The Fear That Divides Us (The Devil's Dust #3)(6)

I climb out of the SUV and grab the pistol out of my waistband, cocking it back to load a bullet into the chamber.

I hear Shadow’s footsteps round up behind me, his gun clicking with noise as he loads it.

I come over the lip of the road and see the Corvette smashed against a thick tree trunk, smoke and hissing noises coming from the hood.

The driver door is pushed open and a man in blue scrubs falls out groaning, his head is bleeding, and there is blood smeared across the cracked windshield.

“I think I might be hurt,” the guy grumbles.

“I’m sorry about that. Let me help you up,” I sneer. I plow my boot into his stomach, making him lose his balance. He falls on his back, his eyes looking up at me. They are blue, making me think of the blonde goddess he mangled like a rag doll. I kick him in the ribs hard, making him roll over in pain. I dig my boot into his back, leaning down, and fishing out his wallet.

“Travis Norwell,” I read loudly, confirming to Shadow that this is the scumbag we are looking for. Shadow scoffs, folding his arms in front of his chest.

“We don’t have time for this shit, Bobby. We’re in the open here. Do the job so we can get out of sight,” Shadow scolds.

I toss the wallet at Shadow, and grab the back of Travis’s hair, my boot still in his back, making him arch his neck back painfully.

“The things I would do to you if I had time. I would pull you limb from limb, burn the skin off your f*cking dick. I would torture the hell out of you,” I threaten, my teeth clenching, my body shaking with incorrigible rage.

“What do you want from me?” he sobs, his voiced strained from the awkward position his neck is in.

“Retribution,” I whisper into his ear. I let go of his hair, letting his head thump against the ground hard. The impact making him clench his jaw, and groan in pain.

I close my eyes, trying to get a hold of myself, but all I see is the look of fear written on Jessica and her daughter’s face. My nose flares, and my blood runs cold. I yell into the night air, slamming my boot into Travis’s face as hard as I can. Bone cracks beneath my boot, the blood against my foot making the most disgruntled of noises as it spits across my foot. I slam my boot down again and again, my knee and ankle screaming from the impact.

“Bobby!” Shadow yells. I look down at Travis. His face is torn apart, his mouth whimpering with pain and fear.

“Fucking do it already,” Shadow demands. I have seen Shadow kill. He never plays with his food; he does it clean and quick. So it’s no wonder he is looking at me with concern.

I take in a ragged breath and point it at Jessica’s husband’s head. When he realizes my intentions, his eyes flare wide, what’s left of them anyways. That look, the look of life fleeing a body when the reaper is breathing heavy on their neck, comes forth. I close my eyes and pull the trigger. Ending the suffering of Jessica and her daughter, allowing them to live in freedom and not in fear. My nostrils flare as a rush of relief escapes me. Travis will no longer be a danger to Jessica or her daughter anymore. I did that. I was the one who rid them of their burden. The feeling of finally doing something good and not completely f*cking it up is deafening.

“You all right?” Shadow asks, stepping up beside me, taking me from that place of numbness.

I open my eyes and look at Shadow, the anger of the situation still pulsating through me. “I’m fine. Let’s get this cleaned up.” I side step Shadow and head to the SUV to get the plastic.

“We need to make sure we scrap this SUV,” Shadow mutters, walking behind me. “There’s evidence all over it.”

“Yeah, but the job is done,” I remind him.

***

I enter the club in search of Jessica and her daughter, but I come up empty. I need to see the woman I killed for, the child I saved.

“What are you looking for?” Hawk asks, with a twisted face.

“Where is the woman and child?” I respond.

“I sent them back to Nevada,” Bull interrupts, stepping out of the kitchen doors.

“What? Why, I thought we made a trade in services,” I ask confused.

Bull tilts his head to the side; his eyes squinted with concern. “I needed her to play the grieving wife when her husband didn’t return home the next day. She’ll be back in a month or two, if not, you and Shadow will be retrieving her for me,” Bull says, knocking his knuckles on the bar’s counter.

I nod in understanding.

I walk back outside, rest my hands on my hips, tilt my head back, and breathe in the crisp air. What a f*cking night. I close my eyes, the image of Jessica looking at me dancing behind my eyelids. I let out a breath and hang my head forward. There is something about that chick, the way she looked at me, the way she made me feel like… like the f*cking world as I knew it had been upside down, and suddenly went right side up when she walked in. I lift my head and open my eyes. I gotta get a hold of myself. She’ll be back, and when she does, I’ll be waiting for her.





1


Bobby





PRESENT

My eyes crack open from the unfiltered sunlight splitting through the room landing right on my face, blinding me. I groan and sit up, my body aching from the abuse of the night before. I rub the sleep from my eyes and feel something gently press into my leg. Out of reflex, my head snaps to the side, causing my head to pound instantly. I find a young blonde sleeping soundly, a pink blanket wrapped snugly around her naked frame. Fuck, not again. I throw my head back and sigh, running my hand over my face. I hate when I wake up in unknown places, which happens often.