“You don’t know me, but you will soon.” With that, he releases me and kicks the side of my face, forcing it to turn in the other direction. I see headlights approach, and watch Tokyo as she staggers towards the black car, holding her side.
“I’ll kill—” I choke out the words between coughing fits. Then I crawl—they won’t take her. I can’t lose my heart.
Not again.
My body drags through the wet soil—everything burns. Tokyo opens the door to the black car, and through the blood pouringdown my face, I see her hesitate before she looks directly at me and turns away, slipping inside.
“TOKYO,” I shout as I continue to drag my useless body through the grass.
No.
No.
No.
I watch as the man places Xena in the back seat, closes the door, then rushes into the front seat and reverses out of the area. When headlights pull in, I fall to my back and scream.
Chapter Seven
Tokyo
Ican hear Roman’s screams even as we pull away. I sink into the leather seat. The pain in my side is a constant throb, but it’s the one in my chest that has me looking down and not at the bleeding woman behind me.
“You did so well,” Alec praises, his hand cupping my chin, forcing me to look his way. There’s a menacing grin on his handsome face—perfect rows of white teeth as his tongue traces over it. “So good.”
My body recoils at his praises. I don’t feel worthy of anything right now—nothing I just did merits a reward. I deserve nothing but punishment. His nails dig into my skin when I try to look away. Maybe we will crash since his eyes aren’t on the road and instead are on me. Those icy blue eyes scream only one thing.
Hunger.
I swallow hard, which does little to wash down the lump inside my throat. My fingers fidget with each other. I hate that you can see, in my body, the anxiety and stress he puts me under.
“Talk to me, sweetness.”
My lips part to speak, but the words die in my mouth, my eyes blurry and stinging with tears he doesn’t deserve to see.
“Fuck, baby, you look so beautiful when you cry,” he groans as he presses the gas. He releases the grip on my face and focuses on the road stretching out before us. From the backseat, Xena lets out a soft whimper, and given the scent of iron in the car, she’s bleeding a lot.
And my stomach drops to the deepest part of my soul before the mask of trauma slips down my face and I force myself to tune it all out. Reminding myself that it’s between her or Kai.
He’s mine to protect, and unfortunately for Xena, I’m one selfish bitch.
Kai
“Fuck,” Chino mutters beside me. My heart slows as we pull up towards the green neon car smashed into the guardrail. I hold my breath, expecting to see her slumped over, or worse, dead.
“Kai, brother.”
“I got this,” I reply as I roll up beside the car, only to find her gone. My hand smacks the steering wheel.
“Fuck.”Smack. “Fuck.”Smack. “Fuck.”
“Yo, look.” I follow the direction he’s pointing in and see smoke curling up into the sky, and with no hesitation, I follow it. Slowly, I roll up to the sound of howling—screaming—a sound so feral, so laced with anger and sorrow.
And my heart sinks when I realize who it is and what just happened.
“She’s in deep shit now,” Chino mutters as he looks at Roman lying bloody on the ground, his screams turning into a menacing laugh, his hands digging into the soil.
My hand tightens around the leather wheel, and for a moment, I debate leaving him there, bloody and broken to protect her. “You just gonna leave him, man?”
