Page 8 of Hold Back
Kit paused. Was that in the music?
Another rattle.
Then someone started screaming and people stared at each other for a moment before hitting the ground. Kit went with them.
The music kept on with its frenetic beat.
Kit raised up to take a look, but a meaty hand covered his head. “Stay down, boy.”
He found himself face down on the sticky floor, unable to move as a solid body covered his own. It was gross and sticky and Kit didn’t want to think what bodily fluids he was close to. This guy needed to get the hell off him before Kit lost the freaking will to live.
He tried to buck the man off him, but the stranger was built like a tank, and Kit could barely move a muscle.
“Let me up.”
“You stay where you are,” the man hissed in his ear. “The perp is still here.”
“How do you know,” Kit whispered.
“I can see him in the mirrors.”
A young red-haired twink next to Kit went to rise, but the stranger grabbed him too and gave him the same order.
The twink subsided but he whisper/wailed, “I’ve got to find my Daddy…friend.”
“Once this is over. Stay with us.”
Kit twitched. Who was ‘us’? There was no ‘us’.
The twink let out a sob, but before Kit could tell him to get it together, the man had Kit in one arm and the twink in the other and whispered they were both good boys.
Kit wasn’t sure about that. He wasn’t anybody’s good boy. Kit made it his life’s mission to be as bad a boy as possible, but the kid next to him looked genuinely scared and for once Kit decided not to be a brat. He reached out and clutched the twink’s hand. “I’m Kit,” he whispered. “Who are you?”
“Tiger.” The kid grimaced. “Mom hoped her son would be as strong as a tiger. Instead, she got me. Most people call me Ti.”
Kit knew what it was like to be a disappointment to the family.
“Shhh,” the man whispered, cupping Kit’s neck. “He’s coming back. Face down, quiet, boys.”
Every muscle tensed, Kit did as he was told, and Ti buried his face against the man’s shoulder, seeking comfort. Kit resisted the urge to do the same thing, but he was terrified too. He couldn’t die here. He hadn’t done anything yet.
Then it was as if the world exploded around them.
Kit held his breath as shouting, gunfire, and shattering glass erupted over his head. He didn’t know what was worse, seeing the threat or not be able to see it coming. Kit couldn’t see a thing. The stranger had shoved Kit’s face into the crook of his neck and wrapped his arm around his head. It was nice, if a little sweaty and suffocating, but comforting, and frustrating at the same time.
The noise slowly subsided, but they stayed where they were because the man wasn’t letting them go anywhere.
“Everyone stay down!” A voice boomed out over their heads.
Kit noticed the man seemed to relax a fraction. Did he know that voice?
“You can let them go now, Red,” a dry voice said eventually. “The threat is neutralized.”
At freakin’ last!
Kit tried to move, but the man—Red?–kept him pinned. Then he allowed Kit and Ti to sit up slowly, but he didn’t let go of them.
Red?It can’t be him.
