Cruel Temptation

by Callahan, Kelli

  I held a hand over my mouth to muffle my breathing and squeezed my eyes shut as I started to cry. The tip of the knife dug into the skin between my breasts, but not enough to break the flesh.

  “Where are you!” he yelled in a form of insanity.

  He knew someone with a cast on their leg couldn’t climb shelves, but surprise, I didn’t let it hold me back. When a tear escaped the edge of my eye and rolled down my cheekbone, my mind flashed with a hundred different memories and remembered lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling. A tear had rolled down my face in the same way as I cried over Jaxon.

  I sobbed in relief, and I never thought it would be so hard to silence my sadness, my relief, and my regret, but I was suffocating myself, so Brian couldn’t hear them.

  “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say and do will be held against you in the court of law. You have a right to an attorney…”

  I stood by and wept as they cuffed Jaxon and read him his rights. Brian was shouting at another officer, spinning some tale of the story about coming home and finding Jaxon choking his sister.

  “I didn’t do it, Quinn!” he shouted at me, pleading with his eye for me to believe him. “I didn’t do it! You must believe me, Quinn. I love you. I loved Tracy!” he shouted in desperation before the cop shoved his head down and pushed him into the car. He stared at me out the window, his eyes sad as we stared at each other.

  I believed him in that moment, but I was the girl from money, and he was the boy who broke the law. I had to turn my back on him. Not because I wanted to, but my parents said I had to before they died.

  I let everyone around me control me, to brainwash me, but not anymore.

  I knew the truth, plus, Brian just admitted to me himself, not that I needed him to. I wasn’t the same woman I was back then. I was stronger. I thought for myself. I wasn’t going to let Brian ruin anything between me and Jaxon again. No one could stop me from loving Jaxon the way he was always meant to be loved by me.

  Another hand fell over my lips, and I opened my eyes with shock and nearly screamed. I saw Jaxon. He held his finger against his lips to tell me to be quiet. I nodded.

  “You’re okay?” he mouthed.

  I nodded.

  “I’m so fucking glad you’re okay,” he whispered, and his forehead fell on my chest. “I’ve been worried.” He brought his head up and pecked my lips.

  He was home.

  I’d never doubt home again.

  “I remember everything,” I whispered, and he leaned back, stared at me with disbelief and shock, then smiled.

  His shoulders sagged, and his head fell again. He was relieved. The both of us were. His hands clutched my shoulders tight, and when he stared back up at me, his eyes shined. “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” I said.

  “Can you take the knife away from my chest, baby?” he asked, and that’s when I noticed I had the tip pressed right against his heart.

  “Whoops, sorry,” I said, keeping my voice soft, so it didn’t echo, and carefully placed the knife on the vent.

  His entire body jerked back, and he looked over his shoulder to see a hand on his ankle. It was like time slowed when both of us realized Brian had gripped Jaxon’s ankle.

  I gripped his shirt with every ounce of strength I had, but Brian was stronger. The shirt ripped, and the metal of the vents were too slick for Jaxon to gain any traction. “Jaxon!” I screamed when he got quickly pulled away from my sight.

  It was like something out of a scary movie.

  It was a scary movie.

  Brian was the monster, and we were the victims.

  A loud crash sounded at the bottom, and I knew that Brian had let Jaxon fall from the shelves and onto the floor. I pulled myself along the vent, back to where I came from. The vent was open, and the sound of flesh pounding flesh could be heard.

  I just didn’t know whose flesh was being obliterated.

  When I looked down from the air duct, I couldn’t see anyone in the closet, but I heard crashing coming from the game room. I laid on the first shelf, then swung my body over, doing my best not to look down. Heights weren’t as bad now for some reason. Maybe it was because he helped me conquer a fear.

  There was just one more fear left to demolish.

  And I was going to stab it right in the back.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Jaxon

  I tossed Brian against the air hockey table, and he slid over the white top and fell on the other side. I didn’t care if I had to die; Brian was going to die with me. Sebastian and the rest of the guys were standing off to the side and stepped forward to help.

  Holding up my hand, I stopped them from coming closer. “He is mine.”

  Brian laughed, cackling from the ground. He pushed himself up by using the air hockey table. I stomped forward and grabbed the back of his head, slamming it against the table. A sick crunch sounded when his nose flattened. He crumbled into a useless heap and cupped his nose, blood spurting everywhere, running between his fingers and over his lips. It was a lot of blood. He choked, and a fountain flew from his mouth.

  I straddled him so he couldn’t move and starting to punch him. I was tired. My fists fucking hurt, my bones hurt, but my mind was clear and focused.

  I was going to fucking kill him, and when I did, I would tear him limb from limb, and use his body parts as shark bait. I didn’t want him to exist. I never wanted him to have a funeral or a grave. His family would live forever, not knowing what happened to him, and I didn’t give a fuck. Brian didn’t deserve for his family to know. I hoped his bones sank to the bottom of the ocean.

  “You killed Tracy,” I said, lifting my fist in the air again and let it smash against his cheek. “You killed her, and I’m going to kill you the same way you killed her.” I wrapped my hands around his throat and squeezed. I couldn’t tell when his face turned red because of the blood. My lips quivered as I sneered at him, and all he did was give me an evil smile.

  He lifted his head off the ground until his mouth was just an inch from mine. “Bitch deserved it,” as he spoke, blood sprayed against my face.

  “Got it,” Sebastian said, and I knew that meant he had gotten it on camera.

  As I squeezed harder, his veins protruded out of his neck, and blood continued to come out of his mouth and soaked my hands, causing my fingers to slip but refused to give up. Tracy deserved this. Tracy.

  Me.

  Quinn.

  We all deserved to live in peace.

  “She didn’t deserve it,” I said, struggling to crush his windpipe. “But you do.” I twisted my hands and snapped his neck. His struggles stopped, and I fell onto my ass, watching Brian to make sure he didn’t come back to life. Blood still trickled from his lips, pooling onto the ground under his mouth. His eyes were open, but his chest didn’t rise or fall.

  Quinn cried out and went to slam the knife in his skull when Owen pulled her away just in time before she ruined her beautiful innocent mind. Thank god.

  “What are you doing? You need to make sure that bastard is dead!” Her leg kicked out, and Owen grunted when her heel kicked right on his upper thigh, close to his balls. “Do it! Please,” she cried and begged, the tears and desperation fueled my wrung-out body. I wrapped my hand around the knife, and with all the force I had left, I shoved it in his head just like she wanted, right between the eyes.

  I fell to my side and relaxed. The threat was gone. I was free.

  “Jaxon,” the love of my life called out for me and cupped my face. “I love you. It’s over. It’s all over.”

  “We can clear your name,” Sebastian said, and I heard my voice on a video from his phone. “If you want.”

  “I’m too tired to think about it, honestly. Take care of the body, don’t toss it over the cliff. I don’t want any traces of blood anywhere. Feed him to the sea.”

  “You got it, boss.” Heaven rubbed his hands together hungrily, like a dog chomping at the bit for raw meat.

&
nbsp; “You okay?” I asked Quinn when I noticed her cast on her wrist was cracked, but her leg seemed fine.

  “I will be.” Her hand fell to my face. “I don’t know how I could have ever forgotten you.”

  “You didn’t. You remembered what mattered. Come on. Let the guys take care of him and let’s go get cleaned up.” I got up and held my hand against my side when my ribs protested me standing up straight. I still helped Quinn up, and we used each other as crutches while we made our way back to the room.

  The guys didn’t say anything, just gave us pats on the back. I breathed easier when we were out of the game room. I’d have to redo the entire house. I didn’t want Quinn to be reminded of him or what happened.

  “I don’t want to go back to the room, Jaxon. He touched me in there. I don’t want to go back.”

  I stopped in the middle of the hall and tugged her hand by her fingers to stop her from walking. “What do you mean he fucking touched you? Like held you. What? Give me details.” Because I was about to walk back in that game room and cut off the bastard’s head.

  She wouldn’t meet my eyes. She picked at her cuticles along her nails and hunched her back.

  “He touched you.” I new form of rage ignited in me. I was bloodthirsty. I wanted to drain the bastard’s blood. “Tell me everything, baby,” I did my best to speak softly, but the predator inside me clawed at my chest, rumbling my voice.

  “He straddled me and pushed his hand up my shirt and cupped my breast,” she said, her voice so small and weak, I could hardly believe it was the same woman speaking.

  I tightened my jaw. My teeth ground together, threatening to shatter. I nodded, hating myself that I wasn’t there to stop that assault from happening. “I’ll be back.”

  “No. It’s okay. I just want to be with you, Jaxon. Come on. Let me be with you. I want to forget him forever. He has taken up so much of our time already. Let’s let it go.”

  “I can’t,” I said, gently kissing her with my injured lip Sebastian gave me earlier. “I’ll be back. “Don’t move from this spot.”

  Turning around, I held my side to ease the ache of the broken rib and marched through the doors. I still pushed them open because I needed to release some of the anger. The metal knobs slammed against the wall with a smack, and they bounced back from the extra energy.

  “Give me the knife,” I said just as they picked him up.

  I did what I said I would, not emphasizing on the details or how it sounded because I was too focused. Nothing else in the world mattered to me. I was only satisfied when his head fell free. I dropped the knife; the men stared at me in awe, and Owen nodded in appreciation and understanding and heaved the body over his shoulder, leaving a trail of red in his wake.

  I walked to Quinn, feeling better that I got my revenge for Brian touching her. I got my confession; I got the girl, I had everything I wanted and needed to move on with my life.

  “Come on, baby. You’re safe now.” I kissed the side of her head, and she sighed, sagging her weight against me. I bet she was exhausted. Especially after lugging around that heavy cast. “We won’t go back to that bedroom. We will go to the one I stayed in while you were in my room.”

  “Okay,” she said, halfway asleep. I had to nearly drag her the rest of the way because she was so tired. She fought so hard, and I couldn’t be prouder of her. I had the best woman as my sidekick, my partner, and my strength. Quinn was stronger than she realized, and I’d make sure I reminded her of that every damn day.

  Her eyes fell to our bedroom door, the one without a knob, and she tensed beside me. I turned the knob, kicked the damn door open, and carried her inside. I slammed the door harder than I meant to, but I was so fucking glad this day, these problems were over.

  “You have a mirror that looked into the room,” she said, pointing to my two-way mirror.

  Okay, the day wasn’t over just yet.

  I cleared my throat and pressed the button to cloud the mirror so she couldn’t see into the other bedroom. I hoped she wouldn’t remember when she touched herself because I didn’t have the mental capacity right now to come up with a lie. I started to undress, leaving the sweaty, blood-soaked clothes on the floor.

  “Were you watching me when I masturbated?”

  “That’s not important right now, baby. Let’s shower. We have had a hell of a day, and it’s only six in the morning. Let’s wash up and sleep.”

  “You perv,” she said on a yawn. “You totally watched me.” She had dark circles under her eyes with a new bruise on her cheek.

  “I should cut off his arm for doing that to you.” I ghosted my finger over the black spot forming on her jaw.

  “Nice change of subject.”

  “I don’t want to joke right now,” I stated and reached in the shower stall to turn the water on. “What happened today shouldn’t have ever happened.”

  “Don’t do that. Don’t blame yourself. If we want to play the blame game, blame me for not believing in you ten years ago because if I had none of this would have happened.”

  “That’s not true. He would have found a wa—”

  She laid her finger across my lips and silenced me. “Then it doesn’t matter. I just know that I love you. And I wish our past could have been different, but it can’t be changed. You know what can be? Our future. It’s ours now. We own it. There are no threats to haunt us anymore. It’s just you and me against the world now.” She wrapped her arms around my neck, tilted her head back and looked into my eyes while she started to sway. Not because she was tired but because she wanted to dance. There was no music. No sounds.

  It was our breathing. Our heartbeats. The rush of our blood. The beat of the water against the stall. I closed my eyes and breathed her in, smelt her hair, felt her skin, and I got lost in the sensations of having her close, safe, and all mine.

  “God, I love you, Quinn.” It hurt how much I loved her because I couldn’t express how much love I possessed for her. Quinn was my obsession; had been since the moment I saw her licking that damn vanilla cone outside Sweet Tooth back in our hometown.

  I knew right then and there she’d be mine.

  “Whatever. You only love me because I fucked myself on my fingers, and you got to watch when I had no idea.” She smiled against my lips, and I couldn’t help but to grin in return. I was caught.

  “Okay, this time I am guilty,” I said, then roamed my hands down to her ass and squeezed, “but I’d bet you’d like to know that I jacked-off myself watching you. I came all over that mirror when you did. It was the hottest thing I had ever seen.”

  “You’re insatiable,” she giggled, and her hand slid down my torso and then cupped me. “I know a way we can forget about the day.” Quinn kissed the side of my throat. It was impossible to deny her what she wanted. She obviously needed to get lost for a while and have her mind on something else other than Brian.

  “When it comes to you, I’ll always be insatiable.”

  Until the day I die, I’ll want Quinn. I knew after that, when I was long gone and nothing but dust in the wind, my ghost would want her. I’d wait until our next life, where I knew I’d get to love her all over again. A love like ours, it isn’t once in a lifetime for us, it’s through all time, until the end of this universe.

  Chapter Thirty

  Quinn

  Six weeks later

  A lot had happened in the last six weeks since Brian’s death. Sebastian had been able to give the confession of Brian to the police, and today, we were going to court to testify and clear Jaxon’s name. His record would be expunged, even if the memories couldn’t be.

  But all good things come with bad, as if Brian wasn’t enough bad, that night when Brian died, he ended up killing Ingrid and Louis.

  We thought they had slept through the entire ordeal, but when Grayson went to check on Ingrid, they found both of their necks snapped. Their funerals were three weeks ago, and even if Ingrid was so new to us, we missed her lively rough and tough nature of telling it h
ow it was. We missed the smell of her cooking everyone’s favorite cookies, even when she was just cooking for herself.

  Jaxon took Louis’s death the hardest, but we grieved, and we were moving on with our lives. This was the last chapter we had to close, and we’d be free. I didn’t tell Jaxon, but after court, I was going to take him to the tattoo shop and get my name on his chest and his name on mine. Might as well because the man was seared on my soul, and I knew he wasn’t going anywhere.

  “All rise,” the deputy said.

  Everybody stood, and heels and dress shoes clicked along the floor as people got their feet under them. The judge went to his seat, glasses perched at the end of his nose, and his eyes looked up from his bifocals, something Louis used to do. The judge wore a black gown draped over his shoulder, reminding me of graduation, and he had a headful of dyed black hair. I knew it was died because it looked unnatural with his wrinkled skin.

  “You may take your seats,” the judge spoke clearly in the microphone. “We are here to discuss the matters of Jaxon Steel vs. The State of California. Mr. Steel? Please, come to the stand.”

  I squeezed Jaxon’s hand, and he gripped mine in return. He stood, pulled the sleeves of his suit, and strolled forward. Damn, the man rocked a suit. He wore all black with a red tie. I’d never seen him wear a red tie, and he admitted that he only power and attention he wanted was him. He was power, not the color, but he said today was a special day, so he went out and bought a red tie.

  All the women in the room were drooling over him, but I knew he didn’t see any of them, he only saw me.

  “We are here because you said you never killed your sister and we have a confession on tape of the man named Brian Perkins saying he killed her, is that correct?” the judge asked.

  “Yes, your honor,” Jaxon said.

  We had no idea how today would go. Some judges wanted this process to be long, with a new jury and using the same witnesses. Our lawyer had us prepared and I was willing to go on that stand and tell the truth.