Page 118 of Dash

I instinctively reach for the gun in my waistband, but pain punches through my side.

It’s so sharp, so blindingly extreme, my breath catches behind my teeth.

The world stops turning. Nothing exists but the loud, laboured sound of my chest struggling to rise and fall.

My head drops towards my chest and the surreal sight of a knife sticking out of my side.

Shit. I can’t breathe in. Or out. Or think past the gut-deep agony spreading through my body.

I don’t mean to, but my hand latches around Grub’s shoulder as my vision splinters and I sway.

What… what happened?

He shrugs me off, the ugly look on his face is so foreign, it hurts more than the wound in my side.

He leans in, as if he’s holding me up and spills poison from his traitorous fucking mouth. “You gotta understand, kid, this isn’t personal. It’s survival. I’m not going to stand around and wait for you and the others to take me down.”

The shove to my chest isn’t hard, but I stumble back and fold, like someone pulled the steel out of my limbs.

I hit the ground hard enough to wind myself, and when I try to move, I can’t.

The only word running through my head is betrayal.

That fuck sold us out.

Our own fucking VP handed the three of us over to die.

Riley and Blade are on their knees, their fingers interlaced behind their heads as guns are pressed against them.

“You want us to kill them?” one of the guys asks, and it fucking burns through me when Grub replies.

“This shit can’t come back on me. It has to look good. There can’t be any doubts of my loyalty.”

Traitor.

Cunt.

“We know what we’re doing,” the guy says, offended. “No one will suspect a thing—as long as you’ve got the money.”

Grub steps up to them, reaching into his kutte. He hands a fat envelope to the nearest guy.

He’s paying them to fucking murder us.

“You piece of shit,” Blade rasps.

The guy holding the gun behind him presses it so hard against his skull that his chin dips down to his chest.

“Shut up,” the guy says.

“You ain’t fit to wear that patch,” he grounds out, despite the death threat pressed against his brainstem.

My vision’s blurring so bad, I can hardly see. All I think about is Dayna.

I failed.

I told her I’d never leave, and now, I’m bleeding to death.

Grub suddenly fills my vision, crouching down in front of me. I lift my head just enough to glare at him.

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