Read Online Hardcore: Volume 2 by Staci Hart - Free Book Online Page A

It was all for nothing, just a tiny fraction of what was promised. I was right. All the pain, all the fear, and it was for nothing. Because if they’d known, if they hadn’t been so money hungry, if they’d only been smarter, Jade never would have pushed me so far. Not over that amount of money.  
    The realization that it could have all been avoided was a sucker punch to my heart.
    The second we rounded the corner into the alley, I was ready to explode. I stared at the back of Jade’s head as my face twisted.
    “Goddammit, Jade,” I snarled, my hands shaking as I resisted the urge to hit her. “I knew it. I knew this was going to happen, you fucking idiots. Idiots .”
    They stopped and turned to me. “There’s no way we could have stopped them.”
    “We never should have been here in the first place.”
    “But we were. What else were we supposed to do? You told me to take the money!”
    “Because they would have killed us, you stupid bitch. And for what?” The trembling worked through my entire body until I was vibrating. “This was your idea. You did this. You were willing to betray so much for this. Betray everything . Was it worth it?” I screamed, and her face bent in and anger.
    “Shut the fuck up, Cory!” She half cried the words.
    “Fuck you.” The energy burst out of me, and I ran full-sprint, slamming my hands into her shoulders with all my weight. She hit the ground and rolled as I walked behind her, pulling my gun without thinking.  
    I stopped, looming over her, emotions battering me like angry waves. I blamed her for every single one, counted them out in my mind as I stared down the barrel at her. Her eyes were wide with fear and recognition, and no one moved, no one breathed. My finger flexed by a hair against the trigger, feeling the tension against my skin. It would be so easy, just one soft squeeze and the source of my pain would be gone.  
    But that wouldn’t make it better. Wouldn’t make it right. It wouldn’t change the past.
    I spun around and took off running. Ran until my feet ached and my muscles burned, climbed until sweat soaked my clothes. I found myself on a rooftop, staring out over Manhattan in the night. The lights of the city stretched off into the distance, a wedge cut by the dark streaks that marked the rivers.  
    It was finally was over. And nothing was worth the price I’d paid to get through it.

    Dawn had begun to creep in by the time I got back to the quiet loft. No one was awake, and there were no signs of the twins, which was lucky for all of us. I had no idea what I would do to them if they made the mistake of showing their faces right now.
    I dragged myself to the shower like a dead woman, an empty shell. Thoughts drifted through my mind like tendrils of smoke, and every time I tried to touch one, it would dissipate and the next waited to taunt me.
    Sleep would reset me. It had to.
    I dried off and shuffled into Erin’s room as the sun began to rise, painting the room golden, though the shadows were rich and deep. She stirred when I opened the door, then sat up fast.
    “Cory?”
    “Hey.” My voice cracked along with my numbness at the sound of my name, the proximity of someone I knew would understand. She was maybe the only person in the world who would understand. Tears rolled down my cheeks.
    “Come here,” she urged.
    I crawled into her bed, and she held me while I let all the hurt out. For hours I’d been running all over the city, trying to make sense of it all, trying to hold myself together. But I came unglued, breathing through shuddering sobs. The night replayed in bursts, cycling through again and again until the tears slowed, then finally stopped.
    After a long while, Erin broke the silence. “What happened?”
    My voice was raspy, my throat dry. “It was horrible, Erin. Fucking horrible. Every second in his house and every minute after. And then when we made the drop, they double-crossed us.”
    “Jesus, Cory,” she