BAD SAINT (All the Pretty Things #1)

Book 2 Five-3

The whites of Adam’s eyes reveal his excitement. “That can be arranged.”

The vibe may be tranquil, but this is just the calm before the storm because when Adam asks, “And Chow?” it kickstarts the real reason we’re here.

Alek slides a glass of vodka across the table, which Adam accepts. “You let me worry about Chow.”

Sara’s foot bounces uncontrollably, a sure sign the drugs are kicking in, and when Alek slides his hand up the hem of my dress, I know he’s following her in hot pursuit.

I desperately want to flee, but where do I go? I’m trapped in yet another cage with my captor.

“You like this one?” Adam says, watching me closely.

If Saint had hackles, they’d be standing on end.

Alek caresses his fingertips along my flesh. Back and forth. Back and forth. His touch is like fire and ice, and I don’t mean that in a good way. “Yes, I do.”

He walks his fingers higher, inching way too close to my underwear. As much as I want to recoil, I don’t. I won’t show this bastard weakness, so I stare straight ahead, focusing on the barely legal stripper straddling the silver pole. It seems we’re all prisoners in our own personal hell.

A winded gasp has my attention shifting because I wonder what has captured Sara’s attention. What I see, though, has me realizing her gasp is in pure fear, not interest.

“You double-crossing asshole,” says a man, edging through the door. The reason Sara looks seconds away from passing out is because the gunned man has Hans as a hostage.

Saint instantly springs into attack, drawing his gun. But the man uses Hans as his shield. He has the barrel of his gun pressed to Hans’s temple, who has his hands raised in surrender. Saint snarls angrily, coming to a standstill with his gun trained on the assailant.

“Hello, Chow,” Alek says calmly. Regardless of what is happening, his hand caressing my leg doesn’t falter. Adam’s eyes are wide as he watches the scene unfold.

“Don’t hello Chow me!” he shouts, peering over Hans’s shoulder as he seems to know that Saint doesn’t miss. “What are you doing with this slimy bastard?”

Adam’s men also have their guns drawn, but they don’t have a clear shot. They gather closer to our table, flanking us to protect us.

“Put down the gun, Chow, before you get hurt,” Alek mocks, coming to a slow stand. I exhale, thankful he’s removed his hand, but when I see Sara, I know there is nothing to be grateful for.

“f**k you!” he screams, pressing the gun into Hans’s temple shakily. “Why did you tell me to come here?”

Alek tipped him off? Why?

Everything soon unravels although I wish it didn’t.

“Because our dealings have come to an end,” Alek explains, reaching for his glass of vodka. “You’re indiscreet and can’t be trusted.”

The music over the speakers soon mutes, and the patrons are quick to leave. They too sense the tension hanging thick in the air and don’t want to hang around. The ladies on the stage grab their money and quickly exit through the red curtain behind them.

Even though this is foreign to me, I can imagine it happens in here far too often.

“What are you talking about?” Chow says, but he knows.

Alek leisurely takes a sip of his drink, savoring the burn. “You sold to my rival”—he inhales sharply, hinting this is personal—“when I’m supposed to be the only person you sell to. That doesn’t look good for business, especially when that person undercuts me and sells the product for half of what I do. You know what happens to people I don’t trust? To people who betray me?” He is calm, like psychopath calm, while Chow desperately looks for an out.

My breathing is measured as I’m too afraid to make a sound.

So that’s why we’re here. Chow is Alek’s supplier, and he double-crossed him by selling product to Alek’s rival. How can you be the number one drug lord when someone else sells the same product and for half the price to greedy consumers?

“I will kill him!” Chow screams, creeping closer and closer to us. The entire time, Hans’s eyes are locked with Sara, who is muting her sobs behind her hand. But their ruse is up. It’s clear to anyone watching that what they share is a lot deeper than simply the mutual respect of two colleagues.

Saint tries to get a clear shot, but Chow isn’t stupid. He knows this will end in bloodshed. And what Alek says next kickstarts the shitstorm.

“He means nothing to me.”

“I’m not playing!” Chow is a desperate man, but his seconds are numbered. He never should have come here.

“Good. Neither am I.”

“You’re going to regret this.” But it’s too late for Chow.

It happens in the blink of an eye.

Sara’s blood-curdling scream echoes the exact moment a single gunshot rings out around the club. The remaining patrons flee or duck for cover while I simply stare wide-eyed and unbelieving at the sight before me.

Hans drops to the floor with a sickening thud, and a small part of me hopes he’s okay. But as Sara continues howling, covered in her lover’s splattered brains, I know that the blood and gore hint that none of us will be okay ever again.

Gunshots echo loudly around us. Neither Alek nor I move yet for entirely different reasons. Alek gets off on the violence, but I am frozen in utter shock as I watch Saint shoot Chow dead without breaking a sweat.

Adam and his men dive behind the booth, not interested in being involved in a war that isn’t theirs. My feet are rooted to the floor, and no matter how badly I wish I could black out the horrors unfolding, I can’t. I watch as Saint charges forward and shoots Chow in the head again, ensuring he’s dead. He has taken this man’s life and has done so without remorse.

I’ve allowed this coldblooded killer into my world, knowing full well what he is. But actually seeing it, seeing him covered in blood and brains…is something else. Those hands have touched me in ways no other man has. They’ve given me pleasure. But now, they only deliver pain.

Alek finishes his drink, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. He peers over the edge of the booth where Adam is hiding. The red stage lights catch the disco ball, showering Alek in a sheen of crimson and making him look monstrous. “Let this be a lesson to you, Adam…don’t f**k with me.”

Adam’s head bobbles nervously because this was a lesson learned for us all.

Sara slumps to her knees, sobbing into her palms. The sight breaks my heart because she has just lost a small comfort in this bleak, cruel world. However, when Alek looks at her, unmoved and unsurprised by her emotion, I know why she’s here. Why he insisted Hans was to man the door.

This is what happens when you try to go behind Alek’s back. People die.

This was her lesson. Alek knew she and Hans were a thing, and to punish her for her betrayal, he killed her lover in front of her. Is this a warning to us all?

“Clean this up,” Alek orders Saint coldly, gripping my bicep and lifting me to my feet.

My legs are like Jell-O, causing me to stagger, but Alek isn’t playing. He drags me along, leaving Sara on her knees as she grieves for Hans. Saint spins around quickly, his eyes a cesspool of rage. When they focus on me, they soon realize what he’s done, what I’ve witnessed him do, and they fill with sheer shame.

A look alone can express so much, and right now, Saint wants me gone. And truthfully, I want to go. I can’t unsee what I’ve just witnessed as it has changed the way I look at him forever. He told me he has a darkness within, and right now, covered in blood and other matter, I can see that he does.

He may have been forced into this world, but to kill so efficiently, I wonder was that darkness there all along? Did meeting Alek only feed the beast? If, and that’s a big if, we get out of this alive, how can Saint return to being “normal” after everything he’s seen and done?

How can I because, at this moment, no matter what he’s done…I don’t care, and for that, I’m ashamed of myself. The line between right and wrong blurs because whenever Saint is involved, I always manage to find an excuse.

But what plausible excuse is there for taking another man’s life?

I clutch the cross at my neck, an action which doesn’t go unnoticed as Saint averts his gaze. Alek sighs in victory, revealing why I’m here, revealing what my lesson was. He wanted me to see Saint for what he really is. But more importantly, he wanted me to see what I am.

A woman…in love with a killer.

My heart shatters in two because I was denying it all along, but I am. I’m in love with Saint. It may not be the conventional hearts and flowers kind of love, but what I feel for him is my own kind of love, a love that’s unique like a fingerprint.

The connection between us has always been present, but instead of it fading when I see him for who he really is, it’s only grown…grown into this.

Alek doesn’t allow me to speak to him, not that I’d know what to say. And it seems he feels the same way. We’ve both stripped back the layers, and now, it’s time to see what comes next.

I step over Hans’s and Chow’s lifeless bodies, their blood staining the soles of my boots red. I say a prayer for them both, hoping wherever they go, it’ll be better than here. We walk out the door and see the security guards slumped by the doorway. Chow made sure he took down as many as he could with him.

Alek opens the passenger door for me, and I enter the car, numb. He jumps into the driver’s side and starts the engine, navigating away from the mess he made but doesn’t have to clean up. The silence as he drives us back to his home speaks volumes.

I press my forehead to the glass and squeeze my eyes shut, hoping to erase what I’ve witnessed…but deep down, I know this is just the start of things to come.