“You only get two more hits, and it stops being self-defense and starts becoming assault.” Donny shouldn’t be there, Joey should. I don’t like this at all.
Lena looks at Donny, her grin wicked and menacing. “You want in?”
“Sure.” He shrugs.
He and Dimitri start kicking the man as well, but Lena needs more height to do damage and starts jumping while kicking. This leads to her jumping too high and landing hard square in the middle of the man’s stomach. There’s a sickening suction sound as Lena’s five-inch heels sink into his body.
He screams. Lena screams. Donny and Dimitri curse. Even the Deviant and Grae cry out in shock.
“What do I do?” Lena starts crying, “Is he okay?”
“It’s fine.” Donny grabs her shoulders trying to pull Lena off. “He’s gonna be fine.” The man writhes in pain. “Do you like piggyback rides?”
Lena shakes her head in a panic. “But if I move, he’s going to bleed to death, isn’t he?” Her bottom lip quivers and she looks down at the man. “I’m so sorry.”
Donny puts his hand on her cheek. “It’s going to be fine.”
“Did I kill him?”
“No.” Then he pauses. “How’d you get that bloody lip?”
“Um. I talked back.” Something shifts in Donny. I can feel it from here, through a screen miles away.
But he grins and turns his back to her. “Hop on.”
She puts her hands on his shoulders and hops, leaving both of her shoes in his body. The man screams again, but Donny calls over his yells, “What languages do you speak?”
“I can say ‘Thank you for coming to my show’ in fifteen different languages and I speak a little Spanish.” Donny starts walking her toward the door.
“That’s great. Hey, can you rank all the best Broadway plays of the last twenty years? I thought I read somewhere that you’re a theater kid.”
“I am!” Lena says through her tears.
“Great. You keep talking and I’ll agree with whatever you’re saying—unless you’re wrong. But you have to keep looking straight ahead, okay?”
“Okay.”
Then he speaks in Russian and my heart stops. Donny issued a kill order, so Lena couldn’t be arrested for murder. Donny gave a fucking kill order. I don’t even think Joey’s ever done that.
“I swear to God if they get together because of this shit…” Years of work down the drain if this is the reason they get together. Lena and Amanda are gonna have nightmares. I’m going to get a guilt trip from Mom. Fuck. And what the hell am I going to do about Grae?
Something inside me snaps. I fire four bullets, two shoulder shots, two knee shots. The Deviant cries out as he hits the floor face-first with a thud. Grumbling, I walk toward Grae, kicking the Deviant along the way. Grae’s already standing, smiling.
“You know I could’ve taken him out?”
“With your hands behind your back?” I say with a cocked eyebrow, pulling bolt cutters from my back pocket and snipping off the zip ties. His wrists are already red and swollen.
“Remember, I’m morally gray.”
I huff. “So, what happened? Did CJ betray you?” We both know I already know the answer. He dips his head and wraps his arms around me.
“Yeah. I’m beginning to see why you don’t like him very much.”
I sigh, grateful he’s not hurt. Replaying the billion ways this could have gone wrong today. Everyone I could have lost. The irreversible damage that might’ve happened.
He feels perfect in my arms. Like a home I forgot I had.
“You were right.”