Page 36 of Reckless Vengeance

“The fuck are you doing here, Rivera? Still stalking me?” I asked as he locked his car and approached, his eyes on me as I rested my arm across my knees where he could see the gun in my hand.

The fucker had to have been tracking my phone or something. He always showed up in places where there were no street cameras, so I knew he didn’t spot me on one.

Mule was flicking her gaze between us, trying to figure out if this was going to go to shit or not.

“Was on my way home from something. You know there’s gang wars happening, right? Why are you here alone?” he grunted, barely glancing at Mule.

“None of your business. Where’s your bitchboy?”

“None of your business,” he deadpanned, smirking as I took the safety off the gun. “I’ve warned you about shooting at me.”

“Give me a reason. Dare you,” I scoffed.

“Aw, I thought we were friends now? Does Skeet know his girl’s running around the Heights unsupervised? I should start charging him for babysitting duties.”

“Sure, tell him how much you harass me. You’d get bullets, not cash,” I grinned, getting to my feet. He watched me as I stepped towards him, tapping the barrel of my gun against his chest. “How about you run along home, hmm?”

“You’re not a stupid girl, Donovan, but you do a lot of stupid things. Waving that gun at me is one, but if you’d checked in with Skeet, he’d tell you it’s not safe here tonight. Razor and some of his guys were spotted three streets over a few hours ago,” he warned, his tone softening. “Go home. I mean it.”

“We had to fix Mule’s door. It was off the hinges and she doesn’t have tools, so I brought some from my place. We’re not staying,” I said sharply, his eyes narrowing.

“So you thought you’d come without backup?”

“No. I called Skeet but he’s obviously busy.”

“Then why didn’t you call me?”

“Why the fuck would I call you? Get the memo, asshole. We’re not friends,” I spat, pressing the gun harder against his chest. “Stop interfering.”

“I wouldn’t fucking have to if you stopped getting in trouble,” he bit out, moving so fast I had no time to react as he somehow disarmed me, my gun now in his hand. He flicked the safety on and held the barrel, offering it back to me. “If he doesn’t answer, then don’t go. You don’t have access to the cameras and trackers like we do, so you have no idea who’s lurking around out here. You really think you and Ashlynn over here could take down a crew if they showed up and tried to shove you in a car right now?”

Of course he knew who she was.

“Hey, you know for a fact I can hold my own. I kept me and D safe when you and your guys came for us in Pine Valley,” I growled and went to take the gun from his hand, but he pulled it back and rolled his eyes.

“Don’t believe for a second that you went against my guys and won. I called them off because I didn’t want you hurt. Razor? He doesn’t give a shit about you. He’d kill your friend, drag you into a car, and you’d be sexually assaulted and beaten before even making it back to wherever they’re hiding. You and Diesel were only safe because of me.”

I snatched the gun back, contemplating grabbing my knife from my bra and stabbing him, but I tensed as his hand lifted to touch my face.

“Why don’t you believe that I give a shit about you?” he murmured, and I swatted his hand away and took a step back, needing some distance between us.

“Like I’ve said before, if you cared about me, you’d stop this shit before you get me killed. We’re not friends, I’m a pawn in your game.”

“I’m not playing a game.”

“Bullshit.”

His hand grabbed my bicep to pull me against him, and I swung my fist up to clip his jaw, just as I heard the familiar sound of Skeeter’s McLaren roaring along the road.

Tires screeched as he pulled up behind Hunter’s car, his gun in hand as he bailed from the car and stalked towards us.

With Hunter distracted, I swung another punch, managing to catch him off guard this time and causing him to stumble.

“About time you got here. It’s exhausting babysitting her for you,” Hunter joked as he rubbed his jaw and glanced at me. “You’ve been working out. That actually hurt.”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Skeeter snapped, and it took me a second to realize he wasn’t talking to Hunter, he was talking to me.

“Mule’s door was kicked in by her neighbor. I was helping her fix it,” I answered, motioning behind me to the door.