Chapter Thirty-Four
Ice water in her face startled Fallon out of a deep slumber. Stretching her limbs, she wiped her face with her hands.
“Get up, bitch. You got some stuff you need to do for me. And if you give me any lip, I’ll beat your ass. This has taken way the fuck longer that it should’ve.”
Fallon glanced behind Shanna and saw Annie, who stared at her. Cruelty etched her face. How could she pretend to be my friend all this time?
“Get the skank to the fucking bank so I can blow outta this damn state.” Annie lit a joint.
The man who had been following Fallon came in. “Are you up, princess?” He stroked her cheek and she flinched. “Don’t you like my touch?”
“Will you stop it, Tae? It’s not funny,” Annie fumed, shooting dagger eyes at Fallon.
“Shut the fuck up, slut.” Tae looked back at Fallon. “You’re not a slut, princess. You’re a good girl. I don’t see many of them.” He chuckled and ran his finger over her jawline.
“You’re the one who was following me. Did you cut your hair?” she said softly. She caught on that Tae was in charge and he was taken with her. She had to play into it if she had any chance of surviving.
He laughed. “It was a wig. I wanted to make sure you stuck around. Then I got to liking you and wanted to have a little fun with you.” He kissed her cheek, and Fallon gritted her teeth to keep from dry heaving.
Annie rushed over and threw her arms around Tae, kissing him. He shoved her away and she jumped back up. “Don’t you throw me away. What do you want with a crippled woman? Have your tastes gone over to the freak side? If you think I’m gonna stand around and watch you flirt with this skank, you’re fucking wrong. You need me for this to go down, so don’t fucking piss me off!”
Without warning, he punched Annie in the face. The girl howled and fell back. “Don’t you ever fucking threaten me again. You’re nothing but a trashy whore, spreading your nasty legs for some juice. You pathetic, slut.” He hit her again and Shanna rushed in.
“What the hell are you doing, you dumbass? How the hell can she go to the bank now with her face all bruised up? You never were the smart one of the family. Daddy was always beating your ass for stupid shit you did. I should do that now.”
I didn’t know Shanna had a brother. He must’ve been the one she was talking to when I overheard her that day. I’d thought it was Charlie. The dumb sonofabitch got played big-time by Shanna. He never knew about my grandmother or the inheritance.
Shanna glared at Fallon. “I’m in charge here, and you’re going to do exactly what I tell you. You’re going to go to the bank and withdraw your money. I’ll be with you holding a gun to you in case you try to get cute.”
Fallon laughed. “Are you serious? Do you think the bank is going to just give me seven hundred thousand dollars in cash without me calling first? Most banks don’t have that much cash. I’d have to call ahead to request it.”
“Is that true?” Shanna turned to Tae.
“I don’t know. It sounds good.”
“Sounds good? I should’ve done this by myself. I knew involving you and your druggie girlfriend would fuck this up. You should’ve investigated all this.”
“Why the hell didn’t you?” Tae snapped.
Shanna sighed in exasperation and turned back to Fallon. “I think you’re making this shit up. You’re going to go to the bank and ask for the withdrawal.”
“I’m not doing shit. And you’re not going to do a damn thing about it because you need me. Annie can’t go to the bank looking like she just had a round in the ring. You’re nothing but a money-hungry bitch.”
Shanna raised her hand to slap Fallon but Tae intervened. “You can’t bruise the merchandise, sister. Take Annie and leave me alone with the princess. I’ll get her to play ball.”
Shanna went over to Annie and she flipped out, screaming and crying, her arms swinging everywhere. “I can’t control her. You take care of your bitch,” Shanna said as she stormed out.
Tae leaned over and whispered in Fallon’s ear, “I’ll be back, and I promise to show you a good time.” He licked her earlobe and went over to Taya. Pulling her up by her hair, he dragged her from the room, the young woman screaming the whole time.
When they’d left, Fallon frantically looked around for a way to escape. At that point she realized she was in the back part of the warehouse. Since Charlie had died, the fighting gigs had stopped and the ring girls had moved out. She knew there was a back entrance behind the partition. As she struggled to stand up, four loud shots exploded. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! The noise reverberated around the room.
Silence.
What the hell happened? Her skin crawled as though she had millions of ants on it. Maybe Diablo’s here. Hope shot through her but quickly turned to despair when Tae walked back into the room.
“What happened? Who fired those shots?” she said, her voice laced in panic.
Tae sat down next to her and jerked her to him. “Shh, princess. No need to be worried. I took care of some business.”
“Where’re Annie and Shanna?”
“First off, Annie’s name is Taya. She’s the sister of your bodyguard. Isn’t that a fucking small world? She didn’t make the connection until she bumped into him in a restaurant.”
“Taya? She knew I was Diablo’s girlfriend and she still did this?”
Tae laughed. “What you didn’t know about Taya is that she’s nothing but a cold-hearted bitch. She’d sell anyone out for a fix. I bet you wouldn’t do that. You’re a nice girl.”
“You didn’t tell me where they are.”
He smiled. “I’d say they’re both in hell, but not sure the Devil wants them.” He threw his head back and laughed.
“What does that mean? You didn’t kill them, did you?”
“I never was good at sharing. Shanna knew that. I never intended to share the money with them. I’m pretty sure she was planning the same fate for me, and Taya would’ve loved to have offed Shanna. Anyway, there’s no way Taya could pull this off. You can’t trust a druggie. And besides, she doesn’t even look like you.” He reached out and stroked her cheek. “You have an innocence about you that she never fuckin’ had.”
I have to buy time. “I can help you get the money. I never liked Shanna, but you’re different.” Hurry, Diablo.
Tae smiled and ran his hand down over her hip. “Now you’re talking. Before we go to the bank, I want a taste of you. I’ve been wanting to fuck you for a while. I like innocent girls, not slutty ones like Taya, although I have to say I got some decent money for her ass.”
Fallon’s eyes widened. “You were her pimp.”
“Yeah. And if you’re real good, I’ll let you live and be my special girl.” He kissed her and she jerked back. He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t fuckin’ do that.” His voice was cold and had an edge to it.
“I didn’t mean to. You just took me by surprise. Let’s see how much money I can take from the bank. Then we can come back and have the time we need.”
“I’m good with going at it now and later.” He fisted her hair and yanked her head back, causing her scalp to burn and her eyes to water. “You like it rough, babe? I bet you do since you’re fucking an outlaw. I can give it to you real hard.” He slammed his mouth against hers and shoved his tongue inside. She tried to push him away but she was no match for his strength.
Right when he slid his hand under her knit top, the door burst open. Before either of them could react, Diablo had Tae by the neck, shaking him like a leaf in the wind. He threw him to the floor and the two men punched and kicked until Diablo was the only one punching and kicking. Tae lay unconscious on the floor.
Steel walked over to Diablo. “He’s gone, brother. Go take care of your woman.”
Army, Paco, Goldie, Chains, Crow, Shotgun, Eagle, Muerto, and Skull rushed in, AK 47s in hand. “Anyone else in here?” Paco said.
Steel shook his head. “Seems like the two women we found in the next room and this fucking dirtbag were the only ones in on this. Is that right, Fallon?”
“Yeah.” She pushed herself up, Shotgun grabbing her elbow when she stumbled. The drug still had an effect on her. She bent down and wrapped her arms around Diablo, his back against her. She peppered the side of his neck and face with light kisses, murmuring, “I love you,” over and over.
Diablo stood up and pressed her close to him. Without a word Chains, Goldie, Shotgun, Eagle, and Muerto scooped up Tae’s lifeless body and headed out. Fallon buried her head in Diablo’s blood-spattered T-shirt and sobbed. He rubbed her back as she heard Steel say in a low voice, “We’ll take care of everything here. Take your woman home.”
Diablo wrapped his arm around her and led her outside. She saw Taya on the floor and a dark pool of red filled in the cracks in the floor. She glanced at Diablo and her heart splintered when she saw the sadness in his eyes as he stared down at Taya’s lifeless body. After a couple of minutes, he shook his head and tugged Fallon closer to him and they headed out into the bright autumn sunshine.