Page 59 of Phantom Flower

Shards rained down.

The guy screamed as his forehead and cheek split open on impact. Blood sprayed across the remaining mirror and the sink. Rei flinched hard at the noise, knees buckling, and slid down the wall to the floor in a heap.

The second guy, the one by the sink, got hit by flying glass. A big jagged piece sliced across his cheek and another embedded near his eye. He howled.

“Fuck! Fuck, my face!”

I did not even look at him yet.

Rei was on the floor, hazy, trying to push himself up but failing. His eyes were glassy, unfocused, lips parted like he was trying to speak but could not form words.

I reached down, unbuckled my belt, pulled it free from the loops. Rei’s head turned toward the sound, confused. I crouched in front of him, close enough to smell the alcohol and something chemical on his breath.

“Stay still,” I said. “Don’t peek.”

He made a slurred sound, maybe trying to say my name. I slid the belt around his eyes, covering them completely, and buckled it behind his head, just enough to blind him.

“What… are u… is that blood…?”

“Stay still,” I repeated.

I stood up, rolled my sleeves to my elbows, and turned to the bleeding asshole who had had his hands on Rei. The guy whose head I had just smashed into the mirror. He was trying to straighten up, one hand pressed to his split forehead, blood streaming down his face and into his eyes. The second guy was still screaming about his face, backing toward the door like he might run.

I ignored the screamer for now.

“Did you drug him?” I asked the bleeding one.

He glared at me through the blood. Then his fist came up.

Okay.

I grabbed him by the hair and the front of his shirt and drove his face into the mirror again. Harder this time. The rest of the glass shattered completely.

I let him drop to the tile, then kicked him hard in the ribs. He curled up, coughing blood. I planted my boot on his neck, pressing down just enough to cut off most of his air.

His hands flew up, grabbing my ankle.

He choked. “Wait, wait, I’ll tell you!”

I lifted my boot.

“Someone paid me,” he gasped. “They said if I drug him and fuck him, they’d pay more after. I was supposed to record it. I don’t know. It was supposed to be easy. He was already drinking—”

My boot pressed down again. His eyes bulged. I eased up just enough.

“Who paid you?”

“I don’t know!” he wheezed. “It was anonymous. They paid in advance through some app. I never saw a name. Please, man, please, I didn’t even touch him yet, I swear—”

He was lying about not touching. His hands had been all over Rei.

I slowly lifted my boot off his neck. He scrambled to his feet, clutching his sides. The second guy bolted out the door, screaming something incoherent.

Let him run.

He would spread the word.

People would know what happened to anyone who touched what was mine.