My breath hitches.
I can’t rely on someone else to save me.
That’s what Preston’s been teaching me, though I know if he were here, Xander’s heart would already be a smattering behind his ribs from a bullet.
Xander continues his unhinged rambling. “It’s a place where you can’t escape. A place where I can play with you all I want, and nobody will hear your screams. Fuck!” I jump at the belted curse. “I love it when you scream for me. We’ll be so happy there, Kate.”
Needing to strip him of some of his control, I pause, hearing him growl in protest.
The words are bitter on my tongue, but I make them sound sweet. Innocent. “That sounds nice.” Inhaling deeply, I turn to face him, my heart hammering wildly, trying to ignore the gun now aimed directly at my breastplate.
His eyes thin into slits, his head slanting hesitantly.
I nod, cautiously reaching for the uniform button-down hugging his chest. Touching him makes me want to cut off my hands. “You’re right, I just forgot. Now you’re here, and I need you to remind me why we were so good.”
“Yeah?” He watches me inquisitively. The way his dark glare falls on my mouth makes me cringe, turning my blood sour. I’m damn near close to breaking down completely, but my determination to distract him straightens my spine.
Slowly, deliberately, I weave an arm around his neck, pulling my body closer to his while my other hand slowly snakes down to my skirt. It’s like the universe was telling me to order a dress with a slit on the opposite side of where my knife is strapped to my leg so he wouldn’t be able to see it.
“I’ve missed you,” I lie with a whisper, letting my fingers dance across the hilt of my blade while my other hand glides across his neck.
I nearly give away my genuine fear of him when total nightfall envelopes us. All of Lachlan Park goes dark, but the panic that’s flowing through my veins is white. Hot. Burning.
His forehead falls against mine, and I choke back my emotions, wanting to spill all over him. Tears drip down my chin and onto my chest as I slowly start to raise my elbow. “I’m sorry, Xander.”
His alcohol-laced breath drifts across my face. “For running?”
“No,” my voice shakes. His head lifts from being braced against mine, regarding me skeptically. “For this.” My hand whips forward.
His choked gasp slices between us. He stumbles backward, his gaze locking on the scarlet liquid blooming in the side of his stomach, the dark gray shirt soaking into black before my eyes. Xander grits his teeth as a horrific roar tears through the quiet, slicing straight into my bones.
I don’t waste another second, spinning with my blade, my legs carry me to the closest dark structure for cover. Gunshots hectically whip through the air, whizzing past me as Xander aims in my direction—his eyes failing to adjust to the new darkness that blankets the park.
I can barely see, but I don’t stop.
My panic is so intoxicating that the agonizing, blistering pain in my leg starts splitting through the haze. I cry in pain, climbing onto the dark carousel, hoping someone will hear the shots and come running if the stab wound doesn’t drop Xander to his knees first.
Sobs drift from my lips as I limp further onto the platform, ducking under one of the horses. I may be blanketed in the darkness now, but the stain soaking into my dress is somehow darker. With unsteady fingers, I part the slit in my dress open. A rogue bullet tore through the side of my thigh—streaks ofcrimson drenching my garters. The blood must have glided down my leg and calf while I was running, soaking into the straps of my heels and pooling below my foot to leave a sticky wet warmth.
My name is a curse. “Kate!”
I slap a hand over my mouth, attempting to keep my cries from alerting him to where I am. Tears fall heavily now, wetting my fingers before an onslaught of rainbow lights has my eyes squinting. The repetitive carousel tune fills my ears over the roar of my heartbeat. The platform is spinning, the motion combining with the pain and fear, causing acid to swirl vehemently in my stomach.
No. No. No!
His voice is closer now. Lethal. “How do you think it made me feel to watch you shove your tongue down another man’s throat, Kate?”
I try to train my ears, but I can’t hear his footsteps on the metal platform over the music.
His growl penetrates the air. “That you let him taste what’smine!”
I’m quivering so badly, worried he’ll sense the vibrations and find his way to me like a spider knows its prey is near.
“Did you let him touch you? Fuck you? Fall in love with you?”
The bombardment of questions has my heart shattering, thinking of leaving Preston, whether it's by Xander dragging me out by my hair or my heartbeat ceasing in the very park that ripped his family from him. It’s a shame it took me this long, but there is too much I need to fight for now.
The life I’d never thought I’d have.
