Page 64 of Fearless
So I grabbed the back of her head and claimed her mouth roughly, choking off her gasp with my tongue. She went along with it, wrapping her arms around my neck and digging her fingers into my ponytail. Her leg lifted to wrap around my hip, drawing me tighter into her body. I couldn’t figure out whether to be sorry or glad this wasn’t real. I never would’ve kissed her for the first time like this. But I may also never get a chance to kiss her again.
“Quit fuckin’ around!” the small guy with a gun roared. “This bullshit proves fuck-all.”
“Well, what do you want?” I demanded. “I told you my receipt is on my bike!”
His mouth twisted into a cruel smile.
“Describe her pussyin detail.I’m talking size, shape, color, and any marks she’s got down there. Then we’ll check to make sure you’re right.”
Fuck.
“Her tits too,” one of his homeboys added.
“She’s not yours to inspect,” I growled. “You’re not touching my property and lowering her value.”
“Think of it as verification,” he said smugly. “Which you conveniently can’t seem to do.”
Shit, shit, shit. My eyes darted around, looking for any possible way out. We’d be shot before I could squeeze my trigger. Reaper and Jandro had gone off to a completely different side of the market and no one else was around. I purposely went off by myself because I was tired of getting the third degree from everyone.
And it was a good thing I did. Otherwise Mari would’ve been captured and completely alone. I stayed away from her enough in the past two weeks. I wasn’t about to leave her now.
My arm tightened around her shoulders as my gun hand lowered slowly. “I don’t give a fuck who you all are. She’s mine and I’m not letting her go.”
“Suit yourself,” the scrawny guy shrugged. “You’re almost pretty enough to pass for a bitch.” He jerked his head toward the box truck. “Get in.”
His gang moved in, took my gun, and patted me down for the rest of my weapons. When they succeeded in fully disarming me, they ushered us into the back of the truck. The big guy bleeding from the neck was shoved, then dragged, out of the way. He was completely motionless and must have died minutes ago.
Just before they pulled the door down to seal us in darkness, I saw my falcon diving across the sky.
Twenty-Six
JANDRO
“Nah, nah, nah, man,” I waved my hand at the auto parts vendor. “Your prices and your parts are bullshit. Don’t be trying to hawk this cheap shit at me. I know you got Harley branded clutches. Where they at?”
The guy switched to Spanish to pretend like he didn’t understand me, then looked like a damn fool when I told him off in a rapid string of insults that would’ve earned me one hell of a beatdown from my aunt.
He finally quit trying to swindle me and I got an alright deal on the parts I needed. This whole bartering system wore me out. I didn't have Gunner's patience for getting the best deal I could. Maybe one day we'd have a national currency and fixed prices again, but I wasn't holding my breath.
I made my way over to Reaper and Hades emerging from one of the metalsmith stalls. Hades' nose immediately went to my pants pocket, sniffing aggressively at the brown paper bag I had stashed in there.
"Okay, pooch." I held up an index finger. "Onedoughnut hole. That's all you get, all right?"
He licked his lips and stared up at me expectantly. I pulled the snack from my pocket and tossed it in the air so he could catch it in his mouth. Reaper shook his head disapprovingly.
"You're gonna fatten him up like a Christmas ham."
"Nah, he'll run those calories off on the way back." I nodded at the small drawstring bag in his hand. "You get what you need?"
"Yeah. Will you tell me what you think of this?" He glanced up at me as he opened the bag, and I dare say he looked nervous.
Inside the bag was a velvet ring box. He popped it open and carefully lifted the ring from the cushion to show me.
"Damn, dude." I accepted it carefully, turning it over to see the light catch the stone. "You did good."
Polished to a high shine, the stone in the center shifted from pink to green depending on which way the light hit it. Ridges and formations within the stone made it look like a tiny landscape full of depth. A microscopic world of canyons, valleys, and meadows.
The setting was a simple silver bezel, sitting on top of a band that twined around like a length of rope. The letter R was stamped on one side of the band, and the letter M on the other.
