Buttons and Pain (Buttons 3)

If there was noise I didn’t hear it. If the engine was smoking I couldn’t smell it. Whatever chaos was going on around me was dulled by the ringing in my ears. I knew I was in a car accident but I still didn’t know what happened. A cut bled from my forehead and my entire body felt sore from the collision against one of my captors.

What happened?

The opposite door flew open and Cane’s hard expression met mine. With black hair darker than the night and mocha eyes just like his brother he stared at me like a target. “Pearl, you all right?”

Was I imagining this? “What…?”

He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the vehicle. He wasn’t delicate despite my injuries and he pulled me out of there as quickly as possible. “Get moving. We don’t have time for this shit.”

It sounded like him. It looked like him. Or was I still imagining this? “Where’s Crow?”

“Don’t worry about that right now. Come on.” He helped me to the ground “Can you walk?”

“Yeah, I think so.” I tested my footing. Despite how weak I was I could stand. When I turned to look at my surroundings I finally saw him. With a grimace on his mouth and murder in his eyes he yanked the driver door open and yanked the man out from behind the wheel. His shoulders were tense like tightrope and his body screamed for bloodlust.

Once the man was on the ground, he moaned and tried to get up.

Crow spit on his face before he slammed his foot onto his noise, an audible crunch filling the nighttime air.

I stared at him in shock.

“We don’t have time for this, Pearl. Come on.” Cane yanked me away, pulling me like a dog on a leash.

Crow kicked him a few more times than stomped on his chest, making the man hurl into his own mouth. “Don’t. Fuck. With. Me.” He finally aimed his gun between his eyes and shot him point blank.

Oh my god.

Cane saw the blood drain from my face and egged me forward. “We don’t have much time. Come on.”

“Time for what?”

“Bones’ men will be here any second.” He guided me across the road and into an alleyway. “Stay here, alright? Don’t move for any reason.”

“What’s going on?” I demanded. “How do you know his men are coming?”

“Let’s just say it’s intuition.” He kneeled in front of me with his gun held at the ready. He watched the street as Crow grabbed the other man and dragged him in the center of the road. After he maliciously tortured the man he finally put an end to his misery by shooting him in the head.

Crow was a ruthless man. But I’d never seen him this brutal.

A swarm of cars sped up the street then fanned out when they spotted the destruction on the road. Crow’s men popped up from their hiding places with the rifles held at the ready. Crow took cover behind a car with his handgun still held at the ready.

“Aren’t you going to help him?”

“My orders are to stay with you. We should be safe here.”

“What about him?”

He chuckled even though now wasn’t the time for jokes. “Believe me, he’s fine.”

“How can you say that?”

“Did you see him a second ago? He has rage on his side.”

The battle took place and gunshots were fired. The echoing sound hurt my ears but I couldn’t cover them because my hands were still secured behind my back. The cacophony of noise echoed in the alleyway and it was pure pandemonium against my eardrums.

Cane perched around the corner and fired along with everyone else but he never gave up his position. I tried to find Crow but I couldn’t see him across the street. I knew he was okay because Cane would be devastated if something happened to his brother.

The war continued on for nearly five minutes. Bullets continued flying across the neighborhood as each side of the enemy was picked off. Men ran back and forth as they closed the perimeter around each other. It looked like a war zone rather than a street fight. I was back in time and witnessing one of the bloodiest battles of all time.

I felt like Helen of Troy.

When the guns finally died down it turned into man-to-man combat. I saw Crow emerge from his hiding place and push five unarmed men to the ground. They were out of bullets and out of time. Crow’s man stayed back, holding their positions in the distance.

“Is he going to execute them?” My voice shook slightly as I spoke. I knew these men were evil, and if they had it their way, they would be dragging me off to be beaten by Bones. I shouldn’t feel sympathy for them, not when I knew they did this to countless women before me. But a small part of my heart tugged in sadness.