Page 128 of The Night Shift
“Fuck — ow!”
“Shut the fuck up and go sit on that stool.”
Grimacing, I rub my poor torso — stabbed, maimed, and now possibly bruised by the only woman I’d ever let do it. “I’m not your dog,” I say, sitting down anyway.
“Yet you still follow me around like one. Maybe I should get you a leash and strangle you with it.”
“I’d rather choke on your cunt.”
The prettiest shade of pink paints her cheeks. “Are you capable of having a single thought that doesn’t come straight from your penis?”
My eyes fall to her lips. “I get hungry sometimes.” An empty syringe hits my face, and I look back at Holly. “Ow.”
“Listen carefully, Carter. You and me —” she points between our chests, and it takes a herculean effort to not lean in andbite it, “— it is not happening again. Last night was the most degrading experience of my life. It doesn’t matter how good it was. No part of you isevergoing inside me again. The faster you get that through your skull, the better it will be for whatever’s left of your torso.”
I can’t stop smiling. “You thought it was good?”
She glares daggers. “Never happening again.”
“Never is such an extreme word, Holly. The best I can do isnot right now.”
“This isn’t a negotiation.”
“Correct. It’s a proposition.”
Confusion flickers across her face. “A proposition?”
There’s a bit of dry skin on her bottom lip. I want to bite it off and soothe the sting with my tongue. I reach into my pocket and pull out a worn leather wallet.
“If this is your way of paying me to fuck you, I’m going to give you a five-second head start before I chase you down and slit your throat.”
I blink. “What? No, that’s not — Jesus.” I scoff. As if I’d own a wallet this tattered. I flip it open and slide out a card, holding it between two fingers.
Holly frowns. “What is this?”
“A one-way ticket to Narnia.”
She stares at me, unamused.
“I flicked it off the poor bastard’s body last night.” I tap the card where it saysBrighton Electrics.“I looked it up. It’s a local company that hires ex-cons.”
She arches a single eyebrow. “You robbed a corpse?”
“Turned on yet?” I meet her disdain with a cheeky grin. She flips me off. I sigh. “I’m driving down there tonight.”
“Amazing. And I’ll be at home praying you drive off a cliff —”
“You’re coming with me.”
She frowns. “Why would I do that?”
“Because the company’s address matches Nate Lawson’s street. And I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
The shift is instant. Her entire demeanor changes. Like a touch-me-not plant. Every time I bring up Nate Lawson, a new part of Holly closes off.
“So, pick you up at ten?”
Her jaw clenches so tight I half expect her teeth to crack. “Say that name again and I’ll break your jaw.”
