It made me like her even more.
The Bitter Hill prick roughly shoved her face-first against the wall, the fury on his face way too easy to read. I’d seen that look before, way too many times, to not know what it meant. I set my drink down and took a step toward the door, but forced myself to stand still, gaze locked on the confrontation in the alley. It was harder than it should’ve been. No matter how much I might want to help Heidi . . .
I couldn’t just charge down there and demand they release her.
The Bitter Hill Crew bought guns from us. Guns I knew they were packing as they closed in on Heidi. I tried to relax. This could just be a routine shake-up. They generally dealt drugs. Maybe she used and owed them money. If that was the case, I wouldn’t—couldn’t—interfere. We did business with this gang, and the consequences of messing with their cash flow would be ugly. But still . . .
For the first time in my life, I wanted to help someone without any thought to the cost.
I wanted to help her.
CHAPTER 4
HEIDI
I ignored my racing heart and paralyzing fear. Even though I would do my best to fight the men off, I knew I could do only so much. At some point, they would overpower me. And I would be helpless to escape it. Would be helpless, period, because no help would be coming for me.
I was on my own.
Earlier, I’d sent Marco up to his apartment. I wanted to deep-clean the floors after closing so I’d told him I’d crash on the couch in my office when I was finished. Even from down here, in the alley, I could hear his music blaring. I could shout. Scream for help. But he wouldn’t hear me. No one would. People shouted for help in this part of town every night. Gangs tagged future hits with red and black graffiti and no one cared. Guns were fired on a nightly basis, and no cops came riding to the rescue. Residents turned up their TVs to drown the cries out and went about their lives as if it were just a movie playing outside their window instead of real life.
“Okay, okay,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm even though my cheek was being torn by the bricks of the building I owned. “I get it. You don’t like when I say your dick’s as small as your brain.”
He smacked my head into the wall again, and I legit saw stars. “You’ll find out, up close and personal, how wrong you are.”
Fear crept down my spine, making my whole body go numb. So that’s what this was about. They intended to rape me. Well, then, I intended to fight like hell. I didn’t get where I was today by being scared to fight back. “Whatever you say.”
“That’s more like it.” The guy who slammed me into the wall let go of me, chuckling. “You’re learning.”
His laugh sent shivers down my spine, because I knew this was all a game to him. And I was his next plaything. Now that I was free, I faced them, pressing my back against the wall, and blinked away the fuzzy vision the last head slam had given me.
But then I forced myself to stand still.
If they were here to find trouble, then I’d give it to them. If I cowered now, I’d always seem like an easy mark. This wasn’t my first run-in with assholes like these guys. I knew how to handle this, and showing fear wasn’t the way. All that did was make their dicks get hard.
I forced my eyes off Star Tattoo and located the other attackers. When I’d pegged down all three men—they had me fully surrounded, of course—I saw it. The graffiti by the Dumpster. They’d tagged my bar earlier tonight, and I hadn’t seen it. I’d walked into their trap blind. I dug my nails into my palms and ignored my racing heart.
Time to pretend I was the one in control . . . when I so wasn’t. “Guys . . . you clearly made a mistake coming here tonight. We can pretend this never happened. Go home.”
“Go home?” The man to my left laughed, and the other two joined in. Greasy blond hair fell over his eyes and the Boston accent that sounded so hot from Lucas was menacing coming from him. “You hear that?”
The other two men made affirmative replies.
They closed in on me.
The one on my right, with a star tattoo on his neck, blocked the bar’s back door.
“What’s this really about? You want a cut of my earnings?” I fisted my hands at my sides, trying to watch all three of them at once. They weren’t from the Sons, so I wasn’t sure who they were. But I knew one thing: They were trouble. “You’re welcome to try, but the last guy who came looking for my money left with a limp and a sore dick.”
Dark Eyes grinned and pulled out a gun. “I’m not worried about my dick.”
I cast a scornful look down and swiped blood off my jaw. “Obviously.”
“And we didn’t come here for money.”
“Then leave before I call the cops.” I cast a quick glance around for an escape route but came up empty. They still had me surrounded, and it was only a matter of time till I was face-first into the wall again. “Now.”