Lastly (L.T.)

Chapter 1

Fun facts before you begin:

-this story includes violence, sexual content, sexual assault themes as well as substance abuse. If any of that bothers you...don't read...

-both characters are dark and I include very little description so picture them however you please.
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I ducked as quickly as I could, turning my head to avoid his punch. He missed me by a hairsbreadth as I spun, flipping my body in the air and smashing the back of my right foot into his face. His head snapped back and he fell to the floor unconscious after my one blow, nose and jaw both clearly broken and blood leaking onto the moldy concrete floor. I sighed to myself, this would have been so much easier if he had just paid his dues. Then I wouldn't even have been sent here.

"Hurry up!" A voice shouts from the floor above me.

"Coming!" I reply, grabbing the black duffle bag on the ground next to the unconscious dealer and sprint up the rickety metal stairs and out of the basement of the den to the floor above.

Andrea stood in the doorway with her gun out and held out in front of her with one hand, guesturing for me to hurry up with the other.

I sprint after her as we both run down and out the front steps and into the warm night air. The van waits for us outside the den, the tinted windows and the lack of headlights making it look particularly foreboding. Andrea pulls the side door open for me and I hop in and scoot over on the floor of the van with the bag to make room for her as she jumps in after me and shuts the door quickly.

"Clear" I say to Dallas, who smashes the gas so hard that Andrea rocks back, slamming her hands behind her so she doesn't fall backwards. A few blonde strands of hair have come loose from her tight bun and stick up in the air or fall around the back of her head. I decide not to say anything about it.

We sit in silence as Dallas drives for the first few minutes, no one speaking until, we're out of the neighborhood.

"How did it go?" He asks in his deep voice, switching the headlights on at last.

"We got the money but I had to be forceful about it." I shrug, this wasn't anything new for us. It was our job to deal with the ones who wouldn't pay up, or didn't have the money to.

"Good." Dallas responds, "Jacques will be happy."

Andrea nods next to me.

I knew our line of work affected her more than it did me; that was why I always did the actual dirty work while she just stood watch. I was also the best fighter out of everyone we worked with. It was rare to see girls in our kind of position because the stronger men were usually more intimidating and therefore more successful. Andrea and I used that to our advantage, they under estimated us, and although we weren't strong, we were fast. The three of us were the best runners Jacques had. Dallas was a crazy driver, he could out run anyone in any type of vehicle; and Andrea was just as good of a fighter as I was, she just had more of a conscience than I did.

The drive was short, only about fifteen minutes back to the deep city, where we pulled up in front of a small run down apartment complex that had been closed for years but never torn down. The windows were boarded up and shattered glass and cigarette butts littered the outside steps.

"Alright, let's go." Dallas says, cutting both the headlights and engine. Andrea opened the door and I stepped out after her as we ran up the cracked concrete steps of the old building. The doors were locked with a heavy chain, preventing any kids or druggies from using it. We ignored the front doors and stepped to the right where a heavy wood board was apparently nailed to the window.

Andrea rapped her knuckles against it in a sharp pattern, and it swung outward immediately, the three of us stepping back.

"Evening you three." A smiling face covered in tattoos, sticks out, his smile stretching the skin around his many lip piercings and revealing a mouth full of gold and rotting teeth.

I smile wickedly back at the horrifying face, "evening Ducky."

Ducky pushes the wood board further open on it's hidden hinges and steps out of the way. He towers over Andrea and I, his height and mass only matched by Dallas's height and muscle. Dallas crouches down and steps through the window hole, his 6'5" body barely fitting. Andrea and I barely have to bow our heads to fit through and into the building.

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Yes, the first couple of chapters of this book are short. I wrote them when I was stupid busy but I promise the chapters get longer later.