1
R aylene Walker had always slept peacefully. There hadn’t been a single time when she’d plagued by her nightmares or any other useless thoughts. Somehow, she was the type that could sleep through fucking bomb blasts. The thing is, with the life she’d begun to lead, that hadn’t been the best of signs for her safety. So, staying alive was not only strenuous but also…
Annoying.
Don’t get it wrong, she didn’t necessarily want to die. Just believed that she didn’t want to go out by being stabbed to death in her sleep.
Tonight, however, was a bit different.
Ray sat on her bed today, staring at a screen with a tub of ice cream in her lap as she caught up on a show, she hadn’t had a chance to watch. She hadn’t had the time with all the planning, the killing, the…
You know how it was.
She yawned and licked the ice cream off her spoon as another episode automatically rolled in. It was dark in her room, darker than it was outside. The moonlight didn’t seem to be in the mood to shine bright today. She touched her spoon back into the tub, trying to focus on her show when the spoon clacked against its surface, displaying its emptiness. Ray glanced down, a frown marring her face as she eyed the empty container.
Just as she was about to decide whether to go get another tub, her gaze flickered to one side, catching the briefest shift in the shadows of the room.
Her only sign of surprise was a blink .
The shadows moved again, the minutest of all movements, so quiet.
So stupid .
Ray relaxed her shoulders, keeping her eyes fixated on the flashing screen. Her head shifted to one side, the quietest of all gestures as she breathed out an even breath.
And it would’ve been fucking perfect.
If it weren’t for her damn phone.
As soon as it blared, Ray made the mistake of glancing at the shadow and immediately cursed herself for it. She saw the shadow pause and they both her knew her cover was blown. It took a moment for them to jerk into action. Ray’s movement was faster than the shadow’s when she grabbed a hold of the spoon in her hand and threw it right at the shadow that lurked in the corner of her open window. At the very second, from the very direction she’d thrown her spoon in, a knife came hurling at her.
Ray didn’t have time to think, let alone breathe, as she ducked and grabbed her phone. The knife buried itself in her headboard. A surprise groan filled the air just as she slipped to the other side of her bed and clasped her hands on her ear, knowing what was coming.
And it came in like a damn storm.
The strong wind rushed into her room with a loud howl.
And with it, came the bullets that brought her entire house down.
Bang! Bang!
The bullets zoomed all around her, ruining her bed, ruining her house as the damned phone kept blaring in her hand.
“Fuck,” Ray snarled when she saw the caller ID. The bullets wouldn’t stop, knew they wouldn’t for a while. But she didn’t have time to stay in the same place for a while .
Her shadow was still alive.
Too bad, a spoon couldn’t kill someone , Ray couldn’t help but think venomously as she picked up the call and pressed her phone to her ear.
“Great timing jackass,” she hissed as she scrambled around for the gun she’d stripped to the underside of her bed. Fucking Akash had the audacity to sigh in her ear when she finally found the metal handle and ripped it out.
“I was trying to warn you.” He said, “There’s a bounty on your head.”
Ray sighed, adjusting the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she loaded the gun and pulled it with a click . She didn’t bother asking as she dared a peep from above her bed. A bullet zoomed right atop her head, brushing her hair as she ducked with a loud curse.
“Who took the bait?” she asked finally and grabbed the knife that was tucked into the waistband of her pants. She sighed at their sight. She was going to spill blood on these as well. Fuck.
“It’s the Santos.” He replied and Ray’s brows arched, just as another round of bullets rang across her room, “They know that the Lions have a new recruit.”
“Of course.” She mutter venomously, and he continued,
“I mean the entire community knows that they brought in someone new. They just don’t know it's you.”
“But the Santos do?” she asked, and froze, “It fucking worked right?”
“Jesus Ray,” Akash said from the other end, and she could feel him bristle at the malice hidden in her words, “Yes, of course it worked. The Santos have excellent intel. And there’s a rumor going around that they’re looking at allying with the Lions.”
Ray snorted .
“This isn’t funny.” He said from the other end, just as Ray caught the sounds of glass creaking under her shadow’s foot, “But it means our plan worked.”
She sighed, even as excitement shot through her veins.
“I have to go, I have a guest.”
“Stay alive Walker.” Were his only words before the line went dead. Ray let the phone drop to the ground and rolled her shoulders back.
“Hey, asshole!” She yelled above the sounds of the bullets that still echoed in the room. The footsteps ceased and Ray’s hold on her knife tightened, “No one teach you how to finish tasks by yourself?”
No one said anything for an entire minute.
Ray couldn’t help her light chuckle.
“Suficiente.”
And the entire room silenced.
A small smile graced her lips then. But she didn’t get up. She was always good at this. The waiting, the thinking to fill that silence. The small tick, tick, tick that echoed in both their minds until one of them exploded.
Boom.
He came at her from behind. A coward’s move, Ray couldn’t help but think as he stepped over her bed and went to grab the back of her hair. She moved before he could by turning on her ass, and grabbing the hand he’d wanted to use and pulling with a strength she’d built over the years.
Her eyes narrowed at his masked face just as she lifted her knee and slammed his chin right atop it. His head jerked back with a sickening crack, making Ray relish the sound. Allowing her to see the way his eyes rolled into the back of his head for a second and he fell. Right on his face, beside her .
Ray blinked at his unconscious figure for a minute, pursing her lips at how easy that had been. She’d expected better of the damned Santos. Her hand reached out then, and she ripped the black hood off his face. His entire body slid off the bed and onto the floor then, making a slippery sort of sound that Ray hated. She shuddered before pushing his head roughly to one side. Strawberry blonde hair and a dark face. Ray reached out to force open his eyelids and saw the dull color of brown.
“Are you done?” a voice crinkled from his earphones, making her jump in surprise, her hand automatically darting to her gun again. She raised her brows when the voice echoed the same words and ripped the earphones out of his ear, keeping it close to hers to hear the words.
“Has terminado? You done?” the voice was male, deep, and almost lazy as it droned through the earphones.
She heard his sigh, “If you are, get her down already, I want to see her face before she dies.”
Ray chuckled quietly, making sure to not blow her cover, as she slowly rose to her feet. She glanced at the man lying on her floor as she tossed the earphones aside,
“What do you say Shadow?” she whispered, “Should we show our faces?”
She didn’t wait for his response. Just grabbed the hem of his black suit and started dragging him out her doors. Or she would’ve if she hadn’t jerked back at how difficult it was. She sighed down at him and grabbed him with both her hands, groaning as she pulled him with a silent curse.
When they reached her stairs, Ray didn’t pause to think.
She just pushed him down .
He slid far more silently than she thought he would. He landed on the cold wooden floors like silk, not making a sound except the light thump of his head. Before heading out, Ray went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. As she drank from the cold glass, she looked at the unconscious man. Wondered if she should do what she was about to do.
But the Santos had never been her end goal after all.
They’d just become far more meddlesome than she liked.
Ray sighed and set the cup on the platform before going ahead and grabbing the man. Ray twisted her door handle with her free hand, took a calm breath in, and let it out.
Easy to die.
Far more difficult to live.
And with that, she pulled the doors open.
Click.
Ray didn’t have to look up to see the guns that rose in her direction. She didn’t bother looking at anyone as she hurled the unconscious man out of her house until he lay atop her porch. It was then she looked up.
And saw a pair of dangerous amber eyes staring right at her.
A smile twisted her lips as he rose a lazy grin. This far, Ray could still see his striking features. Could recognize him almost immediately.
“Hello.” He said, a scent of accent lurking in his words as he looked at her.
Well, at least she hadn’t managed to get blood on herself for the introduction.
In response, Ray shot him a venomous smile and placed a foot on the unconscious man’s body. The man ahead didn’t do a thing as she kicked her shadow off her porch and down onto the cold ground .
“Well,” he said, after a moment’s pause, frowning at her shadow before looking up at her, “That wasn’t what I was expecting.”
Ray blinked.
“Annoyed the golden spoon doesn’t fit your taste,” she said then, her words slithering like a snake as his dark hair swayed with the wind,
“Angel De Santos?”
He threw his head back and laughed.
Ray couldn’t help her own smile.
When he looked back at her, she could see the twisted sparkle in his eyes and knew that it mirrored hers,
“You are a wildcard.”
She grinned and raised her gun at the same time.
“No,” she chastised, “I’m just the new recruit.”
Bang!