“You have a weak stomach, but at least you wait until you’re away from the crime scene,” Relic stated, hovering the umbrella over her head to block the rain. He held out his hand to help her up but frowned when she smacked it away.
She glared at him as her insides continued to twist at the nonchalance he exuded like he couldn’t care less about her feelings. Kennedy had never wanted to inflict harm on anyone more than she did in that moment.
“Don’t touch me before I lose it. I swear, I tried to not let you get a reaction out of me, but I’m so fucking close to hurting you right now. Just leave me. I’ll figure out how to get where I’m going.”
“How, when you don’t even have a goddamn phone? Get up, and go in the house.”
“Please!” She blew up, losing the last of her reserve as she sprang to her feet. The silence she’d tried using to gain the upperhand flew out of the window. “I’m begging you to leave me the hell alone, Relic. Do I have to say it in your language for you to get it? I hate your ass!”
“It’ll pass, baby. Just give it some time.”
If nothing else he’d said sent Kennedy over the edge; that statement did it. She swung at him on reflex, her fist slamming into his face before she could talk herself down from of busting the last man she should put her hands on upside his shit.
Relic stumbled backward, tripping over plants before dropping the umbrella as Kennedy swung a second time, landing a blow to his head and then chest before swinging in a blind rage, determined to make him feel exactly what she was feeling.Pain. His arms shot up to block her blows, and she swung harder.
“You ruined my fucking liiife!” she wailed, wishing she had her gun the police hadn’t returned. “You ruined me!”
“Calm the fuck down before I hurt you, Kennedy!”
“Fuck you!”
When her fist connected with his tense jaw again, he hemmed her up by her arm. They staggered backward as her free hand clung to his shirt and clawed his face before metal tore at the skin of his neck. Relic went still in shock. Kennedy took it as an opening to strike again but gasped when his vast hands clasped around her throat so fast that she didn’t have time to prepare for it. Her feet hovered off the ground before her body collided with his car hood and dented the frame, knocking the last wind out of her lungs.
“I will snap your goddamn neck, Kennedy. You hear me? Hit me one more time, and I’ll show you why I’m the blue-eyed devil these bitches whisper about.”
Relic’s hands firmed around her throat, causing panic to flood her system while the distorted image she held of him became as clear as it’d ever been.
She gripped both wrists, knowing she’d fucked up as his eyes grew vacant just like they’d done when she found him standing over her with a gun in his hand on his boat. Her lips gaped, but between the rain in her mouth and the strangling hold on her neck; she couldn’t plead for him to stop.
Relic stared down at her as Joseph’s voice rang in his head, tempting him to choke her until she passed out like he’d seen done to Judith while he sat at the kitchen table, eating dinner. His father had struck her for preparing the wrong meal, and when she shoved him back, Joseph had cut off her air supply and then left her in the middle of the floor like she was nothing because, to Joseph, she was. The hold Relic had on Kennedy’s neck loosened as he tried to push the core memory from his mind.
He huffed a breath when her head turned, putting her marring scars into his line of sight as a glaring reminder of his transgressions. Relic released her at the realization; she was right. He couldn’t hurt her more than he’d done, and he didn’t want to, unlike other bitches who he’d whooped for lesser offenses.
“Why the fuck did you make me do that, Kennedy?! I told you to stop, but you don’t fucking listen!”
His hands palmed his head as he paced while she slid to the ground, coughing and grasping her tender neck. If he looked at her, he was certain he’d see the finality in her heated gaze, so he avoided it.
“You keep saying I ruined your life, but I saved you! I did what the fuck I was supposed to do. What I had to do because you forced my damn hand!”
“You’re so fucking weak,” she rasped, clambering to her feet while keeping a safe distance. He stopped pacing and turned to her, the disgust in her tone transitioning his expression into a blank canvas. “You let your trauma and past control you, Relic!It ruined you, so you ruin others, and that’s the only thing you do right. You didn’t protect me! I should feel secure in every position you place me in. Koda would’ve never done no shit like that, and Zeke—”
Relic lunged at her to grab her face with both hands, making her flinch while cutting her erroneous rant short. His heart jilted at her name dropping a nigga who he was certain turned her into the mercurial woman before him.
“Are you my bitch, Larenn? Are you my partner and queen, or are you another useless person I can do without in my life? I fucking protect you! Why do you think P ain’t popped yo ass yet? Why do you think you got the new car after I found out about the tracker? I stayed ‘til the police arrived last night like I don’t have the Feds on my fucking head! I’ve protected you since well before we met, so don’t let hurt feelings convince you of shit we know isn’t true.”
The rain pouring on her face made it difficult to see, but she heard the certitude in Relic’s tone. Her eyes closed as she fought to not let it sway her stance to end up on the losing end of the board, or the wrong side of heartache by the hands of a man who made her feel as though she were indispensable yet insignificant all at once. She wished she could overlook what Relic had done, but his offenses were so flagrant, she’d have to claw her fucking eyes out not to see them.
“Look at me, baby,” he coaxed, tipping her head back as she obliged before he rested his forehead on hers. “You don’t think I racked my brain about the best move before I played it? Lomar saw Jah, but I couldn’t tell my folks since you were caught in the middle. Had I told Shabu or P, one of ‘em would’ve offed you after getting rid of the problem, so it was only Drish on the job. I did what was best for us, Larenn. You got to keep your life, and I got to keep you. A win, win.”
“What if it’d gone wrong, and we both lost?”
“We don’t lose, Kennedy,” he murmured with his lips brushing hers. She shuddered but refused to acknowledge it was his touch, and not the cold rain, that gave her chills.
“It’s not what you do, but how you do it, Relic. There was a better option we could’ve figured out as a team. At the very least, you could’ve let me in on it. Instead, you set me up to shoot—”
“I didn’t know you’d shoot him,” he interrupted, and her face pinched at him debunking her theory that he had conned her into taking care of Lomar for him. “Drish was going to take care of him once he came out with the duffel, but you moved too fast like you almost did with Slim. You moved off emotions.”
He let her go and grazed a hand over the scratches on his neck, making her cringe at her actions while he dug in his collar to remove a shiny object before dropping it near her feet. Her stare dipped, and a sigh expelled through her lips after spotting the necklace she gifted him, broken and furled on the ground. She picked it up while Relic walked away without another word.
