Page 145 of Brutal
The bastard sees her and moves.
Not at me.
At her.
That’s his last mistake.
I hit him before he gets two steps, catch him by the back of the jacket, and throw him into the side of a fuel drum. He crashes into it with a hollow bang, loses balance, and goes down hard.
He scrambles anyway.
I grab the front of his coat and haul him up. “Which lawyer?”
Blood runs from his mouth. He smiles again. Then he jerks sideways, slips out of the coat entirely, and runs.
For half a second, I consider going after him.
Then I look at Delaney.
No.
Not worth it.
Not with her standing here in the open and my blood up enough to kill a man.
I let him go. For now. He disappears between the storage units and the dark beyond them.
Delaney steps closer. “Are you hurt?”
“No.” It comes out rougher than I intend.
She looks down at my right hand. My knuckles are split, and blood is dripping over my ring. But not all of it is mine.
She reaches for me before I think to stop her, closing her fingers around my wrist.
“I said I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?”
I should pull away.
I don’t.
The wind hits us again, harder this time. She doesn’t loosen the grip on my wrist.
“I told you to stay back,” I say.
She doesn’t reply. Simply looks down once more at the blood on my hand. Then back up.
“I think you know by now that I don’t do well with orders,” she says quietly.
“You shouldn’t have followed me.”
She lifts her chin. “And you shouldn’t have gone alone.”
