But I did not care.
I blinked in the soft glow of the warm sun. When I viewed my surroundings, I smiled. I was back in the forest. The breeze was cool, running through my hair. I sat on the grass, my hands running through the soft blades. I closed my eyes, simply relaxing, then I felt the air disturb around me. Someone sat down by my side. Opening my eyes, I looked to my right. I smiled wider, inhaling the comforting scent of leather.
“You?” I said on a happy sigh.
The devil with angel eyes nodded his head and rested his arms on his bent knees. “Me,” he said, and the corner of his mouth kicked up at the sides. I studied his features. I studied his long brown hair, a few strands seeming almost caramel in color when they caught the sun. His skin was tanned, his body tall and muscular. But his eyes were my favorite. So deep a brown I could lose myself in their depths for days.
He pointed around the forest. “You like this place?”
I followed his hand. Looked up at the high trees, heard the flowing river beyond the clearing. “It is where I come to leave it all behind. This—” I inhaled the fragrant air. “—this is my heaven.”
He turned to me, searching for something in my face. He did not speak, so I did. “You are here for me?” I asked, my breath held in hope.
“Gonna get you out,” he rasped, and I saw the conviction of his promise in his eyes.
Tension left my body, and I had the feeling that I was floating. A hand covering mine suddenly became my anchor. Body back on the soft grass, I stared down at his tattooed hand resting atop mine. I fought back the tears that were pricking my eyes at his gentle touch.
This man was gentle and kind. He was . . . “An angel,” I whispered and lifted my eyes to meet his. “You are my angel,” I said. His lips parted. They were full, kind lips. “You are an angel here to save me. You spared my life once before, and you have returned to do so again.”
Seconds stretched, only the sound of the flowing water to be heard. Then, “Yeah.” He gripped my fingers tightly. “I’m here to get you, Phebe. To take you from this hell. You just gotta hold on for tonight. Just fucking hold on.”
“Very well,” I said. I held on to the angel’s hand when he tried to pull it away. The angel frowned at me in confusion. “Tonight may be hard,” I said and felt the echo of pain being brought to my body in some other place. Squeezing tighter, I asked, “Could you stay with me through this? Just for tonight? I . . . I may need you . . .”
The angel’s eyes softened, and he nodded his head. “Always,” he said and shifted closer to me. I laid my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. A foreign sense of safety engulfed me in its warmth. “Just fucking hold on, yeah? Just for tonight.”
I breathed.
I smiled.
It was exactly what I intended to do.
Chapter Six
AK
I sat on the edge of the mattress in the barber shack, counting down the minutes. My leg bounced as the bitch behind me made quiet noises of pain. I blocked her out. I had only one mission tonight.
And we were seconds from it going down.
I checked my watch.
Then . . .
A bell sounded. My heart fired like an Uzi. I clutched my gun and peered through the barred window. Guards and men ran from their shacks and barns. A gunshot rang out, and I looked to the main exit.
I fucking froze.
“Hush,” I hissed. What the fuck was the suicidal fucker doing?
Arms spread wide, he shouted in his thick Cajun accent, “My mama’s white and my papa is black. I’m your worst fucking nightmare, so why don’t y’all come get me and my massive interracial cock!”
The asshole took off running. Guns fired, and men ran after Hush. I saw guard after guard abandon his post, like good little Klansmen after a black. When the guard opposite the dentist shack took off, there was a rap on my door. Vike was there, ushering me outside.
“He went with them,” Vike said.
Meister. The fucker had taken the bait.
Flame came running from the back of the shack and dove on a redneck that had been late in stopping his fucking. He sliced the cunt’s throat and slit stripes down his femoral artery. The asshole fell. Vike pushed me forward. “Get her. We got minutes. We’ll get anyone that’s left behind.”
I darted to the next-door shack and peered through the window. I struggled to see through the thick layer of dust and dirt. But someone was in there, lying deathly still in a chair. I slammed my shoulder into the door, the old wood folding immediately. I rushed inside the small room and stopped dead. Phebe slumped, beaten to a pulp, on an old-fashioned dentist chair. She was naked, and the blood was fresh. An IV of heroin or some shit was attached to her arm.
I ripped out the needle, ignoring the small spray of blood that followed, and scooped Phebe up in my arms. She released a low moan but didn’t wake. She weighed practically nothing. As I left the shack I saw five bodies in the middle of the road.
“Think we got ’em,” Vike said as Cowboy and Flame came to stand beside me.
Phebe moaned in my arms. “Fucking state,” Cowboy said as he looked at Phebe’s body. Bitch was naked, and I had nothing with me to cover her up. I eyeballed Cowboy until he looked away.
“Tree line, up ahead, that’s where he left the van,” I said and started moving. I had barely made it three steps before I heard a gun click and several sets of feet crunch on the rough ground. I froze and snapped my head to the right.
Fucking Himmler, along with two assholes with guns aimed right at our heads.
“Knew there was something up with you cunts the minute you walked in this place,” Himmler said, tightening his hold on his gun. Flame and Cowboy stiffened beside me. I gripped Phebe tighter in my arms. Himmler’s eyes fell on Red. “Meister ain’t gonna take kindly to you trying to steal his slut, fucker. He won’t give a fuck if you were a sniper or can kill from yards away.” He stepped closer, and closer still, until the barrel of his gun pressed against my forehead. He smiled, and I braced to strike. His head cocked to the side. “Why’re you here? You ain’t Klan or AB. If you were, you’d be joining the cause, not stealing from it.”
“Black-lovers dot com,” Vike said from behind me. “Might have heard of us. Whites who just love fucking blacks. Pussy, cock, you name it. We’re all over that chocolate shit.”