, but I will. Where are the pills?”
More smoke, thick and black, billowed into the room. Tooth cackled as he came in.
“This place is going up,” he said. “Fuck you should see it out there. These shirts really burn.”
“God damn, Lenny,” Sunglasses said. “You can’t do shit without burning something.”
“I just loves me some fire.” Tooth grinned at me.
“Last chance,” Sunglasses said. “Where are the pills?”
I opened my mouth to tell him as more smoke rolled past. I breathed it in and started to cough as the caustic black stuff wrecked my lungs and throat. Sunglasses grunted and pushed me down, turning to Tooth.
“Go put that out you dumb fuck,” he said. “If this whole block goes up, we’re fucked?”
“Aw, come on.”
“Go put it out.”
“Asshole.” Tooth shook his head then plunged back into the smoke.
Sunglasses bent and hauled me up to my feet.
“Pills now.” His fist cocked back. “Or I break your pretty nose.”
A gunshot reverberated through the room. It was a burst of explosive force from the front. Sunglasses released me, body turning around. He stumbled backwards, toward the back door, hand reaching for something in his belt.
Owain flew into the room, smoke curling around him. He dropped to one knee and fired twice, the shots like explosions. I covered my ears as bullet holes bloomed in Sunglasses’ chest. He staggered back then slumped down to the ground as red pooled around his legs.
I opened my mouth to scream but coughed instead. Owain turned to me and shoved his gun back into his belt. “Are you okay?”
I nodded through my coughing. He pulled me to my feet then whipped out his cellphone. He dialed a number as he walked me toward the back door.
“Rolan. Get all the guys. Fire at the store.” Short pause as he shoved open the door. “Get over here and put it out.” He pulled me into the alley behind the shop and flipped his phone shut.
I doubled over coughing. He stood and looked around, arms crossed over his chest, waiting for me to get it together. I leaned against the cool brick of the buildings across the alley and coughed until my stomach muscles couldn’t take it anymore.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I think so.” I took a big, gasping breath of fresh air. “Yeah. I think I’m okay.”
“Fire isn’t bad. It’s mostly just shirts, but it’s going to be a fucking mess.”
“Should we call the fire department?”
“My guys will handle it. And they’ll make that dead fuck disappear.” Owain turned from me and I could see his body tense.
“Who were they? What was that? The guy you killed—”
“They’re nobody.” He bowed his head and took a deep breath.
“They said they were following you.”
He turned again and I saw the rage in his eyes. “What else di they say?”
“Just that they were following you and knew you brought stuff into the back room.”
His jaw clenched. “Fuck. I didn’t expect this.”
“Who were they?”
“Members of the Jackals motorcycle club.”
“A motorcycle club? Like a freaking motorcycle gang?”
“Yeah, like that shit you see on TV.”
“Jesus, Owain. What the hell?”
He shook his head. “Me and their leader go back a while. And we don’t get along.”
“I see that.”
“But this is too far. He’s never come at me like this before.”
“They were going to kill me.”
His eyes softened, just a touch. I straightened and took another shuddering breath then stepped toward him. The alley was damp and narrow. A pile of trash bags leaned against a dumpster to the left. Cars moved past on the street twenty feet away.
“I wouldn’t let that happen.”
“If you hadn’t come—”
“But I did.”
“You didn’t tell me you were bringing me into a war.”
“I didn’t know.”
I clenched my fists. “They burned my store.”
“We’ll fix it.”
“Owain. This is too much.”
“You want to back out now, little diamond?” His eyes were like fire as he came closer. I too ka step back and stomped into something damp. I chewed on my lip as my back pressed against the brick wall.
“I… just think it’s dangerous.”
“It was always dangerous.” He stood inches away from me, his body rippled with muscle.
He killed a man in front of me two minutes ago.
“I tried not to give you up.” I looked away, down toward the ground. “I tried to stall them.”
He softened a touch. “I see that. You locked yourself in the back and called me.”
“Yeah. I thought it was the only way.”
“You could’ve given them the stash. I would’ve have blamed you.”
I shrugged a little. “I need to earn my cut, right?”
A smile slowly spread across his face. “Little diamond. You somehow manage to impress me more and more every day.” He leaned down and I could smell his body, a mixture of grass and smoke.
I tilted my chin toward him. Maybe it was the smoke, maybe it was my gut still aching from where I got punched.
Or maybe it was the fast that he just saved my life. There’s no doubt in my mind that those two men would’ve killed me.
They weren’t the kind of men that left witnesses.
His lips came toward mine. I reached out and touched his face. I thought I was stopping him.
Instead, I guided him closer and let him kiss me.
It spread through my body like a wave. Desire, confusion, revulsion, anger. I held him there and returned that kiss as his tongue and taste flooded my lips. I wanted more, felt my heart racing, my body aching and reacting in a way I’d never experienced before.