I stand back and watch with pure amusement, lowering my trigger finger slightly. I think it’s the first time out of all of them that I don’t want to just get this over with. I want to savor the sight of Marone on his knees—one shattered, arm oozing, blade cutting his face in two. I want to bask in the moment that it’s my girl who’s doing it. I could watch her like this forever. I?—
Suddenly, Bunny is flying over his shoulder, blade ripped from her hand, and at her throat before I can blink. Logic becomes nonexistent when she’s in his arms. I move to rush him, but he presses the tip in deeper, uttering, “Ah!” with a beaming grin.
I freeze, eyes between him and her, wondering if I can risk it, am I quick enough to reach her without the knife slipping into her artery? His eyes beg me to try. They actually dare me to.
But I can’t… not when I’m not sure I can make it.
I will my arm to move, to defrost so I can blow a hole in his brain. But I’m frozen. I’m stuck. I’m useless in this moment, too afraid to lose her. His hand begins to travel across her chest, down her stomach, stopping just above her center.
“Did you get your fill of my Bunny, dog?” he taunts. “Did her tight little pussy satisfy you? My men sure seemed to enjoy her. They’ve been begging to have her back for more!”
I stomp forward, but Bunny shouts, “Stop!” pleading with wide eyes for me not to move. Everything in me splits in half, and I'm unsure how to stop this.
Marone’s amusement grows at my uncertainty, his teasing growing thorns. “That’s right. Be a good boy andlisten. That’s all you’re good for. Never could think on your own.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Bunny shouts while thrashing in his hold.
“Bunny, sto—” But it’s too late. The knife slips into her skin, tearing a gash big enough to pour in a slow and steady stream. She looks at me with panic in her eyes, creating a fire in my mind.
I fucking swore she’d never have to bleed again. I fucking promised, and wha-what have I done?
The noises in my head become far too loud, but Bunny cuts through it, snapping, “Cade! Shoot.” But Marone is right behind, clogging my senses again.
“Yeah, Blade,” he jests, reminding me who I am in this world, “shoot. But can you kill me before I slice this pretty little neck open?”
Yes.
No.
I don’t know!
And he knows that. It’s why he confidently sits back, violating my girl all over again.
I think I’m going to be sick when Bunny starts to cry, and then everything in me shatters completely. Bunny, who knows the deepest parts of me, knows what it looks like when I’m about to fall apart. She tries to save me, whimpering, “I’m fine,” but her throat is closing, and I can’t move without him hurting her.
“You love this little one, dog?” Marone asks, petting her like he’s found a new pet. “Want me to let her go?”
It’s a game.
I know his games.
No matter what I say, Bunny’s going to suffer for it.
“No? You don’t give a fuck about her? Wouldn’t care if I let every man I own fuck her from the inside out?”
Eye twitching, all I can do is elicit a groan—a low, deep, animalistic rumble that promises vengeance. I didn’t want togive him any more of myself, but that was enough to bring a different kind of smile to his face.
It’s sharp and sinister. “What would you do to save her?”
There’s no question. I’d do “Anything.”
Without ever tearing his gaze off me, Marone brings Bunny in close, licking and breathing some hidden words in her ear before returning to me.
“For the most part, you were an obedient boy. I’ll reward you for that.” He pauses, gaze drifting all over me. “Put a bullet in your bicep. We’ll have matching wounds,” he says with glee, “both thanks to you.”
The gun weighs a million pounds in my hand, and yet, with a simple command, my frozen limbs come undone.
“Don’t!” Bunny cries, but all I can see is the blood staining her skin.Herblood, this time. “Cade!Don’t!”
