Chapter 6
Chapter Six
LOKI
Ihave fucking strangers watching me in such different ways that it makes me squirm for different reasons. Haven is curious, but her boy Corvin is suspicious as hell, and his whole demeanor is screaming ‘I’ll cut you ho.’
“Lay off the evil eye bitch. I ain’t here to hurt no one.” My hand goes to the gun tucked in the pocket of my jeans.
“Did she just, you know what, nah.” Corvin pulls a taser out of thin air like a fucking magician and starts shaking it about like a crazy man.
“What we’re not gonna do is start talking crazy. I don’t know you, but I will shock you back to reality.” Haven grabs his arm with one hand and pinches the bridge of her nose with her other hand.
“Corvin, I love you, but Loki has a gun tucked behind her back, so calm down.” That seems to amp the gay man up even more.
“PULL YOUR GUN HO!” So I do.
I point it right at the outrageously gorgeous makeup job he has going on and huff out a sigh.
“I don’t want to kill you, but I will. I’ve got the lives of dozens of women depending on this plan, and unfortunately, the only one alive now to get it done is Haven, so how about we all take a fucking breath and discuss what the hell got my best friend killed.
” The fact that I haven’t had a moment to process the words that I just spoke hit me like a ton of bricks.
My hand starts to shake as shock finally sets in.
“Corvin,” Haven says before my world spins.
I hear the gun hit the floor as my arms pinwheel, trying to stop my fall.
My world goes black.
“Loki, you come in from the back with Nightshade. You stay hidden unless I give the signal. If anything goes wrong, move to plan B.” Mercy glares at me cause she knows I don’t agree with her backup.
Her cousin knows nothing about this life.
Hell, they haven’t even spoken in years. Why on God’s green earth would she want to help us? I grind my teeth but nod at her. I might not like it, but I will follow my President’s orders.
“Mercy, I don’t like this. It feels off.” Nightshade isn’t wrong.
We’ve scoped the place out several times, but we haven’t found a single thing out of place. It’s just too fucking clean. The perfect storm for all hell to break out, but we don’t really have a choice now.
“I’m going in.” Mercy turns her back on us with one last wink in my direction.
It’s the last time I see her alive.
I gasp awake and wipe the cold water off my face.
“WHAT THE FUCK!” I look around, trying to get my bearings and find Haven sitting next to me with her hands up and out of the way while her best friend holds a glass in his hand with his hip cocked and a glare that would freeze hell over.
“Welcome back to the land of the living. Now, talk.” He’s holding my gun in his other hand, which he makes sure to point at me now.
FUCK!
“Alright, take it easy. Mercy gave me a letter for Haven if anything happened to her tonight. I haven’t read it, but it probably explains a good portion of what’s going on.
And if I know my best friend, an apology.
She wasn’t proud of her childish behavior back then, and she missed you something awful.
She always wanted to make it right between you.
” I pull the envelope from my cut and shake it out with a curse.
“That is if your bitch ass didn’t fucking ruin it.” I sigh and hand it to Haven.
“Um, I need a minute.” She stands and walks over to a desk in the corner and turns her back to us.
“Who did your tats?” I raise my eyebrow at Corvin.
“Our Sargent at Arms has a shop.”
Corvin sits down and examines my arm closely.
“You in the military or something?” I roll my eyes, but I lift the sleeve so he can see more of my ink.
“Fuck no. I’m the Vice President of the Royal Harlots. We’re a one-percenter motorcycle club.” Corvin looks even more confused now.
“Like the Mayans?” Great, another person who relies on television or the internet for their life information.
“Nothing like it. That is fiction. I live this lifestyle. We aren’t always on the correct side of the law, but we only do it for good reasons.” He purses his lips and snorts.
“Right, like Jeffrey Dahmer only ate people cause he was hungry.” I shake my head at how short-sighted some people were.
“So narrow-minded. No, Robin Hood. We aren’t beyond stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Or grab guns or drugs that were meant for school zones. We try to better the community.” He sits back and crosses his arms.
“For free?” Ok, he’s got me there.
“Nothing in life is free.” We stare at each other for a minute before he blinks and looks away.
“You got that fucking right.” A sob coming from where Haven is sitting draws our attention back to her.
“Wow, she never cries.” Corvin stands and walks to his best friend.
I stay and watch as they have a quiet conversation, and Corvin takes the note from her.
He starts reading it, and the variety of emotions that cross his face are so expressive that I know the exact moment he reads about tonight’s job.
The paper gets crumpled into his fist as he turns angry eyes at me.
“She died trying to save a bunch of women and children escaping the skin trade. But the cargo container was empty. They double-crossed us, and they will only talk with Mercy. We can still save them.” Haven shakes her head.
“You told her they were secure.” I nod.
“She was dying. I lied. I need your help. Please.” If these people knew that I never ask for help or beg, then maybe my statement would have moved them more, but I’m met with skeptical looks that mirror each other so perfectly, it shows how long they’ve been friends.
“Why? Convince us.” Corvin is back to that guarded tone again.
“I don’t need you. Just her.” His finger comes up as he walks closer to me.
It shakes back and forth with no gesture.
“Nah, we are a package deal. All or nothing. Besides, this bitch can’t get anything done without me.” Corvin looks over his shoulder at Haven.
“My sister and niece are in that container.” I blurt the words out.
“It’s how I met Mercy. She saved me. She was doing this for me. I got her killed.” I hang my head in shame.