“I always thought it would be Sam who fucked things up so badly that I’d ’ave to put a bullet in ’im. I ’ave to say…I never thought it would be you.”
Sam. Yeah, Sam. The guy gets caught doing something nefarious every single time he leaves his front door. He didn’t even know where to aim his gun to hit me in the heart. Sadly, the same can’t be said for Charlie Holsan. Charlie knows exactly where my heart is. His FN Herstal Five-Seven—one of the hardest handguns to procure, but the most efficient at its job—is butted right up against my ribcage. And whereas Sammy would never have had the stones to pull the trigger, I know Charlie most certainly does. He has that wild light in his eyes again—the crazed mania that makes me think he’s been hitting the blow especially hard.
“I knew if I put the hurt on that little cunt of yours, you’d come runnin’,” he says, his mouth pulling into a broad smile. It would have been ill-advised for him to call Sloane anything, but to call her that… Every other word that comes out of my mouth is a curse word, but I never say that word. It’s an ugly word, used by ugly people. I curl my hands into fists, getting ready.
“You always were vicious, Charlie, but I never thought you were the kind of man to sell women. I sure as hell never thought you’d turn on me, either.”
Charlie sniffs, narrowing his eyes at me. “I’m the kind of man who likes to make money. That’s the only kind of man I’ve ever been.” He squints at me a little harder. “You think me selling those bitches is any worse than you putting bullets in the backs of people’s skulls? At least the girls are alive by the time I sell ’em on. Mostly. How many people have you killed for me, Zeth? How many people have you wiped clean from the face of this earth?”
I nod my head, staring him down. “More than I can count. But they were all evil, murdering bastards like you. And I may have been executioner, but you were the one handing out the orders. Their blood’s on your hands, too. I’ve never harmed an innocent person.”
Charlie’s head kicks back, his mouth open wide as he laughs. “If that helps you sleep at night, son, then who am I to fucking argue?”
“I sleep just fine, Charlie.” I press myself into the barrel of his gun. I am so fucking over this. I am done with his crazy paranoia, the threats, wondering which of his asshole henchmen is loitering around the next corner, waiting to put my girl in danger. “You tried to run Sloane off the road, didn’t you?” I snarl.
Charlie shrugs, pulling his mouth down at the corners. “This is Seattle. It’s been known to rain a lot. It ain’t my problem if your woman can’t handle a car when it’s wet.”
“Fuck you, Charlie. While you were out fucking with Sloane, your woman was at home slashing her wrists. She’s one floor down in a fucking coma; have you even been to see her?”
Charlie reacts quickly, pulling back and swinging, punching me hard in the stomach. I double over—I can’t help it—and the air leaves my lungs in an agonizing gasp. I can feel the wound in my stomach tearing even further. It was bad before, but now it’s really fucking bad. A wave of nausea washes over me, making me retch. “You’d be wise not to mention that,” Charlie bends over so our eyes are level. “I know you were there. I know you had something to fucking do with that.”
I spit onto the floor, unsurprised when I see the pink tinge to my saliva. “She was already well on her way when I arrived, asshole. You’re just gonna have to accept it; the years of lies and drugs and cheating—you made her so fucking unhappy that she wanted to die.” I’m pushing an unhinged man’s buttons, but it’s what’s going to get me out of this situation. I’m just waiting. Waiting for the right moment to snatch his gun and shoot him with it. In the meantime, Charlie brings the weapon crashing down so that the butt impacts with the back of my head. My vision shatters into a kaleidoscope of color and shapes.
“Oh! Oh my god!” I hear the squeak of tennis shoes on linoleum and the clatter of something crashing to the ground. Someone’s come across Charlie and me in our compromising position, and they’re freaking the fuck out.