Page 1 of Mine to Keep
one
the fuck up
Nothing was going accordingto plan. The man on his knees in front of me, begging me not to kill him, was already supposed to be dead. He was supposed to be lying at the bottom of the stairs, the victim of an…accident.
But he spotted me before I could drug him and push him to his end, and decided fighting would be in his best interest.
Spoiler alert: It was not.
“Why are you doing this?” he asks, his nose bleeding profusely from the elbow I slammed into it. His lips have ballooned to twice their size because of the jabs he couldn’t duck or dodge. He put up a good fight, but not good enough.
I sigh in irritation, pissed that my plan went awry. “That’s unimportant.”
Sweat rolls down my spine, as much from the heat as from our tussle. Adelane, Arizona in early summer is hot, even when it’s the middle of the night. It was 103° earlier today. Now, it’s 85°, but no less hot because of the temperature drop.
I fucking hate Arizona. Right now, because of this job. But above that, it’s where my past began and where I want it to end. If it weren’t for the price tag on this kill, I would have turnedit down. But this is my highest payday, and I need to stack my money before I disappear from the world of contract killing.
“Unimportant?” my target asks, wiping his bleeding nose, an indignant set to his jaw. “You broke into my house. You tried to kill me. Why isn’t it important?” His swollen lips make it hard to understand all of his words, but they reach my ears.
“You don’t need to know why,” I say in irritation. “That won’t matter when you meet your maker.”
“Just…let me die on my feet. Like a man.”
I barely suppress a huff of frustration. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that plea and it won’t be the last. It’s a stupid request. Whether on their feet or on their knees, they’ll still die by my hands.
“Come on, man,” he says, tears clogging his voice. “You owe me that much after breaking into my home.”
Sliding my hands in my pocket, I pull out a set of keys and shake them at him. “Didn’t need to break in. You lost your keys last month, remember?”
His face pales as he stares at the bottle opener with his name engraved on it. There’s no denying they’re his keys, although he didn’t lose them. I’m good at picking pockets as well as killing for hire.
The man’s throat bobs as he swallows roughly. “You’ve been watching me for a month?”
“Longer,” I tell him with a shrug. “You should really pay attention to your surroundings.”
He spits at my feet in anger. “Fuck you.”
“Do you want to stand or do you want me to shoot you right here?”
He holds up trembling hands. “Stand. Let me stand.”
I nod and take a few steps back to give him some space. But I don’t step back far enough.
As soon as he’s standing, the man charges at me, taking me off my feet, causing my gun to skitter across the floor. A heavy fist lands on my mouth, splitting my lip and making me bite my tongue.
I roll with the punch, not letting the pain affect me as I jab two fingers just under his ribs. He screams out and rolls off me, holding his ribs while trying to scramble away.
Before he can get far, I jump on his back, wrapping an arm around his neck to choke him out. Fuck making this a clean kill—I need to get this job done so I can clean up the scene and get out of here.
I don’t have a chance to tighten my arm around his neck before he thrusts his head back, catching me in the face with a headbutt. I howl and release him, forced to move away so he doesn’t have the chance to do it again.
Instead of attacking me, the man takes off up the stairs, trying to take them three at a time, but falling every other step.
With a snarl, I give chase, catching him just as he reaches the second-floor landing. I reach out and grab one of his ankles, the momentum of his headlong run making him fall and knock his head on the hardwood. He’s dazed, his arms pinwheeling on the floor as he tries to get his bearings.
I don’t allow it.
Grabbing him by the back of his shirt, I lift him to his feet. His eyes bug out at my show of strength, which is probably why he tried to attack me earlier.
