Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Outside The Last Drop Bar
Shreveport, Louisiana
Men were idiots. Tonya Johnson had learned that fact long ago.
Flash plenty of leg at them, let them see the curve of a boob, and they’d be helpless.
So it was an easy enough matter to convince the fancy businessman to step into the dark alley behind the bar with her.
All she had to do was flirt a bit. Bat her eyes.
Rub one finger down between her breasts and the V of her shirt…
let him see just a little bit of side boob.
He was practically drooling.
So he eagerly rushed outside with her when she made the suggestion for them to go enjoy a quieter scene.
He kissed her up against the dirty, exterior wall of the bar.
His hands ran all over her. And her hands ran all over him, too.
Into his coat pocket. To nimbly open his wallet so that she could slide out the cash he’d been flashing around while buying drinks.
While he was panting in her ear and telling her how beautiful she was, she slipped off his watch. Tucked it in her bag. Oh, and those shiny cufflinks? The ones that looked like real gold? She took them, too.
“You are gorgeous,” he was telling her, breath hot.
She rolled her eyes. What else could she snag from the guy? Tonya thought she’d gotten everything she needed. Time was ticking, and her partner needed to show his ass up. Not like she was going to actually screw this idiot even as his dick shoved against her.
“I have a hotel room,” he said.
Yeah, because she knew he was only in town for a few days. Important business. That was what he’d bragged to her about.
Like she gave a damn about his business.
“I’d really prefer to kill you there instead of here.”
Wait…
Tonya brought her hands between them. She started to shove the asshole away from her, then realized she must have misunderstood him.
He’d probably said, “I’d really prefer to kiss you there instead of here.
” Kiss. Not kill. But he was all panty and raspy, so she’d misunderstood.
“Oh, sugar, you can do far more than kiss me.”
His head lifted. He stared down at her, his features mostly in shadow.
There was barely any light in that alley.
But she’d gotten a good look at him inside The Last Drop.
A handsome man. She’d thought so when she first saw him enter the crowded bar.
And he’d come straight to her as she tended bar.
Hadn’t been interested in the women all around him.
Women in their expensive clothes. Women with their own jewels dripping from their skin. Oh, no, he’d been focused on Tonya.
So she’d known that she could work her magic.
The bouncer knew the routine. They’d developed it months ago. They worked it with an idiot who got too flirty with her or with some of their drunker patrons. In an ideal world, the mark was both an idiot and drunk. Made things so much easier.
She brought the target outside, made out with him and did her sleight of hand, and then, before the fool could push things too far, the bouncer appeared and scared the guy off. The fool would go running into the night, and she and Mico would split their winnings.
Something sharp pressed into her stomach. “I am going to do far more than kiss you.”
Wait, wait, wait. That sharpness hurt. “Ouch!” Tonya cried. She tried to shove against him, but he was far stronger than she’d expected. Stronger and not nearly as drunk. “Stop it!”
He didn’t. She looked down, horrified, as he drove a knife into her stomach. She screamed, but the sound was cut off when he slapped a gloved hand over her mouth.
He’d put the gloves on when they walked out of the bar. She’d thought it a bit odd because it wasn’t particularly cold in Shreveport. But she hadn’t really cared about the man’s fashion choices. She’d just wanted his cash.
But…
This fucker just stabbed me. She lifted her knee, intent on shoving it into his groin as hard as she could.
He yanked the blade to the right. Then to the left. Pain blazed through her.
“I think she already has a scar to match this. But hers didn’t go nearly as deep as yours.”
Blood poured down her body. Nausea churned in her stomach, and she vomited, choking because his glove was in front of her mouth.
Where was Mico? The bouncer should have been there. Dammit. Where was…
The blade came at her again. Again.
“You’ve been very bad, Tonya.”
She’d never given him her name. They hadn’t gotten around to exchanging names. There had been no point in that.
“Guess that evil was just in your blood, huh?”
She hurt so much, and her shirt was soaked with blood.
The blade was deep in her stomach.
“Like father, like daughter…”
What?
“Hey, hey, asshole!” A shout. Mico? Mico?
“Get away from her!” Mico thundered.
The blade was gone. The bastard hurting her was gone. His steps thundered down the alley. And she was falling as her legs gave way. Her hands went to her stomach. So much blood, everywhere. All over her. Soaking her. Terrifying her.
“Sorry I was late,” Mico was saying as he huffed and jogged closer. “Dumbass underage frat boys were trying to get inside, and I had to kick their asses down the street and…hey, hey, Tonya? Tonya, what’s wrong?”
Like father, like daughter…“H-help…”
“Tonya!”
Her eyes shut, and the last thing she felt was her head hitting the cement of that alley when she fell.