Page 66 of Genesis

“Go ahead,” he says, lifting his chin.

“Danny,” Johnny says from behind me. “You can’t do that, man.”

“Let him go,” Mickey says.

I bare my teeth at this smiling piece of shit.

“One day,” I say with a smile of my own. I grow closer to his ear. “You’re going to be alone. You’ll have no one to save you, and that’s when I’ll come, for I am the devil in human flesh. I’m in your nightmares, in everything bad that you do. The underworld is without a prince because I am here.” I quick-kiss him on the cheek and push off. He wipes at his face, looking disgusted and honestly a little scared. I smile, my eyes as dark as the walls of hell.

I don’t know…maybeI amjust as crazy.

“Who’s gonna clean this shit up?” Slim, one of Mickey’s men, says.

Johnny speaks up. “We’ll burn it all.”

“There are too many witnesses,” Nugget says, still looking at me.

“No one’s saying shit,” Mickey tells him as Johnny lights a smoke. Slim grabs a bottle of whiskey, taking a sip before he starts dumping it.

“Half the girls are fucked up and they’re too worried about making money to rat on anyone. We’re their customers.”

I nod in agreement. “We need to get the hell out of here.”

Johnny sets the fire and we all run out as smoke starts filling up the place.

“We need to lay low,” I tell them, climbing back into Johnny’s car. “Head to Ma’s. Paul should be there. He’ll say we’ve been there all night if any cops want to ask any questions.”

Samuel is the only one I worry about, but I don’t say this out loud. Hell, even Ma will vouch for us, but Samuel is a wild card.

We hurry to Ma’s, and once there, we jump out and run inside. I don’t look toward the living room before I run up to the bathroom to clean up. I turn the shower on, looking at my reflection in the mirror above the sink. Blood is on my face, and I splash water on it, watching the crimson river flow down my skin and drip from my chin. The look on that man’s face when the bullet went through it… The feeling of taking another man’s life still tingles my fingers. Grabbing the bar of soap, I scrub the blood off before removing my clothes and stepping into the shower.

After wrapping a towel around my waist, I run a comb through my hair, looking at my chest and seeing a bruise start to appear from where that man charged me. My hands are sore from hitting the other guys, but we’re alive, and I hope we don’t have to deal with any of this shit for a while.

Moretti’s got half the police force paid off, but there are a few who will look farther into this. I just hope we didn’t leave any evidence behind, and I hope Mickey is right about the girls keeping quiet.

I grab my cell from the counter and open the bathroom door, finding Paul standing on the other side. His eyes bounce down to my chest.

“Merry Christmas, bro,” I say, moving past him so I can get dressed.

He nods, following me into my bedroom. “You’ve been busy all day, huh?” he asks. I look back at him.

“Yeah, been a busy fucking day. I open my drawer and pull out some boxers and a fresh pair of jeans. “Hey,” I say, turning away from him and dropping my towel. I slide the boxers on before stepping into my black jeans. “I need you to do me a favor.”

“What’s that?” he asks.

“If the cops happen to come by, I need you to tell them we’ve been here all evening.”

He crosses his arms, narrowing his eyes. “And where have you really been?”

“You don’t need to know all that. Just vouch for us, okay?”

“Yeah,” he says. “No problem.”

“Will you talk to Samuel, too? He’ll do it for you.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks,” I say, taking a seat on the bed as I grab a smoke from my nightstand.

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