Code Name: RUSH (COMPLETE)

21. Madix

My mind was blank as I looked between Gemma's neutral expression and Maynor's strange smile.

"You know, I guess I'm not that surprised. "You're the only one stupid enough to come knocking on my front door." He laughed boisterously.

"I came through the window," Gemma said warily.

"You know each other?" My voice was shrill, but at least I wasn't stuttering.

Maynor laughed loudly again. The men standing around us squirmed, shifting in their boots and keeping their eyes down. "Know her? She's the brat that gave me this scar!"

He was grinning from ear to ear. I didn't know why the pink mark from his mouth to the corner of his eye was anything to be proud of. It kind of made me sick.

"Yeah, she nailed me good," He mused at my expression. "I didn't even see the blade coming. Had me tied up for two days before I could get the knot out."

What. The. Fuck.

Damion seemed just as bewildered, but he was angrier about the makeshift gag shoved in his mouth.

Gemma knows a drug dealer. Gemma tied a drug dealer up for two days and sliced his face open. Jesus, just when you think you know a person. She wouldn't look at me, just kept her eyes straight ahead. Was this what she did when she ran away all those years ago? Her mom told me she went to her aunt's house, not on some kind of weird coming-of-age bullshit.

Maynor turned his grinning attention back to her. "Do your parents know you're here?"

She glared. "Do they ever know where I am?"

"Touché. They should really put a tracker on you or something." Maynor reached down and ripped the signal jammer off her belt. "Really? You sank this low?"

"We both know you've gone lower."

Maynor laughed again. "That's fair. I'm sorry to hear about your car blowing up."

"No, you aren't." She said grimly. "It was red."

If I thought any harder, my mind would implode, mostly because Gemma's car exploded and no one was even worried about that.

"So, who are your friends?" Maynor asked, as if we were sitting around a dinner table rather than kneeling two seconds away from our death.

"Friends," she replied evenly. "Did you know that Colton's after you?"

"That old asshat has been trying to kill me for years!" Maynor chuckled. "What, he sent you or something?"

"Or something." Gemma flipped her hair away from her face.

"You might wanna talk or people are gonna start losing heads."

"He wants you because you stole a delivery from him," she said evenly. "Even if we don't turn you over to him, he'll find a way to get back what he lost."

"Is that what he told you?" Maynor spun around to face us again, mouth twisted in annoyance. "That I stole a delivery?"

"I didn't think it was the complete truth."

"But you would have given him my head in a silver platter anyway," he finished grimly.

Some of the men started to murmur in anger. Maynor raised his hand to silence them. "I'm not mad, Blackwell. I would have done the same thing in your shoes. What I want to know is how the fuck did that man convince you to work with him?