Chapter 8
HATCH
Iburst out of the booth in the next second and run straight into a fucking wall.
“What the hell did you do?” the wall—aka the executioner—asks, crossing his arms and trying to look as menacing as possible.
Well, “trying” is the wrong word. The executioner is fucking menacing, but unfortunately for us both, I’m in a bit of a hurry.
“Get the fuck out of my way.”
“She ran from you crying.”
“Gee, I hadn’t noticed,” I growl, trying to look around him only to catch a glimpse of blond curls disappearing into the crowd. “Now move.”
The club hasn’t slowed down at all, but there’s a break between sets, so instead of congregating around the center stage, patrons mill between tables and the bar. I shove forward to follow her, but the bouncer side steps right back into my path.
“I said move, asshole.”
“Sorry. Can’t do that. Not until you tell me why one of the sweetest girls in this club ran like a bat outta hell from her first private dance.”
Her first.
I fucking knew it.
Whatever she saw in me, she deemed me worthy of being her first anything, and I blew it.
My jaw tics.
I have half a mind to stab this guy in the jugular just to get to her faster so I can fix this.
But he’s protecting Lucy. If he’s the one who’s kept her happy and safe all this time… well, fuck, I guess I’ll have to let the bastard live. She trusts him, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for how she feels about me right now.
Because what the fuck was that reaction?
Did she actually think I’d drug her?
She wasn’t just freaked out over the syringe—which, admittedly, had to be an unnerving discovery in a place like this. But there was something about the way she looked at me that stood my hair on end. She looked terrified and… gone. Like the syringe itself took her somewhere else entirely.
Somewhere I desperately need to figure the fuck out.
“Look, I don’t know what happened,” I relent. “Not exactly. But if you let me through, I’ll make it right.”
A strobe flashes beneath his hood over his furrowed brow, and I can’t tell if he wants to kill me or if he just naturally looks like a cold-blooded murderer. I’m guessing maybe a little column A, a little column B.
Slowly, he shakes his head. “If she ran from you, I’m not letting you near her again—”
A yelp sharp enough to cut through the music knifes down my spine.
We both turn at once, and at the sight of Lucy in Frog’s clutches, one arm around her waist and the other digging into her ass, I’m already moving, slipping past him and barreling through the crowd.
“Aw, come on, Alice. Give me a little kiss.”
“No, please, just let me go. I-I-I have a set coming up.”
“Can’t do that, sweet cheeks. Not before I get what I want. That’s all ol’ Froggy needs. Just one… wait, a minute. Have we—”
I come around behind him and grab the fucker by the few wisps of hair he’s got left. He releases her on a shout of fear as I line my knife up beneath his Adam’s apple and—
“Stop!”
I blink, freezing at the soft touch on my bicep and the way Lucy’s plea cut through the haze.
More voices yell in the background of my foggy mind.
“Dorman, what the fuck, dude? You let him keep his knife?”
“Sorry, man. Guess he pulled one over on me.”
I blink faster as the whole scene slams into me at once.
I’ve got Frog sobbing against my knife at his throat, and Lucy clutching my arm, pleading with me. I’m not sure which part I hate more. The fact that one of the murder-laced visions I’ve had since I was thirteen is very fucking real, or that Lucy’s stopping it from happening.
For him.
“You want me to let this fucker go?” I snarl.
She nods quickly, eyes wide with fear, and my stomach twists with the knowledge I put it there.
But then her gaze flicks to the skybox and back to me.
“He’s not worth making enemies, Hatter.”
Oh. Oh.
She’s not afraid of me.
She’s afraid for me.
Aw. Bless her heart.
I bark a laugh. “Trust me, bunny. I can take care of myself. It’s you I’m worried about. Perverts like this don’t deserve to live in your world.”
“Let me go!” the aforementioned pervert squeals like a pig. “O-Or Castle will have your head—”
“Yeah, no. If any head’s gonna roll, it’ll be yours, fucker.” I draw my arm back, but Lucy’s hand tightens around my bicep.
Damn, that pole has given her some gnarly grip strength. She didn’t hold my hand nearly this hard when I spun her around six months ago.
“Please? Don’t make me ask again.” There’s an edge to her voice I don’t like, and I relax a fraction for her benefit. My muscles ease even more when that edge sharpens as she glares at the toad that dared touch her. “Don’t force me to beg for his life.”
Her expression twists with the same disgust rolling through me. The last thing I want is her standing here pleading for some drunk asshole because of me.
“Fine, but he can’t just get off scot-free.” I spit. Then a smile spreads over my face as an idea forms. I tug Frog’s head farther back. “Apologize to the lady, and I’ll let you go.”
“I’m not doing shi—”
I jerk him up so he’s almost on his tiptoes, blubbering while my voice is cool as a cucumber. “I said, apologize to the lady, you fucking chode toad.” I press the knife higher beneath his jaw. “And if you do it just right, maybe I’ll let you have a taste of your new lover.”
He blinks in confusion, but then his drunk ass considers my proposition, licking his thin lips and as a triumphant grin stretches across his face.
Fucking disgusting.
He tries to look for Lucy, but I slice the knife higher into his neck and yank his greasy hair harder until all he can see is the ceiling.
“Don’t look at her. Never look at her again, you hear me? You don’t deserve to look at her. Now. A-pol-o-gize.”
“S-sorry, Alice,” he stutters out.
I glance at Lucy, enjoying every ounce of hate in her expression.
“Sorry for…?” I prompt lightly. “Sorry for touching her with your dirty hands? Sorry for thinking you deserve an ounce of her air? Sorry for assuming she’d want any-fucking-thing to do with you?”
His flabby cheeks tighten as he grits his teeth.
Then he licks his lips again and I can already tell I would’ve hated whatever bullshit would come out of his mouth, so I let the knife cut a paper-thin line across his throat.
He howls like a fucking baby.
“I asked you what you’re sorry for, toad.”
“A-All of it! I’m s-sorry! S-sorry for all of it!”
“Hm.” I tilt my head. “That’ll have to do.”
I drag the knife away, enjoying his sharp hiss of pain as it leaves one last slice. Then I steer him by his hair and walk him the few steps to the bar.
“Now for introducing your new lover. Toad? Meet bar.” I shove his face toward the oak. “Now kiss.”
He screams when I slam him mouth-first into the wood and let go on the ricochet. His wail of pain drips from his bloody mess of a mouth, and he stumbles backward, crashing into the table behind him and knocking a lamp to the floor.
It all happens in the span of a few song beats, but before Dorman can reach him, my knife’s ripped from my hand and my arm is twisted behind my back in an armhold that’s getting uncomfortably familiar. Considering it’s happened twice in one night and all.
“Don’t hurt him!” Lucy shouts as I’m shoved over the bar again, headbutting another lamp. Starbursts of pain explode behind my eyes, but my heart squeezes at the panic in her voice.
“For fuck’s sake,” the executioner huffs behind me. “I’ve given you so many chances, Hatter. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I guess I’m thinking, why the fuck do the rules only apply to one fucking person?” I sneer as my vision refocuses.
The bouncer sighs heavily. “I have your knife, and I’m walking you out without any more problems.” He says the last with emphasis. “Fuck up before we get to that door, and I’m using it on you. Got it?”
“You think I care?” I laugh, feeling a touch unhinged over the injustice of my own blade digging into my back.
His voice drops low enough for only me to hear. “I think you care if she sees it happen.”
That makes me still, and he loosens his grip just enough for me to turn my head and find Lucy. She stands in front of the crowd with her arms crossed over her waist, curled in on herself as she worries her lip. It’s red and raw… fuck, she’s gotta be close to breaking skin.
That alone has me forcing myself to calm down. But then Dorman hauls Frog upright again, and the coughing, wheezing fucker starts swearing and threatening everyone around us. It doesn’t matter that he’s slurring so much I can’t make any of it out, my rage swells right back up anyway.
“I ain’t leaving without a fight,” I growl over my shoulder. “Not when he’ll still be in here.”
The bouncer’s eyes cut toward Frog, and I swear I see a flash of hate as the guy tries to jerk his arm away from Dorman. But the bastard immediately stumbles again and has to catch himself on a flamingo-waiter’s empty cart.
“Get him outta here!” Frog slurs. “Or Cassstle will have all of your headsss!”
Lucy jolts at his shout, and I’d probably break my own arm trying to get to him if the bouncer didn’t dig my knife farther into my back, holding me in place.
“I’ll have your head myself if you ever touch her again!” I yell back, gnashing my teeth.
Frog hops back in fear, and Dorman has to catch him to keep him from eating shit again.
Jesus, this guy is so goddamn wasted, I doubt he’ll even remember I tried to kill him tonight. Shame, really.
The bouncer hauls me to standing and growls in my ear, “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of him. But you can’t do shit if I have to kill you first.”
I almost dare him to try.
Then I catch Lucy’s gaze again. The furrow in her brow above her mask, how her eyes have gone glossy, the way her fingers dig into the crook of her arm.
I don’t like the bouncer, but he was right.
Normally I wouldn’t care if I die. I haven’t since I was thirteen.
But I don’t want Lucy seeing it. Even though I don’t know her trauma, I know she’s been through enough already.
And I’m definitely not leaving her alone with these wolves to fend for herself—which is exactly what’ll happen if I’m dead.
“Fine,” I bite out. “Lead the way.”
The executioner mutters something about asking for a raise, but I barely hear it as I search for Lucy again.
Everything I want to say catches in my throat. An apology for fucking up with the syringe. An apology for not getting to her before Frog did. Hell, an apology that she had to run here in the first place.
But she takes one look at me and retreats—again, and her short body disappears into the crowd.
“Wait! Lu—shit!”
My knife slices into me just beneath my shoulder blade, and I grunt. One, because she’s gone, and two, because that actually really fucking stings.
“Come on, Romeo,” the bouncer says dryly. “You can tell her your sweet nothings outside the club—if she’ll have anything to do with you. But one wrong move and you won’t get the chance. Let’s go.”
He doesn’t give me time to argue as he marches me through the crowd with one hand fisted in the back of my motorcycle jacket and the other keeping my knife lodged against my spine.
Once we reach the back exit, he yanks the door open and shoves me outside.
The cool, muggy wind carries sea salt and something fetid. The stink hits me in the face so hard I gasp, but it’s the burst of clarity I needed. The heat of rage evaporates, leaving nothing but cold calculation.
I turn and peer past the executioner, wishing I saw blond curls and hazel-blue eyes looking back at me. But Lucy’s gone.
Frog is too, actually, from what I can tell, and the club’s already back in full swing. Like I didn’t almost kill a man on their floor in the middle of “Twisted” by MISSIO.
Fucking weird that they’d just go on without missing a beat. Even for a place like this.
I exhale and hold out my hand for my knife, but the bouncer just twirls it around his fingers and slides it into his belt loop.
“I’ll be keeping this for the time being.”
Whelp, the rage is back.
“The fuck, dude? This isn’t high school English, and that ain’t a cell phone. Give me back my knife.”
“You’ll get it back. I’ll just have it for safekeeping.”
“You mother—”
“The exit’s that way.” He points toward the docks past the only opening out of the dead-end alley. “Careful of the lights.”
I almost swing on him for fucking with me right now, but there’s something weighted beneath the words that makes me pause.
I glance over to where he’s pointing at the dim streetlamps lining the dock with bulbs that flicker like gas flames. Then I frown, turning back to him.
“What’s wrong with the lights?”
“Well… the streetlamps work just fine except at the end there.” He nods toward a gaudy gold-and-green speedboat docked near the end.
“Those are Castle’s men’s slips. I’d steer clear of them.
Especially since no one’s gotten around to fixing the streetlamps on that side and they turn off every night at two on the dot. Same time the club closes.”
My eyes narrow as I pull my phone out long enough to check the time.
“So… it’s not too much longer before that part of the dock’ll be…”
“Practically pitch black.” He nods. “Yup. I’d hate for someone to get hurt walking back to his boat. Any ol’ bastard could hide behind one of those shipping crates and get the jump on you.”
“Yeah… okay.” I nod slowly. “Thanks for the tip.”
“Sure.” He shrugs. “Anyway, don’t expect Alice to be out any time soon, either. She likes to decompress after work, and…” He trails off, then presses two fingers to his ear.
Wait. Is he wearing a headset? How the fuck did I miss that? I mean, the hood covered it, sure, but still. Has somebody been listening to us this whole time?
Fuck.
I lose all my vigilance and every survival instinct I have when it comes to this girl. That has got to stop.
Moonlight filters across the executioner’s scowling brow as he presses a button on his watch and speaks into it. “Got it, boss. Be right up.”
Good. If he has to press a button, at least whoever’s on the other end can’t hear him twenty-four-seven. Theoretically.
The executioner exhales heavily and juts his chin behind me. “It’s time for you to go.”
“And… Alice?” I ask, catching myself just before I say her real name.
“She’s safe. With me. Has been for a whole month,” he says, and maybe I’m just a crazy jealous asshole, but I swear I hear a smile in his voice. “She’ll be safe for one more night. I promise.”
Then he shuts the door in my face, leaving me weaponless in the lonely dark.
I sigh.
I’m really gonna have to figure out whether I need to kill that guy or not.