Page 31 of Justice

Tobias couldn’t believe this girl had survived prison, comparing her graduation photo from her high school yearbook to the last photo taken at the prison, prior to her release. He could see the well-constructed walls she had built in her eyes, living a thousand lives behind the fence of the prison. However, the question remained, why was she trying to get into a club run by a relative?

Looking at the clock, he had a little over forty-five minutes before he needed to meet Marino. He needed answers and he needed them now. He knew the person who was going to give them to him.

CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX

Justice hatedthe girl looking back at her in the mirror, despised the tormented demon she had to allow to roam free in her quest for revenge. She couldn’t wait to shed the skin of deceit, disappear into the shadows of the night and emerge in the dawn of a new day as the woman she believes herself to be. Scrubbing harder at the layers of makeup on her face, needing to rid herself of the mask she created and climb into bed, praying her dreams didn’t turn to nightmares of the man who haunted her.

She couldn’t wait to have a home of her own. One where she could use the front door, turn on the lights at night instead of hiding away in some strangers forgotten tool shed. She would have her own car too, and a respectable job to pay for both. As she drifted off to sleep, she pictured cooking dinner with her sister in the kitchen of her dream house.

A hand slapped over her mouth jolts her awake; the sharp edge of what her cloudy mind believes is a knife at her throat. Fear grips her as she struggles against the weight across her chest.

“Shh, it’s me, Hawk.” A familiar commanding voice echoes in her ear, as she takes a deep breath against the hand over her mouth, her body relaxes at the woodsy scent of him. As the haze of sleep drifts from her eyes, she looks up at the dark figure posed above her, the outline of his strong features coming into focus.

“You lied to me.” He hisses, shoving the sharp blade against the skin of her neck. “Who are you working for?”

Justice swallows hard, stalling for time as she searches her memory for what Beth told her to do if this ever happened.

“Keep calm, Justice. Harness your fear, make it work for you and not against you.”

Taking inventory, her arms were bound under the weight of him, but her right hand was over her stomach, her fingers moved freely in the crevice between them.

“Your attacker has three vulnerabilities; eyes, throat, and groin.”

Justice felt the edge of the zipper in his pants, knowing this was her only hope. With her opposite hand, she braced herself as she flipped her hand, grabbing him through his jeans and closing her fist as tight as she could while twisting to the left.

Hawk let out an oath as she slid from underneath him, scrambling to the edge of the room and the knife in her bag. As she swung around with the blade raised in his direction, she came face to face with the barrel of his gun.

“Self-defense 101, sweetheart. You can’t bring a knife to a gun fight, you will lose every time.”

Despite the smug look on Hawk’s face, Beth’s voice echoed in her head.

“Guns make noise, Justice, and no attacker wants to gain unwanted attention. The odds are in your favor he won't pull the trigger.”

Unwilling to surrender, she holds firm in her position. “I may go to hell tonight, but I ain’t going alone.”

“They teach you that in prison, Justice?”

Her mind falls silent, as there was never training for what to do when confronted with the truth. She could lie, deny his accusations, but she risked losing his help in getting to Red.

“How did you find out?” Stabbing the tip of her knife into the wood of the potting bench beside her, the handle swaying back and forth as she released it.

Hawk lowers his gun, holstering it in the small of his back, “You first. Who are you working for?”

Spearing the roots of her hair, she combs her fingers through the long strands, moving to sit on the upturned bucket she used to wash her body with earlier. “I’m not working for anyone, just trying to collect a debt that is way overdue.”

Hawk adjusts his feet, crossing his arms over his massive chest. “From who?”

Justice leans her back against the splintered wood of the shed, sweat drips down her body from the stagnate air inside the room. Hawk’s face remains stoic as she tells him of the strip club she was forced to work in, the men who inflicted pain to enhance their pleasure. She purposely left Tymeless, and the payback she had taken on Stone, out of her story. The need to keep her safe, even from a man like Hawk, nags at her.

“And that’s when we met.” She finishes the fire in her belly stronger than ever.

Hawk’s brows bend slightly, the muscles in his jaw flex and release several times. She waits, slightly intimidated as to what he is about to do. Without warning he drops his arms and pushes from his spot against the opposite wall, hooking his hand on his hips.

“This guy Stone,” Hawk shakes his head as he looks to the floor. “Don’t ever let me know where he lives.”

Justice’s heart swells at the protectiveness he exhibits, although she should be furious at the way he broke in and scared her half to death. Still, she has an overwhelming urge to wrap her arms around him and kiss the shit out of him. Instead, she will share one more secret with him.

“He lives in hell, I sent him there.”

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