ASH
This can't be fucking happening right now.
I take in Hazel eyes determined stance and I mentally groan. When I told her Leonard was still alive, I never knew she would request to see him. She didn't just request - she hammered and wore me out, asking to see him, so much that I had capitulated, and here we are. Whatever bond they had, it's gonna have to end very soon 'cause Leonard will definitely not see the light of another day. Rather, the four walls of the room he's currently in.
"Leonard." Hazel eyes mouths breathily and my anger flares, but I stamp it down because this is not the time to have a jealous fit. Something tells me she won't appreciate it.
Leonard, dazed from being in the four walls of this room for months on end, opens his eyes but can't focus. He squints at her, blinking repeatedly until a semblance of recognition streams into his eyes. From the look on his face, the fool can't believe she's standing in front of him. Probably thinks he's seeing an apparition.
"Alicia?"
I clench my hands into fists by my side as I valiantly try to stop the rage from seeping into me. That's the last time he's going to mouth her name, the little fucker. I make my presence known by moving forward, but he's got eyes for no one but her. That's fine by me, 'cause she's the last thing he's going to see before he goes to hell.
"Yes, it's me, and no, you're not seeing a ghost." Hazel eyes says. I don't need a crystal ball to tell me she's being sarcastic. "I came to see the face of the man that sold me and Ash out."
Leonard's eyes widen and if I don't hate the fucker so much, I'll actually laugh at how stupid he looks. "I. . . " but no more words can form. I watch as he drops his gaze to the filthy mattress beneath him.
That's right, weasel, keep your gaze lowered, and don't lay your filthy eyes on her again. It seems he hears my unspoken words because he raises his head, defiance shining like a beacon in his eyes, and looks at Hazel eyes.
"You don't know him, Alicia, you don't know Ash Thunder."
"Is that right? Please tell me about him." Hazel eyes places a hand on her waist and I roll my eyes.
Why's she urging him on?
What the fuck can he tell her that she doesn't already know about me?
I stamp down the irritation rising toward her, this time, and listen as he sprouts absolute rubbish.
"He's got a big ego, and, and. . ."
The fucker had got absolutely nothing on me, and he knows it. From the looks of things, Hazel eyes knows it too. I'm about to wrap things up here when he belts out, making me freeze.
"He sleeps with other women at will, and I don't know what it is he uses on them because even when he treats them shabbily, they always come back for more. Is that the type of man you want by your side? He also sells hardcore drugs, and. . . and, he's a mafia lord, one that owns the whole of the Eastern section of Los Angeles.
I gotta tell you - if a pin drops, I probably will hear it. Actually, I guarantee I'll hear it. Hazel eyes had gone deathly quiet. If I had seen her eyes, I know she would have that glint in her eyes, the one she normally has when she's angry.
Damn it all to hell, I'm gonna kill Leonard right now. As I jut out my hand to touch her shoulder to usher her out so I can finish off Leonard once and for all, she leans forward, and stoops to his level. I almost don't hear her words because she's whispering.
"I know all about Ash's businesses. He told me himself, and as to his women - the difference between me and those women, is this." She raises her hand - the right one, the one in which the diamond ring I proposed with is shining from her finger - and shows him.
Leonard's bottom lip falls open. Frankly speaking, mine almost does as well, because if I didn't say it before, I'll say it now. Alicia Sweden Jackson is a fucking goddess. Thank goodness she's my goddess.
I'm smirking now as she steps back.
"You know something, Leonard, I thought you were a nice guy, I thought you were someone I could have something worth, but it turns out you were just a sneaky, low/down dirty coward who's gonna meet a bad end now."
My head reels with the words she said to him. Talk about a technical knockout, she definitely takes the cake for it. I watch in glee as Leonard's gaze falls as he mumbles in the process. "I'm sorry."
"What was that?" Hazel eyes cups a hand behind her ear and moves a bit closer.
Leonard's head lifts. "I said I'm sorry, but not for the reason you're thinking." He shakes his head. "I'm sorry I could not do better, I'm sorry for not being more pushful and giving up when I should have given it a shot. I'm sorry it isn't me you're getting married to, I would have definitely made you happy. I know that now."
He hangs his head and I can't believe Hazel eyes is listening to this bullshit. I don't have to listen to it, so I step forward, wanting to wrap things up, but she puts up a hand to stop me. I'm about to shake my head, but she gives me that look - the pleading one - and once again, I fall under her spell.
I close my eyes and sigh before opening them again and nod. One minute. I mouth, raising my forefinger in the air. That's all I'm gonna give, and I step back.
"Leonard!" Hazel eyes calls sharply, and his head jets up. There's hope in his eyes. The fucker actually thinks he's got hope. Laughter bubbles inside my throat and I let it come out. "I wouldn't touch you with a ten-foot pole, you spineless asshole."
She turns around to look at me and I'm still trying to decode the look on her face when it happens within the blink of an eye. Looking back on it now, I guess there was nothing I could do about it because she had planned this all along.
She tugs my gun out from the waistband of my jeans, turns back around, aims it at Leonard's head, and pulls the trigger. The muted pop of the gun goes off and in place of Leonard's head is a gaping hole with red blood sputtering out. I know for a fact some of it has splashed onto her body but Hazel eyes is unwavering, her hands firm.
My bottom lip drops open when she turns back to me and wordlessly hands me the gun.
All the times I taught her how to handle a gun, I never in my wildest dreams knew she was going to become a killing machine.