“I didn’t have a lot growing up, so when someone threatens to break what’s mine, I don’t like it.” The smile that curved my mouth made his smirk from a few minutes ago look tame. “Out of the two of us, I’m the real psycho. I only pretend not to be. Don’t forget that.”
Bass wheezed, his chest rising and falling fast.
This would come back to bite me in the ass. Bass would tell Stan I overstepped my bounds, or my stepbrother would do something else to put me in my place. Whatever route he took, there would absolutely be retribution.
But right now, I couldn’t think beyond the rage.
“Killian, stop!” Lexi was suddenly beside me, trying to pull me away from Bass. “You’re going to kill him.”
I bared my teeth. “Good. Maybe he deserves it.”
A vein throbbed on his forehead, his face now a deep red. Soon, he’d pass out from lack of oxygen.
“Kill, please!” Lexi squeezed my arm, her nails digging in. “Don’t do this. He’s not worth it.Please.”
The desperation in her voice, that last word breaking, finally ripped my attention away from Bass’s impending murder, and she broke my grip on his throat.
“Didn’t know you had it in you, Killian.” Bass wheezed and gobbled up air, laughing as if I hadn’t nearly killed him. “You really are a Davenport, aren’t you?”
Lexi used all the strength in her tiny body to drag me away. “Let’s go, Killian. You need to calm down.”
“I thoughtwewere leaving together,” Lorelei called out, somehow oblivious to the shitstorm I might have started.
Or she was simply trying to pretend she hadn’t witnessed me lose my shit over Bass threatening Lexi. That didn’t bode well for Lorelei’s ego or her plans to sink her claws into me.
“Don’t worry, Lorelei,” Bass said as Lexi picked up the pace to tow me farther away. “You don’t want to be around my brother right now. He could snap your little neck if you say the wrong thing.”
He was correct. Everyone needed to keep their distance, Lexi included.
Once we were out of Lorelei and Bass’s sights, I yanked out of Lexi’s hold and veered to the right. “Get away from me. I don’t want to hurt you.”
She scoffed and hurried to keep up. “Too fucking late.” She shook her head. “Besides, I’m not taking the chance that you’ll turn around and attack your stepbrother. Again.”
A smirk curved her lips, but it vanished too quickly.
Was she actually happy at the violence I unleashed on Bass?
I am so fucked.
By protecting Lexi, I made Bass even more interested in her. And now, he suspected she was the one who had overheard us.
“Fuck!” I yelled, startling a few nearby students.
Undeterred, Lexi pulled me onto an empty walkway between two buildings. “Just breathe, Kill. Everything’s going to be okay.”
She had no idea how bad things could get.No. Idea.
I backed her into the wall, pressed my body to hers, and inhaled her scent. Her muscles tensed as I trapped her, but she quickly softened, melting into me. When she first arrived at Stonewall, her mere presence sent me into a rage.
Right now? She was the only one I wanted to be around, even after everything that had happened.
How screwed up was I?
I rested my forehead against hers as the silence washed over us.
A beat passed, and another.
As the fury faded, the last few minutes caught up to me, and panic slashed at my chest. My heart tapped out a frantic beat,and black spots speckled the edges of my vision. Stan would rip me a new one if he found out I nearly killed his precious son.
