Page 27 of Harmless
“As a gladiator, I was called the Saint.” His smile stretched wider. “Now that I’m no longer enslaved, it would honor me to present you with my given name, Solomon.”
My gut remained silent about this guy. I couldn’t get a read on him, nor did I receive an endorsement of trustworthiness from Astarte. I would have to keep my guard up.
“It’s good to meet you, Solomon.” I held my hand out. “Welcome back to humanity.”
He clasped my palm in a fast, respectful shake. “I’ll leave you to it. Or do you wish for us to stay?”
“I’m good, thanks. Think I’ve got these dicks handled.”
He motioned to the other fighter, and together, the two men jogged across the sand pit to join the fray elsewhere.
I turned my attention to the three men tied up on the ground and gave them my best psychotic bitch smile. “Hey, fellas. Remember me?” One of them flinched as I reached down and took the brass knuckles off his belt. That fearful reaction just pissed me off even more.
“So, these are your weapons of choice?” I slid the brass knuckles onto my fingers, testing the weight as I curled my hand into a fist. The finger holes were too big for me, but with a clenched fist, I could still hold the weapon in place. “You like to use them on gladiators who can’t fight back, right?”
“Please…”
“It must beso scaryfor you, being surrounded by all these men who kill each other every single day.” I tilted my hand from side-to-side as if I were admiring some diamonds on my knuckles. “I bet it feels good to tie them up and get some hits on them. Show ‘em who’s boss.”
“Listen, we just do our jobs! If we don’t do as we’re told—”
“Hang on, let me try this.” I curled my fist tighter, pulling my arm back until the spiked knuckles were next to my face. “I gotta see what all the hype is about.”
The man in front of me shut his eyes and turned his head away from me. The other two also found something very interesting to look at away from me.
I waited, my anger calm and cold like a steel blade. I was patient enough to wait all day if it meant serving up this asshole a taste of his own punishment.
A whole minute passed before he was curious enough to take a peek, bringing his head forward just a few inches.
The sound of my fist connecting with his jaw was the most satisfying, sickening noise that ever hit my ears. There was a definitepopas I disconnected his lower jaw from his skull. The spikes gave me claws that rivaled a jaguar’s, piercing his skin and dragging through the flesh to cut his mouth wide open. And the weight of those knuckles gave my punch the power and follow-through of a man twice my size.
“Damn, you were right.” I returned to admiring the brass knuckles like they were a flashy engagement ring. “These aresomuch fun. I think I’ll keep them.”
The man’s screams and protests got lost in the fountain of blood gurgling from his face. I might have cut a bit of his tongue too. Good thing I had my mother’s stomach for gore and wasn’t squeamish in the slightest.
“Rori!”
I turned to see Carter running toward me, his boots kicking up sand and his assault rifle barely swaying as he held it in front of him.
“What’s up, cuz?” I held up the knuckles, about to ask if he wanted a hit on these assholes, but his expression made me reconsider. “Something wrong?”
“Uh, yeah.” He stopped in front of me, barely panting. “I started to think this was too easy. But they’ve got backup coming.”
“How many?”
“A shit ton. Coming in from the north. They’re less than a mile away. We gotta evac now.”
“Has anyone found Nella?” I demanded. “She’s the one who runs this place, and I need her.”
“No word yet. But you can bet your ass we’ll all be trapped in this canyon if we don’t leavenow.”
“Fuck...”
If Nella got away, nothing would be fixed in the long run. She and whoever her superiors were would just build another resort—with even better security measures—and enslave more people.
But saving a few lives was still better than letting everyone perish here.
“Alright, fine. Call it.”
