“Yes. And the look on your face now? Priceless.”
COLE
Noah’s at my parents’ for a movie night. They’ve probably got him in matching pajamas, eating hand-picked delicacies while Dad pretends to follow The Smurfs.
I’m home, alone.Wink, wink.
Upstairs, Kate waits in the shadows like an assassin. Frankie’s hiding in the backyard with an honest-to-god rifle. That wasn’t an SBI plan. That was a Xaden and Frankie plan.
I sit at the kitchen table, trying to look natural, which is surprisingly hard when your brain is screaming RUN.
My tea is untouched. My stomach is anxiety soup. I consider getting my guitar — maybe I could play something jolly to hide the sound of my pulse pounding. I haven’t even tried to convince anyone I’m not scared witless because I wouldn’t have fooled anyone.
But still, I insisted on doing this and I’m not regretting it.
Sure, it’s not every day that a violent ex-con is sneaking into my house, wanting ‘a piece of me’. Which sounds more like a serial killer piece than a pastry shop bite.
Just saying.
That’s when I hear a creak. Adrenaline rushes into my blood with a record-breaking speed as I watch, genuinely terrified, how the back door eases open.
A shadow fills the doorway.
Keith Blackwood is huge. And ugly, in the way meanness just… clings to him. He’s wearing evil like it’s a cape.
“Who are you?” I croak. The fear in my voice is real. “I don’t have anything valuable.”
“Don’t be modest,” he drawls. “You look valuable enough, like a little treat.”
I grip my mug as if owning kitchenware will keep me safe. “I’ll call the cops.”
Keith laughs, stepping closer. “If you’re talkin’ about your ex-boyfriend Xaden Bailey, the goddamn pig, I got bad news for you. He’s pissed off the wrong people. So right about now—” Keith gives me a menacing grin, “JJ’s breakin’ his fingers. Ronnie’s makin’ him bleed. Big Sam and Willard? Just happy to watch him die.”
Breaking fingers?I start to panic when I think about his warm, gentle hands. And how much blood can you lose before—
I force the thoughts down.Xaden will be okay.
He promised me.
“Willard?” I ask, feigning shock. “But he’s the town sheriff!”
“He is. He just swings both ways,” Keith laughs. “In and out of law.” He tilts his head, eyes crawling over me. “Y’know, I think I’m gonna try out that sweet little mouth now.”
I shoot to my feet. Keith blocks me, delighted to tower over me.He leers.
“So you’re tall, congratulations. Should I clap?” I ask, feigning boredom. His grin falters, just for a second, before it gets even uglier.
“You think your ex’s comin’ to save you? He’s not. It’s just you and me, Goldilocks.”
“Actually—” Kate’s voice, calm and cold, comes from behind him. “Hands where I can see them.”
Frankie’s voice follows from the back door, flat and deadly. “She means it. As do I.”
Keith freezes.
“On your knees.”
“You got nothin’ on me,” Keith sneers, but the panic is already evident on his scarred face.
