The heartbreak bleeding through those four words destroys something inside me, but I smile anyway because I protected her.
Nothing else matters but that.
I failed before.
I won’t fail again.
It’s what I’ve lived by since the day I found her.
“I love you,” I manage to say, needing her to hear it.
I need her to understand that everything I am—the violence, the obsession, the absolute destruction I’m capable of—it’s all for her.
The world suddenly comes back into focus as pure pandemonium erupts around me. I hear the thunder of footsteps from every direction, and I’m tackled to the floor by what feels like an entire football team, bodies piling on top of me, hands wrenching my arms back with brutal force, twisting until the pain reaches my shoulders.
Worth it for her.
Screams fill the air around me, and I really hope at least some of them are James’s.
My cheek slams into the ground, and metal clicks as handcuffs lock around my wrists.
When I look up, a gun is pointed directly at my face.
“Don’t fucking move!”the rent-a-badge barks, his hands shaking like he’s never held anything bigger than his own dick.
Really, it’s a dumbass thing to say when five guys are pinning me to the floor like I’m about to grow wings and fly through the ceiling.
These idiots think I’ve lost my mind.
I haven’t.
I just did what needed to be done.
His hands were on her, and I removed them.
It’s simple math, really.
A plus B equals a broken arm.
Add C, and you get cartilage too.
Throw in D fordisrespectingmy woman, and you get your face smashed into the floor.
“No!” Shannen screams.
“Move!” someone snaps at her, and I try to turn my head, just enough to catch a glimpse of the face. Whoever just raised his voice at her, I'll deal with him later.
“Someone get this prick out of here!”
Prick.
That’s me, apparently.
I might care more if someone’s knee wasn’t currently grinding into my spine. My face is still ground-level with the floor, and when I lift my eyes, that gun’s still waiting for me, aimed right between them.
“Phoenix… No, Phoenix?—”
“Get out of here, Shannen,” I yell, because I need her away from the dickhead with the itchy trigger finger. “Baby, go. Now.”
