“Screw you, asshole,” Masen claps back.
When the car jerks again, I scream. Masen holds the wheel but something’s wrong. I see headlights coming toward us and my stomach drops to the floor.
“Masen!”
“The steering’s locked,” he shouts back, as we all begin to scream and yell. I unclasp my seat belt and lean over to grip thewheel and help my brother. The blare of the horn from the other car only adds to my stress and fear.
Masen jams his foot down on the brake. We spin out and Kenna and I scream in terror as Masen loses control of the car. The force of a freight train slams into my side of the car, and then I black out.
I come to with a groan. My head feels like it’s about to explode from the bass thumping inside it. My body is aching and screaming in protest when I try to sit up. I smell gas. I frown when I realize I’m lying on the road. I look backward and gasp at the sight of my brother's wrecked truck! Another car is facing the wrong direction and is mangled. The driver’s door is busted open and I see a woman behind the wheel.
I try to stand but cry out in pain. I call out their names, but no one answers. Tears roll down my cheeks as I begin to drag myself across the road. I hiss in pain and know my injuries will feel worse once the adrenaline wears off, but I need to see if they’re okay.
The stranger's car is closer so I drag my arms along the ground and use what little strength I have to pull my body closer. I reach the side of the car and try to use the door panel to lift me up, but my arms are like jelly. I tap the girl's leg, trying to wake her up.
She whimpers and slowly opens her eyes. I tilt my head back to get a look at her injuries but see nothing. Her head flops to the side and she looks down at me. Her gray eyes are riddled with pain. When her bottom lip begins to tremble, I cry harder. I can see the light leaving her eyes and I just know she doesn’t have long left.
I reach up to cup her face, but slip and yank the necklace from her neck. “I’m sorry,” I mutter as I look down at the gold pendant with whorls of vines around the outside and a single rose head in the center. Her gray eyes shine with tears. I seeblood gliding down the side of her face and disappearing into her long raven hair.
“F-f-find Xay,” she rasps out.
“Who?” I choke out.
“Xaden, tell him I love him and g-give… him… that.” Her breathing has turned ragged and she’s wheezing. I reach up and clasp her hand in mine.
“I will. I swear it,” I promise her. I know the second she’s gone, those gray eyes dim and I see no life left inside her. Sobs claw out of me. “I’m so sorry.”
We did this.
We killed her!
An innocent, beautiful young girl was robbed of her life because of us!
I cry out as I release her hand and crawl toward the truck to check on my friends and my brother. I barely make it a few paces from the car before blackness consumes me and I succumb to the darkness.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
XADEN
Her screams attracted the attention of everyone downstairs. Lorenzo, Steven, Frank and Kellan now stand in my sister’s room. Masen and Cas remain behind me. I’m kneeling down in front of her, shaking her so she’ll shut the fuck up!
“What the hell did you do to her?” Lorenzo snaps.
“He didn’t do anything. Something happened to her and then… this,” Masen says.
“Someone do something!” Steven barks.
“She’s your fucking daughter!” Cas yells. That sets them all off. The six of them begin to argue among themselves while I remain focused on her. She’s pale as a sheet and shaking like a leaf. Her skin is cold and her lips have turned purple. Her face is screwed up in pain and every so often between her screams she’ll whimper.
When she finally falls silent I stiffen. “Shut the fuck up!” I yell. The room falls silent at my command. I grip Toren’s face between my hands and lift her head. She sobs quietly and I brush her tears away with my thumbs. “Open your eyes, Tink,” I say, low enough for only her to hear.
She slowly blinks her eyes open and the look of utter devastation in those blue eyes is like a sucker punch to the gut.
“She was your sister,” she chokes out through her tears. Something in her tone and the way she looks at me with utter remorse is the only reason I don’t bite her head off for mentioning her. “I didn’t do it, Xaden,” she breathes out as she grips my hands and holds them against her face. She’s begging me with that look to believe her.
“Didn’t do what, Tink?” My tone is clipped and it’s taking everything inside me not to scream at her and demand to tell me what the fuck just happened.
“Tor?” At the sound of her brother’s voice she snaps her head. There is no relief in her eyes as she looks at him. No longing for him to come and comfort her, just puremalice. That look has my brows raising and my hackles rising as it hits me.
