Artifice - Man x Man - Book Six

Chapter 54

Red delivers a sharp kick to his inner thigh, narrowly missing his groin, and he drops her, stumbling backward. Pulling out his gun, she quickly yanks hers off her hip. "Out!" He shouts to the screaming staff. "Dehors! Maintenant!" He repeats in French. 

They file past as she wipes a smudge of lipstick off her jaw. 

"Do you really want me to kick your ass in a public place? Do you not remember we've sparred an awful lot? You didn't win many of those times, Daddy." 

"Well, then you shouldn't be worried." Verando spits back, "You should have stayed in the past."

Red fires a shot and dives as he fires back at her, lowering himself behind one of the counters. Sliding down the cabinets, it's hard to hear footsteps over the crackle and pop of food on hot tops. The clang of pots and pans sets him off, and he fires a shot over his head, disrupting the pan on the hot top to cause a plume of steam and smoke.

She gags on the spicy fumes as he attempts to smack her with the back of his gun. Deflecting with her fist, she swings a hanging cast iron pan and catches him in the shoulder. Expecting searing agony, it was a shock to both of them that the discomfort was mild compared to what it was before the repair. 

"Uh oh." She muses, grinning, as if this was all a game to her. She was still hopeful, she seemed to still believe he'd take her after all of this.

"Uh oh." He repeats back, deflecting the next blow off the pan as she jumps up and over the hot stove. Verando yanks her to the ground, firing off two shots that ricochet off the back of the pan, and she kicks pointedly for his groin again. 

"Filthy fighting habits." He kicks her ribs, sending her sliding down the slick tiles and giving him a moment to breathe. "Crotch shots? Really?" 

Red shrugs, blowing him a kiss. 

"Think you broke a rib, getting kind of serious." Snagging a barrage of knives off the cutting surface, she plays target practice as he narrowly avoids her blades. Perhaps a kitchen wasn't the best place to have this showdown. Diving back down behind the counter, he takes inventory and flinches at the small paring knife sticking out of his pectoral. 

Yanking it out, he tosses it to the ground before freezing as she whistles for him as one might call a dog. "Here, boy... come here." She kisses for him affectionately, her heels clicking on the tile. 

Red flashes before his eyes, the wolf wants out, yet this is not a pain that can be shared. This is his burden alone; the indescribable rage turns to calculated calm.

Play the game, stop being a fool, and do what you've been trained to do. 

Verando acts quickly as he moves down the slick aisle; her strong suit is defense; she's useless if he could get his hands on her, which meant that was precisely what he had to do. Her heels clack as she begins to pass, scanning the surfaces for any sign of the gray hair lurking just over the edge. 

Spying her leg through the slit between two cooking surfaces, he fires the last round and shoots out the heel on one of her stilettos. She jumps in surprise, hopping off the foot and scrambling to right herself. In one quick move, he vaults up and over the top of the surface, hardly deflecting the gun in time as she brings it around and shoots. 

His ears ring, practically blurring his vision from the impact of the sound so close to his head. 

The redhead is a flurry of limbs, kicking and twisting as she deflects his advances, but her rib slows her down, and she hadn't anticipated that the man had been repaired. While he still lacked flexibility, he was no longer one-sided as he had been. From right leg to left shoulder, he was half again what he'd been since they last squared off.