I slammed my car door open, stepping out onto the sidewalk and grabbing the arrogant Huntley bitch by the throat. Ignoring her strangled squeals of protest, and the shocked gasps of her friends, I hauled her into an alleyway and slammed her into the dirty brick wall. An overflowing dumpster sat just feet away, and its pungent smell reflected the human trash in front of me.
“Sebastian,” Katelyn purred, a suggestive smile curving her lips despite the firm grip I had around her throat. “I wondered when you’d come to your senses.”
Her body curved into mine like a cat in heat, her hands snaking around my waist like a lover’s embrace. Was she totally oblivious to the danger here? Or just reckless as shit?
“Katelyn, I swear to fucking God,” I growled, barely containing my fury, “it is only through the grace of our family feud that you’re not getting your neck snapped right now. Fuck it, maybe I should do it anyway and just deal with the consequences later. It might be worth it to rid the world of you.”
Her smile widened, totally ignoring the choke hold I had on her as she smirked. “So what are you waiting for, Sebastian? Kill me now. Or are you scared what my daddy will do to you?”
My temper flared and my hand tightened, causing a strangled sound of protest from the Huntley bitch. “Don’t fucking call me that, Katelyn.”
She stared back at me for a long moment, and finally I found a flash of fear in her gaze. Finally, she seemed to be getting it.
“You make one more move against Riley, and even Graeme Huntley won’t be able to keep you safe. Understood?”
“What’s your fascination with her anyway?” she demanded, her face twisting in ugly anger. “She’s a dirty, slutty tramp who probably would have had a good time this morning if you hadn’t interrupted. She’s not one of us.”
This time, instead of being driven into a wild rage at Katelyn’s hateful words, I started laughing. She was so painfully insecure, so threatened by Riley … I almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
“Touch her again and I’ll make you wish you’d never been born,” I promised her in a dangerously quiet whisper, then released her with a shove and started to stalk out of the alleyway.
“You can’t protect her forever!” Katelyn yelled after me, her voice an ugly mix of fear and hate. “You can’t be everywhere!”
I turned my head just enough to catch her rubbing at what would undoubtedly be some bad bruising on her throat soon. “Try me, bitch.”
As I left her there in the dirty alley and returned to my car, two things became painfully clear in my mind.
Riley was still in danger, and I was done with giving her space.
As soon as I got the rest of this shit under control today, which required heading to the hospital with Dylan and Jasper to assess injuries and deal with paperwork, I would be at Riley’s side.
And I wouldn’t be leaving her unprotected again.
14
My afternoon with Evan turned out to be surprisingly pleasant. A Delta medic—sent by Beck—had stopped by and made a huge fuss about checking me for injuries, applying bruise balms and making sure I wasn’t concussed from the kick I’d taken to my head. To my relief, Evan shooed her out as soon as it was clear that nothing was broken and I wasn’t about to slip into a coma. Not that she wasn’t lovely, I just hated being touched by anyone I didn’t trust.
She stuck around long enough to call Beck in front of us, giving her report and informing him that we were asking her to leave. After she was gone, we simply avoided all topics related to my almost-rape, the man I’d been forced to kill, the blade that Delta held over all our necks, and definitely anything associated to Sebastian Roman Beckett. In the void created by those off-limits subjects, I actually got to know Evan a whole lot better.
I learned that his dad was a serious piece of shit who Evan suspected was abusing his mom, but she was too brainwashed by the lifestyle that Delta gave her to say anything. He had an older sister who’d been sent away to finishing school—which I understood was a rich person version of reform school—when she was fourteen and Evan hadn’t seen her since.
All in all, I felt sorry for him. His home life sounded tense and unhappy, which sort of explained why he was the most withdrawn in the Delta heirs group. He put up a front of being a playboy, but I’d never seen him follow through like Jasper. He acted like the smooth, arrogant powerful heir, but didn’t hold a fraction of the natural respect and fear that Beck demanded. He had a quiet and dangerous, mysterious vibe but it lacked the scary depths of Dylan’s haunted eyes. He was a chameleon, adopting little bits of all his friends but never revealing the real Evan.
But I saw glimpses of it today, just sneak peeks, and it made me want to get to know him better. I wanted to strip away the layers of Evan, and find out who he was. Deep down.
“Dragon Ball Zis without a doubt the best Japanese anime on the market,” he said, arguing with me. We’d been binging on the first season.
I shook my head. “I’m not disagreeing with you, but I would be a liar if I didn’t say that at times, having to watch one more full episode of them ‘powering up’ makes me want to rip my fucking hair out.”
He shrugged. “Drawing out the suspense.” He nudged me. “I’m definitely Vegeta.”
I snorted. “Beck is Vegeta. The hot headed asshole, who has ‘grown quite fond of us.’ ” That made me snort out more laughter just thinking about how those two assholes were the same. “And none of you are Goku—he’s just too nice and dumb, even if he is mega powerful. Dylan is probably Piccolo, the wise badass one.” I eyed Evan. “You can be Trunks if you want. Vegeta’s son is more your attitude.”
Evan pissed himself laughing. “I cannot believe you watch Japanese anime. What the fuck? Now you’re even hotter.”
I nudged him. “Shut up. What’s your next favorite?”
