“What is going on in here?” he hissed.
All the moisture evaporated from my mouth.
My muscles turned to stone.
“Stan?”
CHAPTER 40
DO YOU TRUST ME?
Lexi
My knees wobbled. My entire body broke into a cold sweat. The scent of cigars and whiskey filled my nostrils. Leather creaking. Vomit.
The room tilted, sound warping into something distant and wrong, as if I was underwater. If Killian’s arms hadn’t been wrapped around me like steel bands, I would’ve hit the floor.
Stan glared down at us, his lips curled in disgust as they raked over his precious stepson and the piece of shit he was keeping upright.
I waited with bated breath for Killian’s hold to fall away, for him to abandon me to the monster.
Only… it didn’t.
He didn’t let go.
Not this time.
Confusion flickered through the panic—because Killian Davenport didn’t choose me. Not when it mattered. Why now? Why protect me after all this time?
A hint of hope bubbled up. It was stupid, but... My broken, battered heart felt full, because in that instant, it seemed like for once in his life he’d actually chosen me over his bastard stepfather.
“Well, Killian?” Stan growled. “Are you going to explain yourself?”
Instead of waiting for the pain of Killian’s imminent rejection, I peeled myself from his body and stepped behind his broad shoulders. Let him deal with this asshole.
“Why are you associating with Alexis Vega after all the lies she spread about me?”
“Lies—” I lunged forward, but Killian’s arm clapped across my chest and pinned me behind his back once more. That son of a bitch.
“Chill out, Lexi,” Killian hissed.
My hands curled into fists at my sides as fiery anger surged through my veins. Fuck this. I wasn’t little Lexi Vega anymore. I’d come a hell of a long way from that scared little girl on the side of the road the great Stanford Davenport had tried to rape.
As I stood there behind Killian with the devil himself leering down at me, I vowed to bring that lying piece of shit to justice, even if it meant dragging my own name through the mud. And Killian’s...
I’d find Micah, and I’d ask him to help me. I knew he would. He had access to the resources I never did. I’d prove Killian wrong about my friend too. There was no way Micah would ever hurt me.
“So you two are seeing each other again?” Stan snarled. Those frosty orbs razed over me, and phantom fingers trailed up my inner thigh. One look and I was back in that damned car all those years ago.
My pulse escalated, manic heartbeats roaring across my eardrums.
No.It’s over, Lexi. This asshole can never hurt you again.
As if Killian could sense my impending meltdown, his hand snuck behind his back and warm fingers curled around mine. He gave a quick squeeze, and the panic began to subside, the darkness receding.
“I just ran into Bass,” Stan continued. “I couldn’t believe it when he said you’d beaten him to a bloody pulp. And overthisgirl?”
“I lost my temper,” Killian muttered. “He had his hands on her and?—”
