“Toren?” Kellan sounds just as shocked as she looks, and it’s pissing me off not knowing.
“Xaden, can we go please?” she begs in a quiet tone only loud enough for me to hear.
A part of me wants to deny her and stand here and rub it in these fucks’ faces a bit longer. But then she places her hands on my chest, making me focus on her again. Tears shine in her eyes and I can tell she is about to break down and I don’t want them seeing that shit and thinking it’s because of me, so I relent.
“Let’s go.” She pushes away from me and rounds the car.
“Toren, wait—” Before Kellan can get any closer, Masen darts in front of him and holds him back.
“You stay the fuck away from my sister,” he snaps.
Kellan shoots me a glare before looking at Masen. “You don’t get it,” he shouts.
“Oh, he gets the fact you wanted to fuck his sister loud and clear,” I add.
“Fuck you, dipshit, she just remembered!” His declaration has me jerking upright and spinning on my heel to get the fuck back in the car. I slam the door closed and start the car, then smash it in drive and burn rubber on my way out. I look over at her to see she has her knees drawn up to her chest, with her arms wrapped around them.
I’m gripping the steering wheel so fucking hard my knuckles are white. Tidal waves of rage are rolling through me like a storm ready to wage war on anything in its path. I weave in and outof traffic like a fucking mad man and still she has no reaction. I want to cause mass destruction to her. My mouth is pooling with saliva at the thought of wrapping my hands around that dainty neck as I snuff the life right fucking out of her. I want her family’s fucking demise. I want them to burn in fucking hell until I get there and rip them apart all over again.
“I remembered something.” Her small voice pulls me from my thoughts. I glance over at her, to find her staring out the windshield with a pained look on her face.
“You remember what you did?” My tone is firm and tight. If she hears the edge in it she doesn’t show it.
“No.”
“You just fucking said you remembered!” I roar, then jerk the wheel and ignore the screeching of cars jamming their breaks on and the sound of their horns as I spin a U turn. She sits there silently staring ahead like a fucking idiot who escaped the nut house. I keep my focus on the road, there is no way I will be another casualty along this fucking road. Losing one Devlin down here was enough.
When I finally pull into the parking lot of the beach, it’s empty. I stare out at the horizon to see storm clouds, the view matching my fucking mood. I snap my head to the side when she opens the door and stumbles out. I follow after her. When I reach her, I grip her arm but she tugs free, then takes off running to the fucking beach. I chase the bitch down. Just as she nears the end of the path and gets to the sand I tackle her from behind and take us both to the ground. A grunt escapes her as I land on top.
“Get the fuck off me!” she screams. I push up onto my haunches and allow her to roll over onto her back. Tears roll down her cheeks, a look of devastation staring back at me.
“You know what the fuck you took from me,” I yell.
“I only rememberedhim.” Her answer gives me pause. A strangled sob escapes her, her chest beginning to heave as she tries to take in lungfuls of air but… it’s not working. She begins to gasp and claw at her throat. I shift off her and pull her into a sitting position.
“The only fucking way you’re going out is by my hands, Tink, so fucking breathe,” I demand. She’s gasping and shaking in my arms.
She’s having a panic attack.
I know how to deal with them and how to help, but she isn’t her and I don’t want to ease her fucking panic. I want her to wallow in it, have it eat her up inside and force her to face the fucking demons that live inside her cursed fucking being.
But, I want revenge and if I have to help the cunt survive this, so be it. She doesn’t get to die from lack of oxygen. Only I get to decide when her fucking time is up.
I drop to my ass and lift her so she is sitting in my lap, then wrap my arms around her and hold her close. “Listen to the waves and try to match your breathing with them.” She shakes her head so I grind my teeth and try to gentle my tone. “In… out,” I say over and over again, until she eventually stops shaking. When I feel her slouch against me and take a full breath, I grind my teeth.
I’m getting fucking sick and tired of saving her just so I can delay my gratification by breaking her family.
I don’t realize I still have my arms wrapped around her until she shifts and positions herself so she is sitting between my legs, with her back against my chest. I recoil and stare down at the back of her head. This bitch has lost her fucking mind if she thinks we’re sitting here cozy and shit on the beach. I’m about to shove her away from me, but then she begins to speak, halting my movements.
“I don’t remember that night.” She sounds empty and cold. “When I was yelling at Kellan, something happened. I don’t know how to explain it, but it was like a flash of a memory or something. I recalled him telling me that we would sneak off and finally be together at the bonfire.”
Fire fills my veins. That pussy ass bitch was planning to fuck off with his best friend’s sister and fuck her in secret, just so he wouldn’t get caught.
“You wanted to be that cunt’s dirty little secret?”
Thunder booms in the distance. I can smell the impending rain coming but neither of us move. Something about how she is acting and how terrified she looked before has my gut twisting and me actually thinking she might be telling the truth about not remembering that night. Either that or she is an award fucking winning actress and has managed to have me doubting myself.
“Not anymore,” she says quietly.
