Kait and I meet gazes and I can see the message blazing from her tear streaked eyes.
I’m sorry.
I feel something in my chest drop when I realize what must’ve happened. Dirk found a way to contact her and lure her out of the apartment. Perhaps he used blackmail or perhaps he emotionally messed with her head, which is this piece of dirt’s specialty.
Whatever it is, my friend has nothing to be sorry for. This isn’t her fault.
It’s his.
Dirk’s nose is covered in crisscrossed bandages from where Tanner broke it last time they met. His clothes are soiled and his bald head shines in the lights of the lecture hall.
A moment later, several other men lumber into the room, tall, wide men with tough faces and an aura of violence around them. I count seven as my hands move through Gizmo’s fur, terror pounding in my chest, for myself, yes … but more for Kait, and for Tanner, who’s standing opposite Dirk and the men hanging at his sides and a subtle smirk on his face.
Please don’t fight them, I want to scream, but my tongue has stopped working, tangled in my mouth. You’re strong, but there are eight of them. And Dirk has a gun.
“I told you I wouldn’t forget, didn’t I?” Dirk growls, gesturing at Tanner with his gun. “You see, all I wanted was to get my daughter and ditch the States before the fucking Feds got any ideas. But you couldn’t mind your own business, could you? So now I’m going to have to take my pound of flesh.”
“With seven thugs for backup,” Tanner says, voice utterly calm. “How brave of you.”
Dirk glances around the classroom, causing every one of the students to cringe back under the violence of his gaze.
“All of you put your cellphones on your desks now,” he grunts.
We all comply, the fear of the gun causing our movements to come fast and with terror laced beneath them. My hand shivers as I place my on the desk and Gizmo gives an answering shiver from my lap, making a soft whining noise.
Dirk glances up at the noise, narrowing his eyes when he spots me. A knife-like smile spreads across his face. The blood red teardrop tattoo under his eye puckers with the expression.
“Ah, there she is,” he says. “Fellas, go and get the bitch with the rat for me, would you?”
“Please,” Kait whines. “Please don’t do this—”
She lets out a cry as Dirk tightens his grip on her arm.
Something in me snaps and I jump to my feet, cradling Gizmo close to my chest as I stare blazing fury across at Dirk.
“You’re a pathetic fucking loser,” I scream. “Do you hear me, Dirk? You’re a sad, pathetic—Hey, get the hell away from me.”
I transfer my gaze to the two goons approaching.
One wearing a khaki colored jacket that looks as though it hasn’t been washed in a week, and is too small for him, too. That probably has something to do with how huge he is, Tanner’s height, just as wide, a solid mass of violence moving calmly toward me. The other is only slightly shorter with a puffed-up face, eyes glazed over as though he’s on drugs.
He probably is.
“I’d listen to her,” Tanner murmurs from the front of the room, his eyes cold as they move over the men.
“You’re not in charge anymore, tough guy,” Dirk snaps. “Bring her here, fellas.”
“Don’t touch her,” Tanner growls. “She’ll come of her own accord, won’t you, Tess?”
He shoots me a message with his eyes, Do what they say.
I feel my trust for him blasting in a series of firework like explosions in my chest.
I don’t know what he’s planning, but I nod and then walk toward the front of the room. As I move, I quickly hand Gizmo to the closest student – the elderly lady – and thankfully she takes him.
Gizmo whines and struggles in her grip, but she holds him firmly.
I don’t want him anywhere near this sneering psychopath.
Dirk’s men gather behind him again as Dirk raises his pistol, aiming it at my head.
With the gun aimed at me, he turns to Tanner, an evil glint in his eyes.
“Apologize,” he snarls. “You hear me, motherfucker? Apologize or I’ll blow her brains out. Not so tough now, eh?”Chapter Twenty-TwoTannerThe pulsating gets even fiercer when he points the gun at my queen, a savage chord striking over and over at the back of my skull.
The beast inside me roars as my gaze flicks between the men, judging the distance, judging the seeming hopelessness of this situation.
Dirk’s the only one with his gun drawn, but it’s difficult to tell if the others have weapons, perhaps knives stowed in boots and pockets.
Tess’s friend, Kait, is pinned under Dirk’s arm now, her head sagging under the weight of the moment.
The classroom stares on, each of them paralyzed by the sudden violence of this moment.