Ink & Bone (New York Crime Kings Book 5) (11 page)

Twelve

Emily

The Kiss

Bang!

Something zips by my ear, and I gasp as Skull crashes to the floor with a violent roar. In the distance, Laura screams Skull’s name, and I fall onto my ass, no longer feeling the cold that previously chilled me to my core. What the fuck is happening?

I look around at Skull’s men and watch as they advance on the pool house, shooting at the beautifully sculpted columns that surround us.

Hope ignites in my chest, and I force myself to my feet. Could it be? He’s finally here?

“The delivery is here,” Skull barks, groaning as he climbs to his feet and sprints toward the marble stairs, pulling Laura along with him. “Get Emily inside!”

Oh, hell no! I run in the opposite direction. I run in the direction of the bullets. I sprint harder than I’ve ever sprinted, panting like I’ve already run a million miles. Someone grabs at me from behind, but I slip away with ease, stumbling only slightly.

“Jai?” I call his name as I pass another sculpture and reach the soft grass. “Jai?”

Tears well in my eyes, desperate tears. I squeal as a bullet zips by and buries itself in the soil at my feet. The ground shakes, I swear it does.

“Don’t fucking shoot at
her!
Shoot at
them!
” Skull shouts, and as I pass the final sculpture, a hand shoots out and snatches my elbow. Without warning, I’m tugged sideways, and I squeak as I slam into a hard body. I blink rapidly as hands grab at my face and force their way through my hair. When the blurry lines of the world sharpen, I see his face.

Jai.

He’s as beautiful as I remember, even with his cuts and bruises. Deep, ocean-like eyes, pink full lips and spiky, jet black hair. I press my hands to his face and devour him with my stare. He’s here. He’s actually here. For me.

“Are you all right?” he asks, touching his thumb to the bruise on my lip.

My heart pounds in my ears. “I am now.”

Bullets chip away at the sculpture we hide behind, but they don’t faze me. Holding me close, Jai swallows the distance and kisses me—
hard—
and it’s everything I need. Sighing, I rake my fingers through his hair and melt into him. His kiss breathes life into me, into my soul, and all the aches and pains I’ve accumulated over the past week are sucked from my body and replaced with love and warmth. In one heartbeat, he reminds me why I held on for so long, waiting for him.

*Jai*

I have her here, finally, in my arms. She’s smaller than I remember, more fragile. How she’s even managing to carry herself around on her delicate frame is beyond me. I pull her harder against me, so hard I’m afraid I’m going to snap her in half, but I can’t loosen my grip. I don’t want to. God, I’ve missed her. I’ve been through so much shit this past week that it feels like months since I saw her last. I pull away from her and lift my rifle.

“Take your time,” Joel shouts, popping out from behind the pool house, shooting his gun. “We’re not in a hurry or anything.”

From my waistband, I pull out my handgun.

“It’s only got three bullets,” I tell Emily as she takes it from my hand. “Make them count.”

I peer around the stone and lift my rifle, lining up a dickhead a few inches to my right. Without thought, I squeeze the trigger, and blood explodes from his head right before he crashes to the ground. Beside me, Emily squashes her trigger and gasps as it kicks back into her hand. She hits her target in the shin, and he goes down, clenching and screaming. I line him up and finish it off, leaving him lifeless in the grass.

And then comes the man of the hour, storming toward me without a care in the world, his handgun lifted and pointed at me. He’s going all in. Whether he lives or dies, he doesn’t give a shit. To him, revenge is everything. People like Skull live in the negative. Without negativity, without drama and revenge, they have nothing. If I were him, I’d let it go because there’s no way he’s going to win this fight. Whether it’s today or six months down the track, I will destroy everything he’s built, and not out of revenge, but out of moral obligation.

He fires his gun, and I tuck back behind the sculpture. Emily does too.

“He’s coming,” Emily pants, her eyes wide and fearful. “What do we do?”

“You’ve got two bullets left,” I say, smiling to ease her tension. “Hit him between the eyes and you win a trip to Italy.”

Whipping around the stone again, I line Skull up in my sights. He lines me up too. I squeeze my trigger…

…and my rifle malfunctions.
Shit.
My heart slows, and I see the quirk in Skull’s lips.

Bang.

It happens slowly. The fired round from Skull’s handgun seems to float through the fragile air. Not surprisingly, it pierces my body at an excruciating pace, and I’m thrown back. My heart, no longer pounding relentlessly in my chest, moves to my shoulder and tries to escape out the wound.

“Jai!” Joel and Emily’s voices tangle together.

I roll onto my side and drag myself onto my knees. In front of me, Emily is apprehended by one of Skull’s henchmen. She struggles against him, watching me in panic as blood runs down my arm.

“Joel!” Monique screams, and the sound chills my blood.

I turn my head as Monique and Joel are dragged out from behind the pool house, separately, guns pointed against their heads.

“You’re late!” Skull snarls, kicking me hard in the ribs. I grunt and fall, clenching my midsection. Groaning, I roll onto my back, and he stands over me, peering down with his evil grin. Blood drips onto my cheek from his shoulder, and I grimace.

I missed his head.
Damn.
I was aiming for his head. Skull stomps on my shoulder, pressing the tip of his shoe into my wound, and I hiss.

“Skull,” I mutter, “good to see you.”

Chuckling under his breath, he cocks his leg up and slams it down. Emily’s shrill scream pierces my ears as Skull’s boot crashes with my skull…

…and darkness swallows me.

Thirteen

Jai

Skull and Crossbones

I blink, opening my eyes slowly. A relentless headache throbs over my skull and buries itself in my eyes. I shift, and the sound of metal rubbing against metal sends chills down my spine.
Well, shit.
This is what I was hoping to avoid.

“Jai?” I lift my head, and there she is, seven feet in front of me, chained to the roof by her arms, just like me. “You’re awake,” she sighs, her eyes wide. “Thank God.”

I blink a few more times, and the sharp lines of my reality return. Beside her, Monique sleeps, her knees bent, her head hanging. Next to me, Joel groans and stretches his legs.

“I’m getting real tired of being chained up,” he mutters. “Would it kill him to chain me to a chair? My legs are fucking killing me.”

I look at him. “I was shot in the shoulder,” I point out. “Quit your bitching.”

Speaking of which, I glance at my shoulder. Hm. It hurts like a motherfucker, but at least he went out of his way to patch it up. He must want to keep me alive. I shudder at the thought.

“How long have we been hanging here?” I ask, flexing my stiff fingers.

Emily tugs on her chains. “A few hours.”

She shivers, and I notice her clothes are still wet. It’s freezing in here. The least Skull could do is give her something warm to wear so she doesn’t catch a cold.

I spit, “He has better things to do, I guess.”

Right on cue, the large metal door to my left clanks and creaks as it’s pushed open. I watch, rage building in my stomach, as he steps through the door in his three-piece suit, wearing shiny leather shoes.

“How you holding up down here, Kitty-Cat?” he asks, striding over to Emily. Without a care, he touches her face, and it twists my stomach. Has he touched her like that this whole time? I grit my teeth. Of course he has. “Not as comfy as my bed, is it?”

Prick!
Grunting, she tries to move her head away from him.

“Just fine, thank you.”

Just fine? My ass she’s just fine.
Her skin is deathly white, and her lips are as blue as the sky.

“She’s freezing to death,” I point out. “The least you could do is give her some warm clothes.”

Skull whips around dramatically, like he forgot I was even here. “Look at you, so caring.” He grins sardonically. “So
dreamy
.”

He turns back to Emily. “The first thing we do with wet clothes is…
remove
them
, right?”

I slide my teeth together. He’s gonna undress her, and I’m gonna have to deal with it. I clench my fists as he grabs her by the collar of her white shirt and rips it in half, exposing her wet, bare breasts. I slide my teeth together. I’m going to skewer him. I’m going to slice him up inch by inch.

Joel swears under his breath and drops his head, looking away. “You are so fucked up, Skull.”

Skull laughs. “Don’t act so high and mighty, Joel. I recall you tearing the clothes off plenty of wet women when you lived here.”

“You’re speaking out of context,” Joel retorts, pulling on his chains. “Those women were willing. I didn’t chain them up.”

Skull arches a brow over his shoulder.

“I didn’t chain them up against their—” Joel spits. “You know what I mean. Don’t twist my words.”

“You’re doing that yourself.” Skull returns to Emily. “Honestly, the people you surround yourself with are dysfunctional.”

“You’d know a thing or two about dysfunctional.”

Chuckling, Skull tears the rest of her shirt from her body and drops it on the floor beside his feet with a squelch. “I suppose I do.”

Skull reaches for the button of Emily’s jeans and pops it open. Swallowing hard, she closes her eyes.

“You know,” he begins, curling his hands around the waistband of her jeans. “You’re a lucky guy, Stone. Emily has the sweetest, little cu—”

Emily shoots forward, and her chains tighten, grinding together like frustrated teeth. “You liar!” she seethes before flicking her watery stare to me. “We haven’t.”

I rub my tongue against the roof of my mouth, an attempt at calming myself down. I’ve never felt my blood so hot, my muscles so tight.

“Or have we?”

“No.” A tear rolls down her cheek as she grits her teeth. “We haven’t.” She looks at me, her eyes wide and pleading. “We didn’t.”

Skull pushes Emily’s jeans down the length of her legs before cutting them off her ankles with a blade he pulls from his waistband.

When she’s naked, he steps back to marvel at her, blocking her from my view. He’s close to me, so close I could reach out and snap his neck if my hands were free.

“What do you think?” he asks, stepping out of the way. “I kept her in pretty good condition, given the circumstances, don’t you think?”

I flick my stare up her smooth legs and stop at the bruised scab on the side of her thigh. I’ve seen enough wounds in my life to know that one is because of a bullet. Not to mention there’s a scab and bruising on her lip, and she certainly hasn’t been eating enough food. I’ve seen bait for fight dogs in better condition. And another thing, Emily can’t even bring herself to look at me as she hangs there naked. Shame leaks from her pores, like she’s done something wrong. No matter what has transpired over the course of the week, none of this is her fault. Skull will be the one who suffers in the end, not her.

I drag my stare to Skull. “Now I’m here, you better start sleeping with one eye open.”

Skull’s lips twitch, but his eyes darken. He takes my threat seriously.

And he should.

He stalks toward me, slow and calculating. “You talk a big game,
Stone.
Even if you did manage to kill me, you’re far from free.” Grinning, he hunches to meet my face. “Once you join their gang, you can never leave it. Not even in death.”

He grabs my damp shoulders and turns me on my chain. Fuck.

“Jai…” Emily gasps, emotion thick in her voice as she sees my unhealed tattoo. “What did you do?”

I close my eyes. I’m going to get out of these restraints, and he’s going to pay for everything. When I’m done, his castle will be nothing but a pile of rubble and his empire an old tale used to scare children into staying in school. When I’m done, Skull will know why he never should have fucked with my family in the first place.

Continued in:

Guts & Glass

NEW YORK CRIME KINGS

Round Six