by C. M. Owens
Wish I had that gun. Maybe I’d get lucky. What’d I do with it?
Then again… Even though I hate him, I’m not sure I could actually shoot him. I remember a time when he seemed somewhat nice. Back before he was a using bastard with my father and a criminal mastermind who killed him.
He looks around warily, as though he’s investigating. Pulling out my phone now to call Drex would just be suspicious.
He’s wearing a blue shirt, so that accounts for the flash of blue I saw earlier. Surely Drex has seen him by now and is on his way.
“What sort of trouble?” he asks me, not bothering to answer my question.
“It’s too crazy. You’d never believe it,” I tell him, smiling tightly.
My eyes shift to the counter beside us… where Drex’s gun is… Ah shit. That’s where I left it. When my gaze shifts back, Uncle Marshall is giving me a dark smirk.
“You’re a terrible actress, Eve. Really.”
A tense knot forms in my stomach as everything plays out in slow motion. My heartbeat slams like a warning drum in my ears, steadily growing louder as my eyes widen and I dive, acting on instinct alone. A scream pierces the air and it takes me a second to realize it’s from me as a sharp pain spreads through my scalp.
The bastard is pulling me back by my hair, and I feel a sense of weightlessness when he uses his hold on my hair to throw me across the room. A grunt leaves me, stealing my breath, when I hit the ground hard enough for searing hot pain to shoot through my spine and tingle against my toes as I slide on my back. My head thuds against the floor, and my vision dims only for a second before sharpening once again. I stare helplessly as Uncle Marshall casually picks the gun up and examines it like he finds it fascinating.
“All my planning and then you come along,” he says on a sigh. “One crazy coincidence that fucked it all up. Fucking Ben. He couldn’t help himself. Had to have you. I used that.” He looks up at me, toying with the gun as he slowly takes a step toward me. “Backfired when you started letting Herrin’s son fuck you like his whore.”
I don’t move, trying not to spook him. Where the hell is Drex?
“I actually thought you were setting a trap for me with this charade,” he goes on, squatting down just a few feet away from me with the gun casually resting in his hand, pointing it at the ground instead of me. “But then saw Drex all over some girl downtown and realized this was real. He honestly doesn’t give a fuck about you, and I was stupid enough to think he did. No, not stupid. Paranoid. Because of you, this entire fucking thing has gone to hell. Because of you, a beautiful plan has gone to shit. Ben is running, knowing his father is going to slit his throat. Half the men we’d assembled have scattered. The others are dead, thanks to your sweet ex. Damn pussy. All the best laid plans are fucked by pussy.”
My stomach drops as my mind tries to process what he said about Drex and some girl, even though it’s the last thing I should be thinking about right now. Everything boils over until it hits a peak near eruption, and I swallow as he continues to talk, giving that evil monologue I once waited for Ben to do.
My ears hum with a steadily growing white noise, and something inside of me snaps. With one hard push, I’ve launched myself at him, catching him off guard, and I land on top of him as the gun skitters across the floor.
Screaming. I’m screaming again as my fists collide with his face over and over while I straddle him, but it’s not enough. Shoving me off him, his hand connects with my face in a slap so hard I taste blood and hear a ringing almost simultaneously as my head snaps to the side.
When I look back over, he’s standing over me with a gun, but my lips twitch when I see a second gun being put against the back of my uncle’s head.
“I strongly suggest you lower that gun before this gets ugly,” a familiar voice says from the right, and my uncle’s eyes go wide as he glances in the direction where Axle is lounging on my living room sofa across from us. It’s hard to see him from this angle, since I’m still in the dining room, but there’s no mistake about who is right behind him.
My uncle slowly holds his gun out while swallowing hard, and he drops the weapon that clanks against the tile as Drex steps out from behind him and stares at me, putting about three feet of distance between my uncle and himself, but never lowering his gun.
“Your call, Eve. Still want me to do this?” Drex asks as I stand up on unsteady legs.
My breath shakes in my lungs like the oxygen is laced with thousands of tiny air bubbles. My eyes move from the cool blue ones to my uncle’s, and I see the terror in there because he knows Drex will kill him. He knows it’s over.
“Should have went with your first instinct about the trap,” I manage to say despite the tremor in my voice.
The surprise and horror on his face stirs a sense of pride inside me. I hope Dad can see this right now.
“I bet my father was terrified when you threatened us,” I whisper hoarsely, watching his eyes widen as though he’s shocked. Just the look I see in his eyes lets me know it’s true. He did kill him. “I bet he begged you not to hurt us… Not to make him kill himself. I bet it broke his heart to know how sick his brother was.”
His lips thin as he glares at me, and it’s all the confirmation I need. I don’t need closure; no answers will ever be good enough; and I don’t care what he has to say.
“Yeah,” I say, looking back at Drex just as my uncle yells something, but it’s muted as something quiet zips through the air, causing his words to cease immediately.
I hold Drex’s gaze, never looking away, and he never looks away from me either as the telltale sound of a heavy thump hits the ground, rattling the cabinets just a little. My eyes stay fixed on Drex and the small drop of blood that has landed on his neck.
It’s not as messy as I expected, then again, my eyes haven’t fallen to the floor, and I never actually saw the bullet enter. Axle walks in to join us, and Drex hands him the gun, never moving his eyes away from mine.
“Get rid of that and the body,” Drex tells him, before wiping the blood away from his neck.
“No problem. Probably should have asked him a few questions before killing him though.”
Drex takes a step closer, watching me like I’m a caged animal that will strike at any moment.
“Marshall wasn’t my call. He was Eve’s,” he says as though it explains everything.
Wordlessly, I walk out of the house, sucking in a deep breath. My father’s executioner was his own brother. His executioner was his niece, completing a vicious circle.
He just died at my request, and I feel like justice has been served.
No guilt.
No pain.
Revenge feels better than people want you to think. It doesn’t feel hollow anymore.
Drex comes out, still warily gauging me.
“Take me home,” is all I say.
Chapter 44
EVE
The second I’m off the bike, I turn to face him, not giving a damn about the five other men in the garage.
“What took so long?” I ask him, trying and failing to forget what my asshole uncle said before Drex got there.
“Didn’t want to spook him. He went in through a bedroom window after cutting the power to the alarm system like a fucking pro. Wasn’t expecting that, and didn’t want him to hear our bikes, so we ditched them early and ran half the way.”
Fuck it.
“There’d better not be any truth to what he was saying about you hooking up with another girl.”
I don’t even care how crazy I sound right now, but the five other men disappear quickly after hearing that.
His eyebrows go up, and his lips twitch like he’s amused. This is not the time to be amused. This is the time to be explaining.
“So she was right,” he says, grinning openly now.
“Drex, this is seriously not the best time to smile.”
He clears his throat as he stands. “You’re hot when you’re jealous.”
“You’
re seconds away from an introduction between my knee and your balls.”
His throaty chuckle only grates on my nerves as he moves closer, tipping my chin up with his fingers so that I have to stare up into his eyes that are dancing with humor.
“To speed things along, I allowed myself to be seen at the club and the usual spots this past week. It’s also proving a point that I’m not scared of Pop, while selling the breakup. Anyway, I went to the strip club—”
He stops when I tense and take a step back. The amusement leaves his eyes when I start to turn away, but he grabs me at the waist, holding my back to his front even as I try to jerk away.
That’s it. I’m taking karate. I’m sick of being so much weaker.
“And saw Sarah,” he goes on, acting as though that should explain things. “She walked right up, dropped into my lap, and made out with my neck, all while explaining that one of Marshall’s spies was watching and to sell it. Well, she actually fucking blew raspberries on my neck, but the music covered the sound. Imagine keeping a straight face with that shit going on. I grabbed her ass a little, and she pretended to be grinding on me, but she wasn’t. Her crotch never touched mine. She was stripper at one point; she knows how to sell sex even if it’s not going on. I went along with it, because you trust her. Turns out she was right if Marshall brought it up and showed up the very next day.”
I go still in his arms, and try to play his words over in my head. He leans over me, nuzzling my cheek with his while keeping my back pressed against his front. “Don’t start doubting me now, Eve. I’ve spent five days going out of my head. I didn’t fuck some girl or even think about fucking some girl during this week. I just wanted this over and wanted you back. I didn’t fuck anyone while we were actually broken up. Didn’t want anyone but you, even though I couldn’t have you.”
I relax against him, and he kisses the side of my neck, smiling against my skin.
“You’re sexy when you’re pissed, but I sure as hell don’t want you pissed about this.”
Snake stalks out, interrupting whatever I might have said, and Axle runs in behind him with Dash on his heels.
“Shit. What’s happened now?” Drex asks while releasing me and moving toward them.”
Snake glares at Drex before walking straight toward him with long, determined strides, and I let out an embarrassing squeal when his fist collides with Drex’s jaw hard enough for it to jerk his head to the right.
“Fuck!” Drex roars, grabbing his jaw while looking at the very furious man in front of us. “What the hell, Snake?”
Snake looks like a model playing a bad boy part, but he’s not playing. He’s just GQ sexy with ink, and it makes you forget he’s also lethal.
“If it was you, Drex, how would you fucking feel?” Snake barks.
Drex’s gaze goes from confused to understanding in a second as his eyes flick to me then back to Snake. He straightens, and Snake steps back, preparing for a fight.
“I’d feel like I deserved two free shots,” Drex sighs. “For the record, it was just a show. I never actually—”
His words end on a heavy grunt as he spins and stumbles, reacting to the second shot Snake just delivered. Snake shakes out his hand like it’s throbbing, and he turns and walks away. He pauses and turns back when he reaches the door.
“She doesn’t get near us again, or I’m fucking gone. No one here fucking touches her, or I’m gone and they’re dead. Got it?”
Drex nods, not arguing for once. Then again, Snake just did what I wanted to do a few minutes ago.
He turns and walks toward the door again, flipping Dash off as he passes.
“And stop calling me Snake. Always hated that fucking name,” he calls over his shoulder as he disappears through the doorway.
Axle and Dash stand there awkwardly staring, but Dash looks like a child trying not to laugh at a friend who just scolded by a teacher or something. Drex scowls at Axle while wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Could have warned me that shit was coming.”
“He’s a fast fucker,” Axle says unapologetically, his lips twitching.
All of his scars on his face once scared me, but now I’ve gotten used to them. He doesn’t intimidate me anymore. Well, not so long as he doesn’t want to kill me, that is.
“So we have to call him Jude now?” Dash asks, still fighting a smile. “That just sounds weird.”
Drex wipes his mouth again. “Pop started calling him Snake because of all his ink. I never knew he didn’t like it. Fuck, my jaw hurts. Bastard hit the same spot twice.”
“Shouldn’t have given him a second free shot,” Dash points out, keeping a straight face even as his eyes dance with amusement.
“At least he’s not silently brooding now. But we should keep an eye on him. It’s not like him to take swings. He’s usually the peacekeeper,” Axle says before ducking out.
Drex turns back to me and tugs me to him, inspecting my face like I was the one who just got hit. His jaw is red and swelling, but I wince when he touches a place on my cheek.
“Looks like we both need some ice,” he grumbles. “Wish I’d shot that fucker more than once now.”
Obviously he’s talking about my uncle.
His eyes meet mine, and he sighs as though he’s exhausted. I think we both are.
“Back to the conversation that was interrupted… I’d never fuck around on you, Eve. I love you too.”
I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear those words until this moment, but he almost loses his balance when I launch myself in his arms. He gives me an amused groan when I start kissing his neck, and he lifts me until my legs wrap around his waist.
“Guess I should have led with that, huh?” he asks dryly, but I can feel his smile before I press my lips to his.
His smile dies, and his grip on me tightens as he starts walking out, holding me to him like he can’t bring me close enough. I really have changed.
Today I requested the death of my uncle—my father’s killer. My boyfriend carried out the death sentence as a gift to me. Now I’m kissing him like I can’t get enough because he just told me he loves me.
I’m so fucked up, but I don’t care.
Whistles ring out as well as cheers, but Drex keeps walking and devouring me as he carries me up the stairs. People look out for me now instead of taunting me. They treat me like one of them. Times have changed drastically in a short period.
My back hits the door briefly before it swings open, and Drex growls in my mouth when I shift and press even closer.
The second I hear the door shut, Drex tosses me to the bed, stealing my breath, and he rips his shirt over his head.
Right… He’s in a hurry. It has been five days.
Deciding to get on board, I pull my shirt over my head, but whimper when I remember the back of my head is sensitive. Damn hair-pulling bastard.
“You okay?” Drex asks, immediately looking me over with concerned eyes.
“Am I missing chunks of hair back there?” I ask him, watching as his eyes glaze over with anger.
Please say no. Please say no.
“No,” he says moving my face in his hand, examining the rest of me as he puts a pin in the getting naked thing I was looking forward to.
Reaching up, I clutch his wrists with my hands, and gently force his hands away as his eyes drop to mine.
“I’m fine, Drex. I just really want you touching me in a way that doesn’t feel like a doctor’s exam.”
His hands drop to his jeans, and he resumes the getting naked process by standing up and dropping the jeans to the floor. I stand up and push my shorts and shoes away, then drop my bra and panties.
When I look back, Drex’s eyes are on me as he sits down on the edge of the bed and reaches for me. Slowly, I step into his arms, and he rakes his eyes over my body, taking in every inch before his hands move to my waist and yank me down on his lap.
Twisting, I adjust my legs to be straddling him, and he grips my hips, sl
owly lowering me onto him. My head falls back as I sink onto him, letting him stretch me as he pushes inside. I’m just ready enough that he’s able to fully settle inside me, and we both moan as he pulls me closer and crushes his lips against mine.
I rock against him, moaning into his mouth as he lifts me and slams me down again. Rubbing myself against him, I set a rhythm, holding onto his shoulders as Drex breaks the kiss, and his lips drop to my neck to devour me in a new way.
Sweat gathers on our bodies as I continue rocking and he continues leaving possible fingerprint bruises on one hip. I’ll never get enough.
“I love you.” I moan the words, and he hauls me even closer, until our bodies are so close together that I can barely move and he kisses my shoulder. It makes it that much more intense when my orgasm hits like hot tidal waves rolling through me, exploding against every nerve-ending.
I cry out his name, and he bites down on my shoulder, muffling his sound as he finds his own release, spilling inside me as we both pant for breath. My head drops down as I gasp for air, and Drex kisses the side of my neck softer as his hot breath fans against the skin.
He shudders as he leans back, and he drops to lie back on the bed with me still on top of him, causing me to giggle when he groans.
“It’s like I can’t get enough,” he says on an exhausted breath.
“It’s a healthy addiction,” I assure him, keeping a straight face.
A ghost of a smile plays on his lips, and he brushes his thumb across my cheek.
“It’s not over.”
My own smile falls. “I know.”
“It’s pretty fucking dangerous,” he goes on.
“I’m aware.”
“And this is still where you want to be?”
I nod, and he sighs heavily while flipping us so that I’m under him and he’s staring down at me.
“Then we really need to teach you how to shoot a damn gun.”
I helpfully add, “And how to fight.”
Epilogue
DREX
ONE MONTH LATER
