Rugger: The Huntress (The Grey List #3)

5

3:26a

My lids drew backward. My irises were exposed. My pupils dilated. My right index finger curled around the trigger of the PMXs. The custom switch designed especially for the firearm gave it the ability to continue firing rounds. And, I wouldn’t stop until I heard the God-awful click that revealed its emptiness.

My left index finger curled around its twin. Without hesitation, I aimed in the dark, still laying down. The movement on the other side of the room was my primary focus. I didn’t need to see to shoot. Neither did I need to be up in my bed. The unsettling feeling in my bones and the keen sense of hearing were all I needed.

I began applying pressure, aiming straight for the deep, smooth breathing. Just as I grew confident in my accuracy, the sound ceased. My eyebrows crunched inward toward my nose. Confusion kept me grounded. The only satisfaction I had was knowing my unwanted guest was feet away from me. The second they moved or made a peep, I’d blast.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

I began the countdown. It wouldn’t be very long before the exact location of my intruder was revealed. All I needed was an exhale. Even the slightest one and they’d meet our Maker.

One hundred and twenty-one.

One hundred and twenty-two.

As the revelation hit me, footsteps took off in the opposite direction. I lifted from my bed, hurrying toward the door that was now ajar. I raced down the hallway and then down the stairs.

What the fuck? I questioned, still rushing through my house with my gun drawn.

I’d left one behind to better control the other. All I needed was one shot. I’d clear. That was a fact.

One foot in front of the other, I scanned my home, careful around each corner until I heard movement in my kitchen. I made a beeline toward the open space.

A slim, familiar frame stood in front of the open fridge. The bottled water was the choice of beverage. As it turned, my weapon lowered. My heart doubled in size and it hurt each time it pumped.

“Teddy,” I sighed.

The disappointment on his face was diminishing.

“When did you realize?”

“When you held your breath a second longer than the above-average human being.”

“You should’ve never gotten to ten. One hundred and twenty-one is absurd.”

“I needed an accurate location.”

“In the room with you is accurate enough.”

“I would’ve killed you.”

Chemistry paused with a sarcastic smile on his face. His brows raised as if curiosity plagued him. It was a lie. He was hardly curious about anything, but seemingly knowledgeable about everything.

“Me?” He tittered, pointing at his chest with a shake of his head.

“Yes,” I reiterated.

“No, baby. That’s impossible. Shoot first, Rugger. You know the rules.”

My heart wouldn’t let me, I almost blurted. Instead, I nodded. He was right. The tug I felt when I clammed up had nothing to do with fear. Something deep within me told me to hold my fire. That didn’t happen often.

In fact, it had only happened three times. Every one of them happened to be an instance with a sibling on the other end of the barrel. My intuition hadn’t lied to me yet. I didn’t think it would start tonight.

“Okay.” I shrugged, sitting my gun on the counter.

He reached in the fridge and grabbed another bottle of water and handed it to me.

“You want to talk about it?” Chemistry asked me, nodding his head toward the dining table.

“About?”

He paused, taking in my dampened skin. I was due for another shower and it wasn’t because of his presence. Neither was it because of the discovery of an uninvited guest in my home. Long before I woke up with both trigger fingers wrapped around automatic weapons, beads of sweat lined my forehead.

“Your home is sixty-eight degrees, baby. You’re not hot, yet your skin is moist.”

“No. I don’t.”

Sharing the details of Richie’s constant presence in my dreams wasn’t exactly how I wanted to commence or conclude a conversation with my brother. The visuals were partially the reason I was in no hurry to close my eyes when the sun rested at night.

Those dark eyes stared into the dark pit of a soul I was in possession of. Still, within those rounds was love. Care. Consideration. Contemplation .

I waited, patiently, for his thoughts to resolve the issue my lack of cooperation caused. He tipped the bottle until water flowed down his throat. His gaze never wavered. When he lowered the bottle, his words began to assault me.

“He’s not coming back.”

“Why are you here?” I questioned, growing frustrated with the accuracy of his statement.

“He’s not coming back, Rugger.”

“Don’t you think I fucking know it, Chemistry?”

Involuntarily, my eyebrows drew inward and my heart tumbled two stories until it reached my knees where I grew weaker.

“Every day I open my eyes, I’m reminded. I don’t need any more reminders. Thank you, but I know. I know. I know! My heart knows. My body knows. My mind knows. My entire fucking existence knows.”

“You know it but you haven’t accepted it.”

“And, I won’t. Not until I’m ready. If that’s why you’re here, then please–”

I pointed toward the door. It wasn’t the way he’d come in, but it was a way out, nonetheless.

“It’s fucking with your performance.”

“My–” I chuckled, sarcastically, placing a hand underneath my chin, “My performance.”

“You’re insulted.”

“Damn right!”

With a nod, I scoffed, shaking my head from one side to the other.

“ Good . You should be.”

“Good? When did you start using words like– Good .”

“When your patience proved to be a problem. Your pain is written all over your work. We don’t do shambolic work, Rugger. It’s beneath us. Beneath you .”

“Which is why you won’t find a job I’ve done that doesn’t live up to the standard or exceeds it. I’ve never known you to talk in circles, so I’d be happy if you said what you have to say instead of talking in circles.”

“I don’t talk in circles, baby.”

“Tonight you ar–”

“Project 184.”

“Alive and well.”

“Deep in the pits of hell,” he corrected me.

My heart was no longer in my patella. It had reached the ball of my left foot. Silence coated the distance between us. Paralysis had handicapped me. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t speak.

The numbness of my limbs intensified with each passing second. Tingling consumed me.

“Breathe, Rugger.”

Three minutes had elapsed and still, I hadn’t exhaled. Distance no longer separated us. He’d obliterated every inch. Chemistry’s fingers cupped my chin, squeezing as he took me in.

“Breathe, baby,” he demanded.

Still, I found little use for the lungs that were close to collapsing. I was no swimmer. I wasn’t Chemistry. I didn’t blend in like a shark in the muddled waters. My lung capacity wasn’t as strong as his. My body wasn’t as equipped for long periods of oxygen deprivation like his.

“Breathe, goddammit!”

His roar was loud. Commanding. Condemning. Cold. Calloused .

The heel of his palm pushed into my back, forcing air from my lungs. Air came rushing out of my nose and mouth. The tingling subsided at once and I lunged forward as if there was an object lodge in my throat. There was nothing. Nothing tangible, at least.

He rounded the island. The distance he regained was necessary. Not only was it his way of reading me. It was his way of expanding his view. My entire frame was under his gaze.

Chemistry would know if a lie was told. At what point it began. When it ended. And, what parts of a response were accurate or exaggerated. He was observing. I was spiraling. His revelation was accompanied by a softer resolve and a sigh from his lips.

“Not your body.”

I shook my head as my emotions flared. “Not my body.”

Both lids lowered until those dark eyes were covered by dark skin. He was unreadable.

“What’s on your mind, Rugger?” He inquired.

“That was my body!” I reminded him, “I’ve been doing the work. Stalking the prey. Following the– fuck. The schedule never set well with me. I should’ve taken him tonight.”

“But you didn’t. There’s no need to dwell on the situation. Someone did us a favor.”

“I don’t ask for favors. I am capable of handling my own. Well-equipped.”

“Don’t go searching, baby. It’s sweat off our back.”

“Chemistry, how could you ask that of me? He was responsible for taking you away from us.”

“Yet, here I am. In front of you. And, at any time I want, I can visit either of you. Let’s not forget that I’m a wanted man, Rugger. I’m not a man who is afraid. Threatened. Or, worried about a corrupt government. It’s you and the rest of the women I love that I’m protecting.

“I’d touch each of them three times before they could touch either of you or touch me again. They aren’t smart enough. Their money isn’t long enough. Their team isn’t tough enough. Their tactics aren’t thorough enough to fuck with me.

“I handed my freedom to them to secure my happiness and free my wife of her transgressions. They didn’t confiscate it. So, he’s not responsible for shit that I orchestrated myself. Don’t go searching, Rugger. I meant it.

“I’m not asking. I’m telling you. Try me and watch how fast I sit your hard headed ass down.”

“Sit me down?” I tittered.

For the second time, Chemistry rounded the island. When he was close enough for me to feel the heat radiating from his body, he finally spoke.

“They will have to stitch you from the top of your back to the bottom. Rhea will be wheeling you around for the rest of her life. Don’t do that to her.”

“Chemi–”

“And, don’t break my heart like that.”

Fire filled me.

“Understood.”

Though my head and heart were on two different accords, I nodded.

“I need words, Rugger.”

“Sure, Chem.”

A single gush of wind wasn’t enough to smolder what was brewing within me. Chemistry’s words had little to do with the uncontrollable blaze. Hermen’s death was. Knowing it hadn’t been my pleasure was.

Frustration led me through my kitchen with my gun in-hand. Up the stairs, I trudged as if my world had just ended as well. Lights that I didn’t remember switching on shined down on me, fueling my rage.

I flattened my back against the bed with my eyes toward the ceiling. A swipe of my right hand underneath my pillow allowed me to exchange the automatic weapon in my hand for the .40 caliber.

I closed my eyes and steadied my aim.

Bow.

Bow.

Bow.

Bow.

The shattering of glass deprived the fire inside of me of oxygen. Orange flames replaced the red ones. Darkness surrounded me again. There wasn’t any light behind my lids. There wasn’t any light in my heart.

Finally, I released a shaky breath. It was accompanied by a blood-curdling scream. The animalistic sound ended prematurely as the cell phone beside me began ringing. Without taking a look at the screen, I flipped it open.

Teddy’s voice caressed the aches and pain.

“Put the pieces back together, baby. Sorrow doesn’t breed success,” he paused before continuing, “The world just keeps spinning, Rugger. There’s another day to put a pussy in the ground. Today just wasn’t the day.” The call ended abruptly.

In the dark room, tears slid down both sides of my face, soiling the comforter beneath me. Not even the feathers it was stuffed with could console me. A life had been taken from me. I’d never find peace.