“What are you doing out here?” she asked, keeping her face neutral.
I pointed my thumb back in the direction of the museum. “I was here to pick up Kevin, but he seemed to have bounced already.”
Why in the fuck was I still lying to her?
She nodded and clicked her tongue. “Yeah, I can’t blame him for that. Considering you nearly killed him on the field two days ago,” she snapped. She moved, but I held her eyes, only her eyes.
“He had it coming,” I said, clenching my jaw.
“Col,” she gasped, her blue eyes going wide.
Fuck. That damn nickname. I shook it off. It was something of the past. Col wasn’t a part of my future.
“Don’t call me that,” I said, brushing past her. Her vanilla scent followed, a sweet form of the purest torture.
“Don’t fucking walk away from me,” she said. I felt her coming up behind me, and I spun, getting right in her face.
“Walk away, Karina. Right now,” I warned.
Her eyes filled with tears—not from sadness, but from anger. It wasn’t a sign of weakness. No, my angel was strong, too damn strong and I fucking hated it, I was weak in comparison.
I was weak because I didn’t have the balls to hurt her or break her.
Even though I just stabbed her brother, I never wanted her to know it was me. It was foolish, wishful thinking. She would find out; she always did. I would hurt her then, and the knowledge of that would be enough. Enough for my angel to finally hate me.
“Don’t fucking lie to me anymore! I know about the bug you planted in Gwen’s apartment. Did we mean nothing to you? Was it all just a fucking…” She trailed off, wiping her cheek with the back of her hand and looking away from me.
My chest ached. I hated that too.
“Walk away before I'm forced to do something I don’t want to,” I said, stepping back from her, the evening breeze hitting her from behind, making her high, blonde ponytail come over her shoulder.
She was too beautiful for words, and too good for me.
My angel tilted her chin to me. “I fucking dare you,” she seethed, pulling a gun out from behind her. I smirked.
My strong, fearless woman, not backing down from me.
My Karina.
“I don’t have time for games, Karina.”
She laughed. “Says the man always playing them.”
“Goodnight, Karina,” I said, before getting into my car.
I peeled away from her, pressing on the gas and shifting gears, leaving a piece of heaven behind.
Present Day. Boston, MA.
Later, I would find out that Jeremy Jones survived, as well as Gwen and Dean. The only one who didn’t survive that night was Cal Matthews.
My fingers reached out, playing with the ends of her hair as I came back to the present, wanting to be there for her.
“One night, she wanted to hit up a frat party. I told her it wasn’t really my scene. I didn’t like Greek Life, and it was one of the reasons I chose to go to school online. But I wasn’t going to let her alone. One hour into the party, I was standing in line for the bathroom, the only bathroom downstairs. Non-Greek life students weren’t allowed upstairs. Anyways, the next thing I knew, this guy slammed into me from behind, knocking me into the person in front of me. It was a fucking mess, but the guy put his hands on me, and at the time I thought he was just trying to steady himself.”
Her voice began to shake. “Col, he bumped into me on purpose. Hemarkedme as the target by doing that.”
A growl formed in my throat, my fingers dropping from her hair.
