Page 23 of Tyler's Rule
Kneeling on his chest, I rotated the knife in his palm then withdrew it and stabbed through his shoulder, blood spraying over my arm and jeans. He howled louder and reared to get me off. Shade produced another blade, and Buck stilled, even if his body convulsed.
“N-not the one with D-Dixie. But some others to a friend.”
Buck kindly gave up all the other information I needed, and I took a minute over finding his cloud storage, his sent messages, and searching any hidden files. Then I texted the friend with an order to get rid of the videos or suffer for it, then deleted everything else, stowing the phone in my pocket for disposal.
A knock came at his door. “Brian?” a man called. “Are you okay in there?”
“Fuck off,” Shade yelled.
Buck, or Brian, apparently, took a shaking breath, his teeth clenched. “It’s all right,” he replied. “I had this coming. I’ll be okay.”
He wouldn’t. He’d let it happen to her. Even if he hadn’t committed the act, he was supposed to guard her. She’d relied on a system where security had her back.
I realised I was breathing too fast when Shade again forced eye contact with me, something careful in his gaze that had me pulling back into myself. Enough to see I was spiralling.
With one punch, my friend knocked Buck out. “Feels to me that Buck will make a nice example for the others who want into our crew. Leave him with me, aye?”
I stared at the prone body on the mattress, blood smeared from his injuries. Typically, for this kind of transgression against the skeleton crew, we’d fuck someone up but not kill them. It made a better lesson to spread the message by way of split skin and broken bones. My priorities wavered. “I have the bastards in the room to go after.”
“Men who hurt Dixie?”
I couldn’t get the word out to confirm but jerked my head.
“Maybe a better use of this energy.” Shade furrowed his brow. “Ye recognised them?”
“No, but I have a name. Sullivan.”
Something ticked over in Shade’s eyes. “Fuck him up, but maybe hold off on ending him. I heard that name in relation to the Marchant shite. Everly was talking about the trusted companies Lovelyn and Mila were investigating. I’m sure she said Sullivan.”
“I can’t promise anything.”
He palmed my shoulder, shaking me once. “I hear ye. Now get the fuck out of here. I’ve got this.”
Dixie had told me to go. I wouldn’t waste that trust.
Chapter 9
Dixie
Tyler opened the cabin door, and I hurled a cushion at him. He deflected it with an arm.
A bloodied one.
I clasped my hands to my mouth. “You’re hurt.”
He closed us inside and hung up the coat he carried, toeing off his boots. “Not my blood, doll.”
Oh.Right. I snatched another cushion and tossed it at him.
Tyler caught it. “Why am I being mildly attacked?”
“You left me alone. Again. I don’t like being alone.”
“But you told me to go.”
“So? It scared me.”
“More than me being around?”
