Page 101 of Foxx
Nicola… Nicola, I’m so sorry.He gave her the heroin. He poisoned her. He fucking took her life. Iknew. I fucking knew she wouldn’t take heroin.
“I’ll fucking kill you!” I’m shaking all over, and my jaw is clenched as I try with all my might to choke him.
He flips me onto my back again, and I rake my nails across his face. He hisses, “I was going to kill you that day too, you know, but I spared you.”
Blood sprouts from the scratches I carved into his face.
“But if you don’t start behaving, Iwillfucking kill you too,and it won’t be as pleasant for you as an overdose.” His tone is angry now, and I know this is the end.
I flinch as blinding headlights approach, and a spark of hope races through me. But it dies as Dagger chuckles darkly.
“Ahhh…here we are,” he says joyfully.
I can’t tell if it’s a car or a truck, but I scream, “Help!”
“Did you bring what I asked for, little birdie?” Dagger calls over his shoulder to the person who has just closed the driver’s side door.
I squint, trying to focus. It’s a woman, but her body is still a shadow. She slowly gets closer, and I find myself staring up at the prettiest brown eyes and a heart-shaped Barbie face.
“Sure did, baby,” she answers Dagger. Her long, dark hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and she’s wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. She’s fresh and pretty and smiles ear to ear at me, like she always has.
“Libby!” I cry. “Help me, Libby, please!”
She drops a coil of rope and a brown paper bag on the ground, then crouches beside me. She’s still smiling, her glossy pink lips full as she trails the back of her hand down my face.
“Isn’t she pretty?” Dagger asks, almost whispering. “Kiss her.”
“Yes, sir,” Libby says, bending down to kiss my lips. She forces her tongue into my mouth, and she tastes like bubble gum. My stomach turns as I realize she’swithhim.
“Libby, please…” I beg, sobbing now. “Help me…”
“I am going to help you, Mia. That’s why I came as soon as Dagger told me to meet him here,” she says.
“He’s crazy, Libby… Please help me! Aiden can protect you!” I cry.
She tilts her head to the side, and her long brown hair falls over her shoulder. Her eyes are full of adoration.
“I don’t need protection, silly.” She laughs for a long moment, and it’s so out of place. “We’re in love.” She slides her hand down Dagger’s arm. “And he wants you, so I want you too. We take what we want.” Libby kisses Dagger on the cheek as he looks at us, lust-filled and crazed.
“We’re going to be such a happy family,” Libby adds, clapping her hands, and I finally realize that she’s batshit fucking crazy.
My mind floods with every time she told me she’s jealous of me and Aiden. That she thinks I’m pretty. That none of the men around the club were for her. It wasn’t because she wantedAiden. She already had a man. It was because Libby wantedmefor their fucked-up little house of horrors.
Shewas his informant. How he knew when I was alone at the club. All along, Libby’s been in the background, watching and waiting. Forhim.
Back when I first started working at Lavish, I’d told Libby I wasn’t interested in Aiden. Maybe that’s why Dagger didn’t believe our relationship was real in the beginning.
Now, he grabs a brown glass bottle wrapped in a rag from the bag she brought.
“This is just to help you sleep,” Libby says in her usual soothing, high-pitched singsong voice. She runs the back of her hand down my face again. “Just until we get you home.”
FUCK THAT.
I scream and start to fight again just as the tiniest littlezipwhizzes by my head. It’s not the typical sound of a gunshot. Just a small littlethwapthat has Dagger looking down at where his arm has now sprung a bloody leak.
Aiden.
As the stream of blood quickly grows, so does my hope.
