Page 5 of Vile Bastards
“Scarlett,” I murmur, slapping at her cheek. She needs CPR, certainly, but I can’t do it here, on this small, jagged rock in the middle of the river. Already, I can feel its cruel fingers yanking at our half-submerged bodies. With the frosty night air, hypothermia is yet another concern.
One problem at a time.
I look around, using the graciousness of the moon’s scant beams as they break through the thick cloud cover.
The shore is, at first glance, about twenty feet from the rock on one side. On the other? Only God himself knows. It may as well be a mile.
Think, Alexei. Think, think, think.
I almost give into the overwhelming sense of hopelessness. Scarlett is not breathing. I can’t give her CPR here. If I don’t move us quickly, my already weakening body may lose one or both of us back to the river. We could freeze to death. We could be spotted from shore and executed without our aggressors ever leaving the road.
Closing my eyes, I pull in a deep breath, heft Scarlett more firmly into my arms, and kick off the safety of the rock.
Widow
I hold the gun in shaking hands, staring down at the collapsed body of the police officer that I just shot. To be fair, the dude brought it on himself. He tried to kill me first, but I know how to wield a baseball bat against a gun, how to reverse the situation so that the weapon is in my hands and not my opponent’s.
Now what?
“Motherfucker!” I drop the gun by my side, reaching up to run my fingers through my hair. I even kick the body for good measure which probably won’t win me many points in the afterlife (if there is one), but eh. The urge to laugh sweeps over me, but the sound would likely crack the heavens in half.
In less than a minute’s time, I have ruined my entire life.
I have literally thrown everything away over a girl.
And yet … given the chance to change it? I’d do it all over again. And again. And again.
Adrian, you have lost your goddamn mind. I pace a quick rut, kick the body a second time, and then stand there staring at the corpse like a deranged lunatic. I’m on edge. I feel twitchy. Next person that ticks me off is likely to end up just like this idiot here.
The sound of an approaching car draws my attention up, and I wonder if I won’t have to launch myself off the road and into the river. Yeah, as if that isn’t a veritable death sentence.
Aspen Kelly’s Shelby Cobra careens around the corner on two wheels before the other two tires crash back down to the pavement, the car screeching to a spinning stop as the driver just narrowly avoids smashing into the idling cop car.
Out the asshole comes, sweating profusely, eyes wide as he takes in the scene. His gaze slides over to Scarlett’s bright red De Tomaso Pantera parked on the gravel pullout.
“Kuso,” Ash curses, moving toward the police cruiser and yanking the driver’s side door open. He raises a hand to point at me. “I’ll put the car in neutral; help me push it.”
“The fuck?” I choke out, but Ash ignores me, climbing in and moving the Dodge Charger closer to the edge of the river. He puts it in neutral and then hops back out, snatching the dead cop under the arms and dragging the body toward the driver’s seat.
Tossing the gun into my ‘Vette, I move over to help Ash, hefting the man up and shoving him into the seat. It’s a sloppy recreation of the Aspen situation all over again.
“Where is Scarlett?” Ash asks, his eyes so dark that I can’t discern his pupils from his irises. He looks like a goddamn demon.
“Took off with Alexei,” I pant out, my eyes dropping to the limp and bloody body of the police officer. Clearly, he’s one of the mayor’s pets. He tried to goddamn kill me before we’d even had a conversation. “I can’t believe I just killed a cop,” I mutter under my breath, choking on the words. This is it for me. There’s no coming back from this. And I sure as hell won’t be going back to juvie this time, despite my age. Oh no, I’ve just royally fucked my entire fate in the span of a single second.
“Don’t worry about it,” Ash grunts as he puts his palms up against the bumper and pushes on the car, sending it toward the river’s edge. “My father won’t want his constituents to know that a cop got killed in such a prestigious neighborhood.”
I line up beside Ash Kelly and add my strength to his, pushing on the Charger until it rolls down the incline and into the water. It’ll be sunk in a matter of minutes.
