Chapter Twenty-Four
Derek
I stood in the parking lot, watching her taillights disappear into the darkness.
The rage that had been simmering beneath my skin since Zero opened his fucking mouth erupted. My vision went red. My hands clenched into fists so tight my knuckles cracked.
I turned and walked back into the clubhouse.
The music had died the moment she stormed into the main room. Now, as I walked through the doors, every single eye in the room was on me. The silence was deafening, no laughter, no conversation. Just the heavy, suffocating quiet of a room full of people who had just witnessed everything fall apart.
They’d all heard Kat’s voice as she ran from me. They’d all seen her grab Frankie and run. They’d watched me chase after her, pleading, desperate.
Like my entire fucking world hadn’t just walked out the door.
I scanned the room until I found him.
Zero.
Standing near the bar, talking to Ace like he hadn’t just blown up my life.
He looked up and saw me coming.
And he smiled.
I didn’t think. Didn’t hesitate.
I crossed the room and slammed my fist into his face.
The impact sent him stumbling backward into the bar. Bottles crashed. Glass shattered. Someone screamed.
I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and slammed my forehead into his nose. Cartilage crunched. Blood sprayed across my face, hot and metallic.
“You fucking piece of shit!” I roared.
Zero swung at me, his fist connecting with my jaw. Pain exploded through my face, but I barely felt it. The rage was too strong.
I threw him across the room. He crashed into a table, sending chairs flying. Wood splintered.
Zero rolled to his feet, blood pouring from his nose. “Come on, you psycho fuck! Show everyone what you really are!”
I lunged. My fist connected with his ribs... once, twice, three times. Something cracked. He grunted but swung back, catching me in the side of the head.
Stars burst across my vision, but I didn’t stop.
I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall so hard the drywall cracked. His hands clawed at my wrist, but I squeezed harder.
“You had no right,” I snarled. “No fucking right to tell her.”
“She... deserved... to know,” Zero choked out.
I pulled him forward and slammed him into the wall again. And again.
“Derek!” someone shouted.
But I didn’t hear them. All I could see was Zero’s smug face. All I could hear was Kat’s voice asking if it was true. All I could feel was the moment she looked at me as if I were a monster.
Zero’s knee slammed into my stomach. The air rushed out of my lungs. He swung at me, hitting my cheekbone, my ribs, my jaw.
