Page 10 of Heart Stopping
Someone would be bringing the… 'goods' as he referred to them. Potentially multiple someones.
If there was something I didn't like to deal with, it was multiple someones, particularly angry, vengeful someones.
Carl struggled, but I managed to drag him down to the floor and pin him there. His eyes were wider now, starting to protrude from his head. So attractive.
Not.
"This is taking too long." Harlow dropped to her knees beside me.
"Tell him that." I squeezed his throat harder, but he was still kicking, arms flailing. "He's a stubborn prick."
She rolled her eyes at me, pulled out a knife and drove it straight into Carl's neck.
Narrowly missing my hand, mind you. In fact, I think she nicked off a piece of skin. It was hard to tell, with all the blood spurting out of Carl's throat.
"Has anyone told you patience is a virtue?" I asked her.
"I heard something about that once." She pulled out the knife and wiped it on his shirt. "I'm not in the mood to be patient."
"I noticed that," I said approvingly. She wasn't patient in jumping my bones either. A fact that was very good for my already healthy ego.
"I think you can let him go now," she said.
She was right. Carl stopped fighting and was lying still, making a mess on the floor with all that blood. I lifted my hand from his throat and patted his cheek.
"Nice talk, Carl. Although, to be perfectly frank, I prefer you like this." Cooling rapidly and unable to do anyone any harm.
"We need to get him out of here," Harlow said.
"Do you have a plan?" I asked, not trying to be facetious.
She was, after all, here first. A woman who planned to kill a man as big as this one must have figured something out in advance. Unless she was planning to leave him here to be found by the first unfortunate soul who stepped through the door. Which, if they were bringing an innocent victim, could probably not be considered unfortunate.
In fact, fuck them.
"I figured I'd throw him off the fire escape and go from there," she said.
"That would be a no then," I said.
She looked up at me sharply. "I would have figured something out. I always do."
"I'm sure you do." I glanced around before reaching for a towel which hung on the front of the oven. I wrapped it around Carl's neck before tucking the ends into his shirt. It was rough, but it'd have to do.
I didn't want to touch him, but I leaned over, picked him up and threw him over my shoulder. "Let's get out of here before his associate arrives."
"But if there's a—" she started.
"We deal with him, then we come back," I said quickly. "Do you know anywhere close by?"
"My restaurant," she said quickly.
"Your… Oh." Better not to ask too many questions at this point. Instead, I held on carefully to Carl and carried him out the door.
She stopped outside, so suddenly I almost ran into the back of her.
"What is it?" I glanced past her, down the hall toward the elevator. The place looked empty to me.
Wincing, she reached into Carl's pocket and pulled out his phone before pushing it into her own pocket at the back of her jeans.
