Page 7 of The Heat is On

Except Boneyard wasn’t the kind of guy to give up, and frankly, Rio should have known that. Should have known that whatever brains Boneyard possessed died when Rio put him on the floor, leaving only an ignited fury.

Boneyard let fly a few choice prison words, probably fueled by the near dislocation of his shoulder.

Unfortunately, Rio hadn’t been inside long enough to make any real friends, the kind to have his back against Boneyard’s crew.

Worse, seeing their boss on the cement floor did nothing for morale. Or better sense.

Just walk away, man.And now his boss was in his head, a final warning, perhaps, before chaos erupted.

But Rio had simply never been good at walking away either.

Which was why he almost relished it when Ike jumped him. When he could, for a brief, dark moment, surrender to the craving inside to lash out against the frustration, the darkness, the despair that had seeped into his pores, made him believe he belonged in this place.

Maybe he did.

He let Ike take him down, rolled, and came up on top of the man, an easy punch into his solar plexus that sucked out Ike’s breath.

He turned to catch Tattoo Face’s kick to his head, deflecting it before it shattered his teeth. He launched into Tattoo—now off balance—lifted him and slammed him into the ground.

Tattoo lay gasping.

Two down.

Rio turned for Boneyard.

The man’s fist caught him in the jaw. Rio spun, the pain a burst of fire and heat. But he caught himself on a table and reared back, knowing Boneyard would be closing in.

He’d smacked Boneyard in the mouth, given the cry, and by the time he turned, blood spurted from the gusher of broken lips.

The man looked battered. But he wasn’t fazed, and Rio had the very real sense of a bullfighter facing an enraged Brahma.

Doors burst open as Boneyard came at Rio.

Rio sidestepped him, pushing one hand away, then the other, and delivered a punch to the man’s ear.

“Step back!”

Boneyard fell like a sack onto the floor and Rio put his hands up.

Guns, his face against the wall, hands zip-tying his, and the guards dragged him away.

They shoved him into a cell.

“C’mon!” Rio said as they stripped off the zip ties. “I didn’t start it!”

“But you finished it.”

He didn’t know which guard said it—hadn’t gotten to know any of them, really. Hadn’t planned on being here long enough to need an inside man.

Maybe that had been a mistake. He slid down the gray cinder block wall, breathing hard, his head against the cool wall. “You’d better put Boneyard away too!”

No answer, his voice pinging through the tiny six-by-nine cell.

He’d caught a glimpse of Jaden’s wide-eyed, horrified, pitiful relief as they dragged Rio away. Now, the expression dug in, found soil. He’d worn that same expression once upon a time. Probably should tell the guards to grab the kid, put him in solitary, too, for his own protection.

But that might end up with a good kid losing his mind.

Shoot.Shoot!Rio moved his jaw, testing. Not broken, this time.