Lahat ng Kabanata ng Dark Curves (Dangerous Curves 6): Kabanata 11 - Kabanata 20

Warren pushed back from the table, and Shay’s eyes jumped from her empty plate to his face. She hadn’t said one word since asking if she could freshen up. She hadn’t looked at him since then, either.She’d cooked an excellent pasta meal, made a salad, made some garlic bread, and she’d done it all in total silence, keeping her eyes averted. She’d served him without comment, then stood there, uncertain about where, or even if, she should sit. He’d indicated to the chair across from him with a pointed finger, and she’d worried her full, pink, lower lip for a few seconds before sitting down and picking up her fork.Her hands had shaken the whole time that she’d eaten, but at least she’d eaten a lot. Really a lot, and he was pleased about that. What he wasn’t so pleased about was the fact that she was still, obviously, petrified of him. He thought back to what Joker had said, about Shay crying the whole way from Montana, crying for an hour at The Fallen Angels clubhouse. She was fragile a

About ninety minutes later, Shay paused to catch her breath. She wasn’t in bad shape – kickboxing five days a week kept her fit, after all – but hiking in the Rockies was almost depressingly hard work. There were no paths out here, so she’d spent an insane amount of time scrambling up steep hills slippery with snow and ice, holding on to overhanging tree branches to haul herself up. Her arms were sore, her thighs were burning, her fingers were screaming, and she was sweating like mad, despite the chill in the air.She stopped, drank some water, checked the phone. Still no reception, so she pocketed it again and turned her face to the clear blue sky. She closed her eyes, just for a second, gathering up her energy to carry on.When she opened her eyes, the mountain lion was standing less than ten feet in front of her.She froze, completely. Stopped breathing. Stopped thinking. Stopped everything.When her brain did actually start to function again, the only thing that she could think wa

About an hour later, Warren stared down at a dead mountain lion. He was frozen in horror, and not just at the presence of the animal. No, he was also horrified at the blood surrounding it. Fuck, it was a lot of blood, and no way it all belonged to the lion.He squatted down, saw the blood around the creature’s mouth, saw some flesh trapped in its teeth. Suddenly, all his red-hot anger at Shay changed to frantic worry. He felt guilt, too. After all, if he hadn’t been holding her prisoner, then she’d never have been out here in the first place, never would have taken flight into the unknown wilderness. If anything had happened to this woman, it was on his head. All of it.He stood up, and in the glare of the flashlight, he saw stumbling footprints that went a few feet away, saw the place that a body had fallen. There were no more footprints after this point – there were just drag marks and a blood trail. Yeah, she was hurt. She was hurt bad.The pain in his head totally forgotten, his

“The only way to end this whole mess is to end him,” King said. “Once and for all.”“You mean – jail?” Ace knew good and well that wasn’t what King meant, but he had to ask, for some reason. “Making sure he goes down at long last?”“No. I mean a bullet between his fucking eyes.”“Oh.” Ace stared some more. “And… and you want me to do it?”“Well, that’s what we need to discuss.”“It is?”“Yep.” “OK.”Jack sat straighter, totally alert. Whatever King had planned, whatever the hell was going on in that steel vault of a mind of his, he was actually about to share. Jack held his breath and hoped that whatever it was, it was going to get everyone out in one piece.“The way I see it, Cuddy, is you’ve got two ways to be a part of this.” King’s voice was low, harsh. “You need to choose which way you want to go.”Ace swallowed, hard. The last time that King had laid out two choices in front of him, one had involved him ending up dead, the other had been the offer to be King’s informant. Neithe

And more and more people got hurt badly and suffered terribly. Died horribly.Maybe King was right, then. Maybe this was all that was left. The only way to end it, once and for all.“Anyway.” King’s tone was ruthless, relentless. “You think it through, Cuddy, and you let me know which way you want to go.”“When?” Ace’s voice was quiet, almost defeated. “How much time do I have?”“How long will you be holding Shay?”“Dunno. That’s Kirk’s call. But I can’t see it being more than two weeks. I know he’s making contact with Crusher the day after tomorrow.”“So let’s agree that the babysitting of Shay Alcott will be your last official duty as President of The Fallen Angels. After that’s over, you either move up… or you move on.”Ace nodded, tried to figure out what he was feeling. On the one hand, it was like a noose tightening around his neck, or a door slamming shut. Like he was suffocating and drowning. Like his whole life was a never-ending cycle of violence, and hatred, and death. Taki