My blood thrashed through my veins and there was a ringing in my ears as I looked around at my Rook, finding her eyes wide and alight, full of a need for death and destruction. I held her gaze as I jerked his head sharply between my palms and snapped his neck with a loud crack, the finality of his death making her eyes gleam.
A door flew open beyond the stage as shouts of alarm went up all around me and I twisted towards the new threat, my gaze locking with the eyes of a man I’d long since thought I’d never see again as he stepped into the room amongst a small crowd of cartel thugs.
My attention locked on the brother of the man I had killed so long ago that it seemed like a different life. One of the men who was the reason for me faking insanity during my incarceration. I’d hoped they would stop sending men to kill me in the belief that I was suffering far more in Eden Heights than I would with any death they could deliver. And I’d been right.
Carlos Alonso’s mouth fell open as he stared at me, and I dropped my grip on the corpse I still held, my heart thrashing to a rampant beat while I stared my death in the eye.
“There he is!” Brooklyn cried, pointing at the man who had led the group out of the room, but I could barely spare a glance for Señor Castillo while one of the three brothers who had fought to ensure my death for so long met my gaze.
Niall cursed and my eyes widened marginally as I spotted the guns which the cartel were pulling, a bellow escaping my throat as I broke into a sprint and began to charge right for them, intending to leap up onto that stage and dive down amongst them, taking out as many as I could no matter how many bullets pierced my skin.
A panicked scream drew my attention back to Brooklyn a beat before a heavy weight collided with me and I fell tumbling to the floor just as a chorus of gunshots rang out.
Mateo swung a punch into my jaw as I fought to buck him off of me, his angry glare piercing into me through the holes of his gimp mask.
“Snap out of it, you bastardo loco,” he snarled while Niall whooped excitedly and began returning fire beyond us.
The other bidders were all running for cover in a panic, but there were a lot of them drawing weapons of their own too and this place was set to become a bloodbath fast.
I bellowed furiously at Mateo, throwing my weight to one side and rolling us before shoving myself upright again and turning my gaze across the room to seek out Carlos. I couldn’t let him live. And Brooklyn needed to dole out her own share of bloodshed tonight too.
I started running again, the sounds and screams in the room fading away in favour of the need for violence which sung through my limbs and guided me onward.
Gunfire blasted my way, a bullet catching me in the arm and twisting me aside a heartbeat before another whizzed through the air where my head had been a moment earlier.
I didn’t care. It didn’t matter. Only my need for death and carnage consumed me and there was nothing else in this world which I could think on.
I ran for the edge of the stage as more bullets flew my way, but just as I was about to vault up onto it, Brooklyn skidded into my path and threw her arms out wide to stop me.
My heart lurched as I found her between me and those bullets. I leapt on her, knocking her to the floor and pinning her beneath me as I shielded her with my body.
A furious roar escaped me as I twisted my head to try and look back at the cartel thugs once more, but she reared up and sank her teeth into my neck to force my attention onto her.
“We need to run, AJ,” she urged, her fingers curling around my biceps and digging in as she clung to me in an attempt to stop me from rising. “Fight off your angries and run with me now.”
“Five seconds, Spider, or we’re leaving him behind!” Niall yelled as he fired a few more shots over our heads, forcing the cartel back and buying her that time.
I made a move to stand again, the need for murder too great in me to back down now, but as I lifted my weight off of her, Brooklyn cried out, snatching my hand and pushing it between her thighs so that I could feel her bare flesh and the slick heat of her core.
“Remember that promise you made me earlier?” she demanded. “We need to make good on that. Right now.”
The bark of authority in her voice made my thoughts snap together and I blinked back a little of the red which was pressing in on my vision. My cock swelled at her words before I’d even fully taken them in and my mind turned in the direction she was urging, despite the furious need for destruction which echoed through my veins.
Mateo was suddenly there again, his hand locking around my arm as he yanked me towards the door at Niall’s back and I snapped out of it enough to listen, scooping Brooklyn into my arms and doing the one thing I’d sworn to do better than any other. Protecting her.
I curled her up tight in my grip and broke into a sprint as I took off towards Niall, a triumphant whoop escaping him as he managed to shoot one of the cartel men behind me while making no attempt whatsoever to take cover. He may have been insistent that we didn’t make a scene here tonight, but now the fray had broken out, he was fully embracing it.
Mateo was right on my heels as we crashed back through the doors and I took off up the stairs at a furious pace, breathing in the scent of my Rook and focusing on that single, most important task as I fought against the need to snap necks and pound flesh.
Niall yelled out in encouragement for us to run faster as he chased after us and an explosion rocked the stairs beneath our feet as he tossed a grenade back over his shoulder with a howl of laughter.
Mateo pushed past me as we shoved our way back into the kitchen and Brooklyn shifted in my arms, pointing towards a window on the other side of the room and shouting, “Onward horsey!” at the top of her lungs.
I did as she commanded, chasing after Mateo who fired his gun out the window before leaping through it.
Mateo ran ahead down the alley, checking for any more armed assholes while I leapt out behind him with Niall’s breath warming the back of my neck as he followed.
“Faster, big lad,” he snarled, his gaze snapping to Brooklyn’s as she beamed up at him.
He stayed just behind us, checking over his shoulder while we ran and my muscles twitched and bulged with the need to turn back and face this fight head on, no matter how outnumbered we were.
We rounded a corner at the end of the alleyway and Niall unlocked the door to his new black Jeep, yanking the rear door open for me to toss Brooklyn inside before jumping into the driver’s seat himself.
Mateo leapt into the front too and I whirled back around, blood pounding against my eardrums, begging me to return to the fray and let my violent needs play out.
“AJ!” Brooklyn demanded, shuffling across the rear seats as she made space for me. “Come use that rage on me,” she said, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip and her thighs parting to give me a view of her bare pussy beneath her little leather skirt.
I didn’t even realise I’d made the choice to move before feeling the car speed away from the curb, the door swinging shut behind me as I took hold of Brooklyn’s hips and shoved her right back against the far door to give myself space to drop my head between her thighs.
Then I did as I had promised her and worked my way to her ruin while Niall cursed me as he sped through the streets of the city and headed home.
“We’ll have trouble drawing him out now,” Mateo growled angrily as he tossed his gimp mask aside, clearly upset over the missed opportunity to strike the final name from Brooklyn’s list, and I knew that I was to blame for that failure.
Brooklyn moaned loudly as I gripped her thighs and I forced them wider, sinking my tongue as deep inside her as I could manage before circling it and tasting just how sweet she really was.
I had failed her. That was the truth of the matter and now I wanted to serve her to make up for it as best I could.
“That’s not the first time I’ve had to cut and run on a job,” Niall replied, the car swerving suddenly and almost unseating me and Brooklyn as she gasped and panted my name.