Page 8 of Reaper & Ruin
“I have no idea what I’m doing, Brick. But seeing as I don’t want to stay here, I’m going to pretend to be a badass. So you be a good brick and stay still unless you have something useful to offer me.”
I stared at her hands as she slowly grabbed my arm, twisting it until she could see the cuff lock easier.
My brow twitched. I wanted to snap at her for touching me. I didn’t like being manhandled.
For some reason I just bit the inside of my cheek instead.
She nodded to herself. “Okay, I can do this. It’s easy. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. All I gotta do it put the tip in, and this time the tip counts. Anything counts.”
My jaw tensed further, and I pushed back against the wall, trying to fight the urge to be an asshole just because I had the tiniest taste of potential freedom on the tip of my tongue and it was in the hands of someone who didn’t have a clue.
“Keep the pressure light.” I breathed, adding a few more tips and walking her through what she needed to do.
She exhaled and started. The metal was tiny, and she kept fumbling. The picks slipped. She dropped one. Twice. “Jesus Christ,” she muttered, fumbling to grab it again. “I’m gonna die because I watched the wrong YouTube videos. Instead of seeing men build a pool in the middle of nowhere, I should’ve watched stuff about crime. You know this isn’t the first time I’ve fucked up being a criminal? It’s a habit.”
I shifted, entire body tensing at the prospect of losing my chance at escape over her inability to listen to instructions. “Stop talking,” I ordered, conscious of the invisible ticking clock. “Focus.”
She gritted her teeth and tried again. Pin by pin. Until there was a soft click. Then another.
Thennothing.
Sweat slid down my back. The air was silent except for our breathing. Perhaps a little thrum of my thundering heart.
And just when I was about to give up, the final pin gave out, and the cuff sprang open.
“Ha!” She laughed as she stepped back, grinning from ear to ear. “Look at that! Turns out I’m amazing under pressure.”
The chain fell to the ground, and I lifted my arm, the weightlessness making me twitch.
I rolled my wrist and rubbed at the angry red marks, watching Blue celebrate her success as though it was important to her. She was grinning, still riding the high of getting the cuff undone like we weren’t trapped in a dirt room under who-knew-what. Her energy buzzed against the quiet, and for a second, I thought we might actually have a chance to get out because we’d won a game.
Then the steel door opened.
I didn’t need to look to know who it was. The shift in the air was enough. The bitch walked in without hurry; her footsteps dull against the packed ground. I saw the gun in her hand and made no move to jump her, even though she was smaller than me.
“Well done,” she said to Blue, ignoring me completely. “You did it with time to spare.”
The girl lit up like she’d just been handed a gold star. I wasn’t sure what she thought was happening, but the woman in the mask didn’t stop to explain. She took a step forward, reached into her coat, and pulled out a knife.
She held it out, handle first.
“Now kill him,” she said casually. “And you can go home.”
The words didn’t register right away. My brain caught on the edges of them, like they couldn’t possibly mean what they sounded like. I looked at Blue. She was still staring at the knife.
I stayed perfectly still, waiting, trying to work out whether I needed to fight or run or try to talk her down. My chances didn’t look great either way.
Blue glanced at the blade, then at me, then finally stepped forward and picked it up. Not gently. Like it offended her even to touch it.
She turned it once in her hand, testing the weight. Not with any real urgency—just enough to make it look like she was considering it. Then she looked back at me again. Her mouth curled into the faintest smirk.
“Do I get extra points if I do it with flair?” she asked. “Or if I carve his face off gently so you can keep it as a trophy?”
Our captor didn’t answer. Neither did I.
“Didn’t think so,” Blue muttered. She let the knife drop. The sound echoed. “I’m not killing him. I don’t murder people for fun, least of all a stranger. If you want Brick dead, then you’regonna have to do it. I’m not playing this weird little game of yours.”
It happened fast. My tormentor moved in one sharp step and drove the side of her gun against Blue’s head. The girl crumpled instantly, collapsing in a heap beside me with her arms twisted underneath her. Her head narrowly missed the floor, and only because I acted on instinct and grabbed her. Easing her gently to the ground instead.
