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“Does he? That’s hilarious.”
“I thought so too. Funniest joke he’s played on me in a while.”
“You’re trying to con me into changing my mind and helping you?” I guess.
“There is absolutely nothing in this world that would make me even remotely want you to change your mind. I will not leave my life in the hands of someone who has toys in their car,” he says as he flicks a plush twenty-sided die that I’ve hung from my rearview mirror.
“You don’t like it?”
“It’s ridiculous.Youare ridiculous and a waste of my time,” he says as he pulls out a cigarette.
“Don’t smoke in my car.”
As I slow for a red light, he stares me right in the eyes as he lights the cigarette then blows the smoke into my face. The smell of smoke immediately makes my stomach clench.
I reach up and pull my plush die down. “You know how this works?”
“I don’t give a shit how this works.”
“Basically, whether or not you do something depends on what number you roll. So if, for example, I roll above a… seventeen, which is very hard, then I’m going to take your cigarette, and I’m going to shove it down your throat if you don’t throw it out the window. Fun, eh?”
He stares at me before blowing smoke in my face again. I toss the die and watch in wonder as it lands right on a twenty.
“Oh looky there, I’m fucking lucky,” I say as my hand shoots out and I grab a handful of his hair, tearing his head back as I pull the cigarette out of his hand and aim it for his mouth, leaving the hot end nearly brushing his lips as he stares at me, rage unlike anything I’ve seen on him crossing his expression as I press my lips up close to his ear. “Do not try me, do you understand? Now get out of my car.”
I slam the cigarette down in his hand, undo his seat belt, and throw open the car door before shoving him out in one fluid movement.
Closing the door, I remember something and roll the window down.
“Hey-o, just wanted to mention that the red car two back is tailing you. I think they want to rough you up or something, so I’d kind of start running if I was you, but up to you! Later, gator!”
And off I go, leaving him gaping there on the side of the street as I hang my lucky die back up.
There’s a very tiny part of me that feels just a sliver of guilt over the past few minutes, so I end up calling Harker.
“Change your mind?” Harker asks, sounding excited at the thought.
“Not in the slightest, I just thought it’d be a decent human thing to tell you that your buddy Kade’s about to get the shit beat out of him on the corner of Ninth and Sixth.”
“And… you didn’t think it’d be worth helping him out?”
“Can’t say I did,” I say before hanging up and merrily heading on my way home. I have to drive with the windows down for a bit to get the smell of smoke out, but it shouldn’t take long.
* * *
KADE
The moment I’m out of the car, it speeds off. If I had a gun on me, I probably would have wasted every single round on that car and still not have been satisfied. There’s a light burn on my hand from me not grabbing the cigarette properly when he forced me to take it, but my attention turns to the red car growing nearer.
Len could be lying. He could want to watch me scurry off with my tail between my legs, or he could be telling the truth.
Either way, I fucking hate him. Now more than ever, I want to choke him and make him regret trying to turn me into a fool.
“Fuck,” I hiss as I turn from the road and try to disappear down the street, but the guy wasn’t as wrong as I’d hoped. Four men get out of the red car and start trailing after me. I pull out my phone and quickly make a call to Harker.
“Already have people on the way,” Harker says, telling me that this Len guy must have given him a heads up, and why ohwhydoes that irritate me even more? “Where the hell is your driver?”
“He’s dead in front of your office.”
