Pawn (The Pawn Duet #2) - T.M. Frazier Page 0,34

fuck now.” I grate. “You killed Gutter, you son of a bitch.”

Remembering how Gutter was murdered right before my eyes in the parking lot of my business and home. The only person and only place sacred to me ruined in one stroke of a fucking baseball bat. I gnash my teeth so hard they feel as if they’re about to break. My jaw tightens. My hands shake for the first time since I was a fucking kid. The anger of the memory mixes with the sweetness of revenge, which is only one trigger pull away from being mine.

Percy shakes his head. “I didn’t—”

I don’t let him finish because facts are fucking facts. “Don’t fucking deny it!” I push the barrel of my gun against his temple. “I fucking saw you fucks with your skeleton hoodies. There ain’t nothing you can say that is going to buy you a ticket out of your death sentence.”

“I’m not looking for a ticket out. I wasn’t there, but it was us. I should have stopped it but I didn’t. But, that’s not why I came here,” he says, calmly. Too fucking calmly considering the adrenaline shooting through my veins is enough to bring someone long in the grave back to fucking life.

“Then, what the fuck are you looking for?” I press, seeing nothing but how good King’s studio would look decorated with his fucking brains.

Percy sighs and looks to the ground. “Redemption, but I know I ain’t gonna find that here.” His eyes meet mine, and there’s none of the rage or cockiness I’m used to seeing when our paths have crossed in the past. “I killed him. Not by my own hand but in a roundabout way. I knew it was gonna happen, and I let it. Gutter’s death is on me. His blood is on my hands,” he admits. “And I know it don’t mean shit, but I’m sorry for it.”

“You’re right. It don’t mean shit.” I reply, smacking him in the back of his head with the handle of my gun.

“Ahhhh!” He rubs his head and hisses. “It happened because Darius told me and the rest of the Reich that Gutter was the one responsible for the death of my moms. It’s not an excuse. It’s just the reason. I fucking swear it.”

“Next thing I know, you’re going to tell me that you and your fucking clan had nothing to do with threatening King and his family all because you think I snitched on you and got you locked up,” I scoff. I roll my eyes because I ain’t buying it.

“No, I know that wasn’t you. Well, I know that now. That shit with King and trying to get to you by threatening him and stealing your shit to put you at war with King? That was Darius. I knew that before I got out of the joint. I can’t deny that because it’s the fucking truth.” He takes a deep breath. “But, that’s not why I’m here. Like I said, it’s Mickey. She needs your help.”

There’s a noise outside. Light footsteps on the gravel.

Motherfucking liar.

“Shit,” Percy swears, his chin dropping to his chest.

“Thought you said you came alone,” King remarks, cocking his gun still aimed at the back of Percy’s head. “Guess you wanted a witness to your execution.” King jerks his head to me, and I go to the door, listening for movement on the other side. There’s a slight sound of shuffling, and all I see is the color of the blood I’m about to spill from whoever the fuck it is that Percy brought along to carry out whatever stupid fucking plan he had in mind.

Percy looks nervously to the door. “I said I came in here alone,” he blurts out quickly. “There’s someone else with me, but it’s not what you—”

Fueled by anger, I turn the handle, grip my gun with both hands and kick open the door. A lump of dirty, dark hair falls at my feet.

“—think,” he finishes.

She’s shaking in fear, staring up at me with wide eyes.

“What the fuck did you do to her?” I accuse Percy, looking down at the shivering girl who doesn’t so much as make a sound.

“Nothing, there’s a monster fucking coyote lurking outside. She probably just got scared and wanted to come in. I told Mickey I’d protect her, and this is the only place I could think of that she’d be safe. Here. With you.” He picks her up and sets her gingerly on the couch. “She’s