Page 76 of Salvation

I had assumed she was joking, but apparently, this shit was serious. I always knew Dante hated the thought of another man disrespecting me. I didn’t think he hated it enough to use him as a human fucking dartboard, though.

“Jesus,” I breathed, slowly approaching Eagle. “You guys really did a number on him.”

I didn’t feel sorry for him, but I couldn’t help but cringe at the state of him. There were still darts in his legs, hands, and stomach, and there were holes over his entire body.

“I made this one,” Vienna told me proudly, flicking the spot on Eagle’s forehead.

“Were you aiming for his head?” I asked, looking at the sheer amount of holes and bruises on the man’s body.

“I was aiming for his nose, but I’d had one too many and my aim wasn’t on point. I’m hoping he fucks up again and I can do better on round two.”

“You scare me sometimes,” I told him, not entirely joking.

His response was to pick up his beard and smack me around the face with it, before whipping it over his shoulder like a scarf and walking away as though I had offended him.

“You’re a stupid bastard. Did you know that?” I said to Eagle, my voice soft as I shook my head in sympathy.

“Please,” he pleaded. “Please let me down.”

“I can’t do that. If I let you down, will you have learnt your lesson? No. You wouldn’t.”

“I have learned. I promise. I won’t speak to you like that again.”

“And yet, you think I’m the soft touch who will feel sorry enough for you to get you out of your own mess? I’m afraid not. You can stay hanging there and think about what you did. But just know,” I said quietly, stepping closer to him. “If you ever raise your hand at me again, you will live to regret it. If it was up to me, you’d be hung up by your eyelids until the weight of your useless body snapped them off. I’m sure you’ve heard enough about me to know what happened with Macbeth. And that was me being kind. Keep that in mind,” I kissed his cheek and then patted it softly before walking away, ignoring his cries for help behind me.

“Have you finished playing with the victim?” Dante growled from my ear, making me scream out in fright.

“What the fuck are you doing skulking around in the shadows?” I gasped, clutching at my chest as I took some deep breaths to steady my nerves.

“You weren’t where I left you, Rachel. I wanted to see what you were doing out of bed.”

“Well, now you know.”

“I never know anything where you’re concerned,” he muttered with a luck I couldn’t quite decipher. “Get your shit together. We’re leaving as soon as the kids are up.”

“I’m great, Dante. Thanks for asking,” I muttered sarcastically. “Vienna almost shot me, but don’t worry. I’m great.”

He looked me up and down. “Remind me to take him to the shooting range. You don’t look hurt. He must be out of practice.”

My mouth fell open when he turned and walked away from me, not at all concerned that his vice president was waving guns around like an utter lunatic.

“You’re not even gonna address the gun thing?” I asked.

“Did you wake him up?” he asked over his shoulder.

“Err… yes?”

He laughed and carried on walking. “There you are then. Chalk it up to a valuable lesson learnt.”

I shook my head and hurried to catch up to him. “I’m just going to ignore that and pretend you give a shit. I actually wanted to run something past you before everyone else is awake.”

“What is it?” he looked down at me, not bothering to slow down his steps.

“I wondered how you felt about taking Bee to self-defence classes.”

“For what?”

“To learn how to make paper fucking berets and practice her chop stick skills. What the fuck do you think I want to take her for?”

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