Hearts and Aces (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 7) by Kaylie Hunter (great books for teens txt) 📗

I easily deflected her arm to the outside, landed my own right to her jaw, a left fist to her abs, and then pulled her head down to meet my upward knee. She stumbled before her legs folded underneath her, dropping her to the ground as she sagged forward onto her hands. Game over. “I’m a lot of things, but there’s nothing mousy about me.” I left her there and turned toward the parking lot.

Katie walked up beside me. “I’m heading to the store to help out. You need anything before I go?”

I loved how Katie was immune to me assaulting someone. “I’m all set until the rope pulling contest.”

We rounded the corner of the building, into the parking lot, and stopped abruptly. Grady and Bones were struggling as they tried to hold chickens. Live chickens. As they grasped their clawed feet with one hand, they used their other arm to protect their faces as the chickens wildly flapped their wings and tried to peck them. Feathers floated everywhere.

“I’m so glad that’s not us,” Katie said, laughing and getting out her phone and recording them.

“Damn things,” Donovan muttered as he walked up beside me. “How do you control them?”

“I have no idea.”

“How’d you get yours back then?”

I started toward the front doors, calling over my shoulder, “A grocery sack.”

Katie had turned her phone for a close-up of Donovan’s face when the light bulb came on. I smiled and opened the door to go inside.

“You’re kidding me?!” Donovan yelled. “Do you know how long it’s going to take us to clean the inside of the rental van?”

“Not my problem!” I yelled as the door closed behind me.

I was still smiling as I climbed the stairs to the war room to retrieve my phone, the burner phone, and my shoulder bag. I was picturing how much madder Donovan was going to be when he heard Team Kelsey beat him by almost an hour. After grabbing my stuff, I was walking down the stairs when Bones and Grady ran into the gym, still holding their chickens away from them, to get to the check-in table before Maggie, who was running with a grocery bag, a very large patio umbrella, and a stuffed pink flamingo toy. Bones made it to the table first, but not before all hell broke loose. Grady’s chicken managed to free himself, and in an effort to make a fast escape, took off running toward Maggie. Tripping over the chicken, Maggie went down, and a frozen chicken slid out of her grocery bag, skating across the floor like a bowling ball into Grady who went down, face first. The room erupted in laughter.

I shook my head, walking toward the front exit.

Looking around the parking lot, I didn’t see my SUV. Likely it was used to take the kids back to the house. I flipped my handbag strap over my head and tucked the bag under one arm as I walked toward the road. As I passed between a row of the rental vans, a side door opened and a man lunged toward me with a knife.

Startled, I jumped back—but not fast enough. The knife sliced my skin, setting fire to my nerves just below my ribs. Spinning to the side, I kicked out, bouncing my attacker into the side of the van. Before he had time to go on offense, I grabbed his wrist, twisting it inward as I threw my weight forward, pushing the knife into his chest.

We stood face to face as he realized he’d been stabbed.

“Where’s Santiago?” I asked him.

He staggered to the side. “Fuck you.”

I maneuvered his slack body toward the interior of the van before he fell. When he took his last breath, his upper body was sprawled on the van floor between a row of seats. His legs hung out at an odd angle.

I gripped my side, looking down at my shirt. It was soaked with blood. I pulled up the edge of my shirt to inspect the wound. The cut was long, but less than a half-inch deep. I’d need stitches, but thanks to a healthy layer of body fat and muscle, I wouldn’t need surgery.

“Fucker,” I whispered. I leaned over, whimpering slightly at the pain, as I picked up the man’s legs, rolling them and tucked them inside the van. I stood for a moment, recounting my actions and staring at the knife, still lodged in the man’s chest. I’d grabbed his wrist, not the knife, then forced my body weight against his own arm. My prints wouldn’t be on the knife, but my DNA would be on the body. Being it was the same guy who was caught on video attacking me at the pharmacy the day before, I could explain the DNA away. I nodded to myself, sliding the side door closed with a loud slam.

“Kelsey?” Bones called from the front entrance of Headquarters, halfway across the parking lot.

I moved my handbag to cover up the blood stain on my shirt before stepping away from the van to yell back. “Yeah?”

“Do you need a ride to the house? I’m heading that way.”

“I’m good. I’m going to take this van. I might need it later.”

Bones nodded and left in the other direction.

I walked around the van and climbed behind the wheel, turning the keys in the ignition. “A normal person would call the cops,” I said to myself as I pulled my phone and called Wild Card.

“Hey,” Wild Card answered.

“Can you grab my medical kit and meet me at Alex’s house without being seen?”

“Doc’s here checking on Hattie. Should I bring him?”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Doc tends to overreact.”

“How hurt are you?”

“Just a scratch.”

Wild Card snorted. “I’ve heard that story before.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

“Either throw some damn stitches in it, or