Page 75 of The Rook
Her nose wrinkled. "Yeah, I could do with some chips."
"Okay. Come on."
She slid me a glance. "You're being nice. Why are you being nice?"
"Contrary to what you think, I am a nice bloke."
"Yeah, sure you are. A nice bloke who doused me with water balloons."
"Yeah, that was me. I also remember keeping your secrets."
She ducked her head, her curls cascading over her cheeks to mask any flush that would appear on them. Even with her brown skin, I could always tell when she was embarrassed.
"Do we have to talk about that? I feel like if we're going to talk about it, we might as well have drinks."
I chuckled. "Fair. How about you tell me over a pint what the hell you were doing?"
"And maybe you will tell me what the hell you were doing?"
With her face upturned, I could see mischief and a direct challenge in her eyes, and I couldn't help but smile at her. Really smile. She blinked at me rapidly and then shook her head as if trying to stop herself from saying something. "You know what, actually, I really want a meat pie."
I grinned at her. "All right, there's a kebab shop there. We'll see if they have some."
When I bought her a meat pie and a drink, I grabbed one myself. And it was delicious, the spicy, meaty goodness exploding on my tongue around the flaky pastry. But the look on her face, eyes rolled back as if she was having a mind-blowing orgasm right on the street, that was fucking picture perfect. Her lips were parted, the oil from the crust making them look moist. Supple. Lickable. Fuck me.
I didn't realize I'd said it out loud until she blinked at me, hazel eyes focused on mine. "What?"
I cleared my throat. "Nothing. You just looked like you're really happy with that fucking meat pie."
She nodded and took another bite, mumbling something about it being fucking heaven, and then she took a drink. As we waited on the corner for our car, I made the error of looking away just fucking once.
For a moment.
For a breath.
Just long enough that when I turned back, some geezer was dragging her back into the alley by her elbow.
Nissa’s heeled boots made her tumble back and fall on her arse.
Three strides. Two and a half, maybe, and surprisingly, Nissa helped. With her free arm, she happily dropped her drink and used her elbows as she went down, not into the bloke's gut, but into his balls.
He cursed, losing his grip, and she continued to fall backward. I should have broken her fall, but I was more concerned if he had a gun. And I was right to be worried because he was already reaching inside his bloody coat.
I reached for his gun arm, and as he pulled it out, I grabbed it with both hands, did a quick twist and flick, sliding the gun off his hand and thrusting it to the side. As he howled, I gave him several jabs to the face with my free hand. And as his head snapped back, I adjusted my grip so that with my left hand, I held his right one far out to the side, gripping his shoulder hard enough that my fingers were pressing through the layers of his clothes to skin, and I dragged him forward, delivering several knees.
When he went down, I grabbed him from behind, wrapped an arm around him, and put him in a sleeper hold. As he passed out, Nissa was registering what the hell was happening. "Westin, you're going to kill him."
I lifted a brow as I gazed up at her, not sure of the monster she saw in front of her. "He was going to do far worse to you."
He still struggled in my arms, and he was reaching for something. Before I knew it, Nissa ran forward, coming within kicking distance. "Nissa, no."
But she didn't listen as she raised a booted foot, and then brought it down straight down on his balls. He howled. He dropped whatever was in his hand and cupped his balls. With the choke hold I had on him, he couldn't go forward, so instead, all he did was press his trachea harder against my arm. And three, two, one… He passed out.
I frowned up at her. "I told you not to come close. Why did you do that?"
"H-he—" Her hands were shaking, and she was staring at something on the ground. A goddamn syringe.
I kept hold of him and did the one thing that I knew I couldn't hide, knew I wouldn't be able to mask from her. I had to call it in. I needed a bloody clean-up crew.
