Page 88 of Royally Bad

But Iwashurt.

Grimacing, I clutched my ribs and stumbled toward Sammy. We’d both had on our helmets, the field cushioning us miraculously. Kneeling beside her, I helped her sit up; she yanked the helmet free, spitting into the dirt.

Breathing rapidly so her chest rose and fell, she looked up at me. Then she stared over my shoulder. “Don’t!” she shouted.

Spinning, I looked into the barrel of a handgun. Brick spoke with a sneer I couldtaste.“Hey, asshole, remember me?”

My eyes darted up to his twisting features.I have to get to my gun.It was in my holster under my jacket, but he was too close for me to chance it.

The muzzle jammed into my temple; I grunted. “I asked a question,” Brick said.

“Yeah, I fucking remember you. How could I forget a dick bag like you?”

His sudden kick to my ribs made me think twice about the next insult I’d readied. “You,” he said, motioning at Sammy. “Get up.”

She watched me nervously. On unsteady legs, she rose up, her backpack hanging limply in one hand. I realized she was slightly taller than Brick; that made me grin, because he noticed, too. Jerking the gun, he said, “Get back by the car.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Just move, honey.”

Licking her lower lip, she eyeballed the distance between her and the car. It was only a few feet away, we hadn’t rolled far. “You’re the guy who attacked me in my house.”

“Good memory.”

“What did you do with my mother?”

“Shut up and get over there,” he growled, motioning with the gun.

Stiff-legged, she did as he said, passing him with a wary look at me. I tried to console her with my eyes. I wanted her to know everything was fine—because it had to be.

Somehow, it had to be.

Brick slid his stare to where I was sitting in the grass. “Thanks for making this easy. You’d think someone would have warned you to stay off the roads, but taking the same route over and over every week ...” Snorting, he wagged the pistol lazily. “I figured you were smart when you pinned me for breaking into Sammy’s place, but damn. Guess not.”

Nothing stirred the air but crickets. Would anyone hear us out here? I couldn’t see any headlights on the mile-long stretch.I need to stall.“So you attacked her, and now what, you’ll kill her? What’s the point? She’s a nobody. There are better ways to hurt my family.”

Though no better way to hurt me.

He steered his weapon, keeping it trained on me lazily. “Your asshole family thinks everything is about them. It isn’t. And if you got your head out of your ass, you might have seen this coming.”

Perking up, I looked to Sammy. She was shaking her head in blank confusion. “I don’t even know who you are,” she said.

He wrinkled his brow. “Maybe not my face, but you know who I am. I’m a Deep Shot, baby. Just like your daddy was.”

My brain short-circuited, unable to comprehend what he’d said. Sammy threw up her hands—so fast that Brick pointed the gun at her nervously. “You’ve got me confused with someone else. My dad was Bastian Sage—a landscaper! He wasn’t a member of some gang!”

“Alandscaper?”he laughed. “Nice try. You know he was our fucking leader. Until he stepped down, anyway.” Scratching at his cheek with the gun’s muzzle, he chuckled. “Stop acting stupid. When I saw you rubbing elbows with the Badds, I got it. It clicked. You’d figured out I’d ordered that hit on him and it wasn’t some suicide.”

Her eyes were wild. “Holy shit, you’re nuts!”

“I’m not nuts, I’m a damn go-getter!” His laugh was deep, the edges cracking like cheap pottery. He was unhinged; I wished I’d realized sooner. I’d thought he was violent and stupid, but was he really saying what I thought he was?

I whispered, “You had him murdered?”Didn’t Sammy say his car was found in Newport Bay?

“Yeah, I’ll take the credit for that.” Fuck, did he look proud. “Had a guy do a drive-by shooting, but the dude went all-out and shoved the car off the road and right into the ocean. Points for the extra effort, there.”

Sammy had gone white, her whole body shaking as she stood there. I saw her knuckles crunching, skin straining as she gripped the backpack.

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