“Boss,” Harrison speaks up, cautiously he grabs onto me, stopping me from leaping from the car. He gives me a faint-hearted smile. “Let me and Frazer do our job.”
“Yeah,” Frazer says, leaning over into the front of the car. “Let us make it easy for you to get to Eden. If she’s in there like she said she is, then let us make it, so you don’t get hurt.”
“I can help,” I say, eager to get inside and find out if Eden is inside.
“You can’t if you’re hurt,” Frazer reminds me, reiterating himself. “We’re trained to protect you.”
“And Eden,” Harrison adds, and watch as excitement grows in his eyes. “It’s been a long time since we got to protect you both.”
“Plus, it’s been kinda borin’ around here,” Frazer admits, and I hear the cracking of his knuckles. “I’m ready to have some real fun.”
“Okay,” I start, chortling at the idea. “You’ll give the signal when I can go?”
“Of course,” they both agree.
“Stay out of sight until then,” Harrison says, passing me the keys. “Look after them. I don’t need anythin’ weighin’ me down.” He looks over his shoulder, putting his hand out. “You ready to go do this?”
Frazer slaps his hand against Harrisons. “Never been more ready.” He takes his hand away and goes to his door. “Go save the Queen, Boss,” he quips, issuing a long running joke.
I observe them both, using every ounce of their training from getting out of the car, shutting the doors, and closing the distance between them all. At first, they creep, making it through the long, overgrown grass that smothers the area, and then they start to laugh, walk like normal and make their way toward the warehouse.
From here I have perfect coverage but still, can watch them.
But I do my part as the men guarding the warehouse, square up to my men. I lean over locking the doors from the inside, knowing that’ll be quieter than locking them all together. Slowly, I climb from the car, putting the lock down as I do before pushing it shut.
I duck down, looking through the long strands of grass at the scene before me. For every punch one of Ashley’s men initiate, they get two back from my men. While they manage to lay one out, the fourth is waking back up. I watch him start to get up, his eyes narrow onto Frazer, and I see red as I realize what he’s about to do. I pick up a discarded piece of piping as he goes for a metal rod on the floor. Before it’s even left the ground, I smack the metal pipe against his stomach, winding him enough to drop him to his knees. I bring the pipe down against his back, laying him out flat on the floor. He begs, sniveling against the pain, but I make no kindness for him.
“Lawson!” Harrison calls out. “Leave him!” he orders. “Go to her!” Harrison tells me, slamming the guy’s head into the side of the SUV. “We’ve got it covered, Boss!”
I don’t hesitate, willing my feet to move. I’m scared this will be a lie, and I’ve been played again, but I know that can’t be true. Ashley may play games like this, but Eden never would.
I run inside, retracing steps I wish I never had to. I find the first room empty and rush through to the back room. The one where hell really exists. When I get inside, I notice another SUV, and immediately see the dead body beside it, a pink orchid crushed beside him. Advancing for it, I jolt at a shape in my peripheral.
I find Eden in the corner, slumped and dejected, beaten and worn.
“Eden!” I say, rushing to her side.
Her eyes open, I notice she’s struggling to focus on me, but the second she does, I see complete and utter disbelief wash over her.
“You came,” she whispers, acknowledging I’m there.
“Of course, I did,” I say, slumping beside her.
“But why?” she asks, her brows pulling together in confusion. “I didn’t think you’d care.”
I can hear the emotional pain override the physical one she’s in, and I can barely hold it together. Here is a woman that broke my heart but continued to make me love her. Regardless of what I said and who I told, there was never going to be a love greater than the one I shared with Eden Roberts. No woman would ever eclipse what we have.
Sitting here, having come to her aid, I know that to be true.
I threw caution to the wind with very little information, and I wasn’t wrong to do so. I trusted my gut – and my heart – and I vowed to play the only hero I had faith in – Eden’s black knight.
“I thought I’d never see you again,” she admits, and I watch a tear fall down her face. “I thought I’d die with that conversation being our last.”
“I had to go,” I start, sitting forward, capturing her hand. “I put the phone down because Ashley came out,” I tell her, hoping she’ll see my honesty. “I didn’t want her to know you called me.”
“So, you believed me?” she asks, sounding so lost in the situation.
I start to nod my head, giving way to a sincere smile. “Of course, I did.” I push myself closer to her. “That was always one of my biggest weaknesses …” I start, hoping she’ll hear my joking tone. “I always took everythin’ you said as gospel.” I feel myself at ease as she gives a short giggle, but quickly worry when she winces, curling her arm around her waist. I know there’s time to worry about her injuries, but right now, I need to wait for Harrison and Frazer. So, I need to distract Eden. “Because just like when we killed together, I always knew that you’d never lie to me,” I continue.
“But that night,” she doubts, the credulousness filling her eyes.
“It doesn’t matter,” I tell her, squeezing her hand reassuringly. I take a moment to gain clarity, to let my reality shift and settle onto my shoulders. “You're the devil, I swear," I whisper at her, feeling my morals weakening in her presence. I can't help myself; I can't stop what it is I feel. I tried to keep her at arm’s length, but I never could, and I never wanted to. I let myself get stupidly distracted, forgetting the truth along the way. I lean in, pulling her close to me. "But you’re my devil, Eden Roberts. I'd sin for you a thousand times over."
I see something ignite her in eyes, that devilish look that only I can curse upon her. Even in the situation we are, she comes alive for me.
"Like I would you," she says, sealing the comment with a kiss. It’s weak, but it’s poisonous, and with it, I’m hers, like she’s mine. "I'd do anythin’ for you, Lawson. Go anywhere for you, be anythin’."
"Don't be anyone but you," I tell her, prayin’ she won't. "I couldn't handle you being anyone but you."
I watch something change in her expression as she pulls from my embrace. “You can’t fight her,” she tells me, her lips pulling tightly together. “Not when you’re fallin’ for her.”
“After findin’ out what I just did, I don’t give a fuck about her.” My voice is pure venom, heated and bitter just at the mere thought of Ashley. “She played me, Eden. She played me, and she played me against you.” I reach forward, cupping Eden’s face, forcing her to look at me. “She’ll pay for what she’s done. She’ll pay for every fuckin’ minute of it.”
“She’s dangerous,” Eden starts, and I see the real fear in her eyes. “Please, Lawson, be careful.”
“Hey, hey,” I soothe, trying my hardest to soothe her. “I’m going to be okay. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“You don’t know what she’s capable of,” she tells me, hiccupping on a sob. “You don’t know what she’ll do.”
“And she doesn’t know what I’m capable of,” I reply, a stern tone to my words. “I’m done with being a weak man, Eden. I can’t live like this anymore. I don’t have to live like it now you’re here.”
“I don’t want anything’ to happen to you,” she exhales, and I take in the medley of fear and concern that laces the words. Slowly, her fingers intertwine with mine. “I lost my way, and I lost you and my father,” she says, struggling to be strong for me. “Then we lost Liam.” A tear falls, her grief something she can’t ignore now she lacks the energy to do so. "Nothing's been righ
t," she says looking up at me. Her beautiful blue eyes set upon mine and I weaken. "Everything's been falling apart for so long, Lawson." Her eyes start to close, showing her loosening grip on reality. "Even you fell apart on me," she utters, a voice lost between the tears that are thickening in her throat. "You were the one thing that was never meant to fall apart."
She hangs her head, gentle sobs rock her body, and I can’t stop my heart from breaking at the sight of this woman, my own fallen angel, so broken by love and life. I reach for her, pressing a hand to her bruised cheek as gentle as I can.
“Life got too much for me,” she slowly confesses. “You wanted forever with a girl that was too scared to admit that forever doesn’t exist for people like us.” Her lip trembles and her eyes fill with more unshed tears. “I was wrong,” she acknowledges, pushing her head into my palm. “I was so wrong.”
I watch her eyes drift closed as she struggles to keep her waning emotions at bay, but she’s losing the battle.
“You weren’t wrong,” I correct her, forcing her to open her eyes. “I was just blind.” I watch her watch me – little belief resonates from her. “We can get through this,” I tell her, saying the one thing I truly believe in. “Okay?”
I watch her nod, seeing how tired she’s becoming and I worry about what injuries she’s sustained at the hands of Ashley’s men. I know it’s bad, but until Harrison and Frazer tell me the coast is clear, I’m not risking anyone preventing me getting her help.
"Lawson?" she breathes my name quietly.
"Yeah, Eden?" I say, watching her eyes open again.
"Tell me somethin’ beautiful,” Her voice is swallowed, silenced by the urge to sleep. “Please.”
"One day ... When the time's right ... You and I will get our forever."
"With each other?" she questions, caution laces her worried tone.
I kiss her head, holding her tightly. "Only with each other."
She forces her head up to look at me, a small smile forms on her face, but the magnitude of it warms me.
“It’s all I ever wanted,” she whispers, her voice so small and sincere. “But I thought you’d be better off without me.” Her smile becomes tight as it gives way to tears. “You deserve someone so much more than me.”
“Never think that,” I argue, feeling my chest becoming tight.
“But I’m not perfect,” she says and tears stream down her face. “I can’t be perfect for you. I can’t be what you want anymore. I don’t have it in me.”
“Do you love me?” I ask her, reaching out to wipe her tears away. She nods, gazing at me, waiting. “Then you’re all I want.” I stroke away more tears, before tenderly pushing a matted strand of hair out of her face. “After tonight, I revoke my place in The Firm,” I admit, allowing that admittance to travel boldly. “I can’t be what my father wants any more than you can be what The Firm wants. After tonight, we can run away, get that fresh start. We can have that life we always wanted.”
“Is it that easy?” she asks, her voice becoming quieter.
“Of course, it is,” I tell her, watching her slip away from me.
“Whatever it’s worth,” she says, her breathing shallows as her eyes look at me. “I really did love you.”
Her eyes slip closed and her chest rises and fall slowly, but I know she’s slipping away from me.
“Eden,” I say, grabbing onto her arms and shaking her. “Eden!” Her eyes open and she focuses on me with a heavy gaze. “No sleepin’ okay?”
“No sleepin’,” she agrees, mumbling the words back at me.
“I’m getting’ you out of here,” I comment, standing up, I crouch down, placing my hands behind her back and under her legs, preparing to lift her. She hisses in pain, her arm circling my neck and she rests her head against my chest. I kiss the top of her head and start to move. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
Clapping resounds from behind me, and I stop in the spot I’m on.
“And the star-crossed lovers unite once more. Isn’t that just sweet?”
My heart sinks, but my instinct to protect Eden ignites, forcing me to turn around and face the one person I’ll regret ever allowing into my world.
Ashley.
“You nearly had me fooled,” I admit, walking closer to the pair. “Very nearly had me totally, one-hundred percent fooled, but you know, I’m a woman. I get suspicious. I followed you right away. Nate wasn’t happy about my sudden dabble with grand theft auto.”
I take a slow, thoughtful step forward, feeling my adrenaline filling my body instantly.
“Ashley,” Lawson starts, and while he’s cautious, I can hear a new thread of antagonism in his tone. “Back down.”
“I don’t think so,” I say, reaching behind me to pull the small revolver free of my waistband. He notices it, but he doesn’t waver. “Put her down,” I order, raising the gun from my side. “We have unfinished business.”
The bastard doesn’t respond; he just continues to hold her in his arms, remaining every inch the hero he can be for her.
“There was a time … not that long ago actually … where you declared how you couldn’t be my hero.” I know I sound like some jealous, scorned woman, but this sight before me is leaving a vile taste in my mouth. “Yet … here you are … playing hero.”
Once upon a time, I wouldn’t have been guided by my heart.
Once upon a time, I wouldn’t have been so stupid.
But I am, and I have to admit that even I can’t be bulletproof from every emotion. I realize what I felt for Lawson wasn’t love at first sight, it was lust, but there was something alluring about this gentle killer. Whether it be in his compassion amidst the darkness or his willing at first to resist, I don’t know, but he won me over, and he compelled me.
Unlike any man before him, Lawson Matthews was the crux of my weakness. The element of my deepest fantasies. I think somewhere between Bryce’s admittance to wanting to sell me and Lawson killing him, I blurred the lines of my own rules and those of the man I was about to corrupt.
“You were never able to be my hero,” I say, giving into a moment of weakness, knowing it will fuel me. “And at first, I was okay with it.”
“Why not now?” he asks, unmoved at holding Eden’s weight in his arms. “What changed?”
“She did,” I testify, my eyes narrowing onto my arch-nemesis. “The golden girl. Liam held her against me long before she even stepped back onto the scene. She was always pushing the mark further away for me to reach. No matter what I did or said, it was never good enough.” I reach my boiling point, no longer having to worry about what I lose with the fallout. “You could never be my hero because you never got to finish being hers!”
“Well, at least we understand that now,” he says, brutally honest. “I tried, Ashley. I tried my hardest to forget her and make it all about you.”
“You didn’t try fucking hard enough!” I argue throwing my arms out in the air with total annoyance. “There was a moment that I thought maybe I could give up everything I’m about for you … and then I started to hear her name through the grapevine.” I point at Eden in his arms, watching her gaze back at me defiantly. “She’s the root of all evil.”
“Put me down,” Eden murmurs to Lawson, shaking her head as he looks at her ready to argue. “Just put me down.”
Lawson listens, placing her gently on her feet, his arm remaining linked around her body, keeping her standing. Slowly, as she gains her bearings, she pushes him away, standing on her own, asserting herself.
I narrow my gaze on her, allowing her to attempt to be stronger in the face of this reality. In fact, I want her to be. I want her to face me with contempt, show me that bitchy attitude she bites me with on every single occasion we shared.
“I really pity you,” she starts, her voice small and dry. “Like really pity you.”
“Why?” I ask, cocking a brow. “We’re alike, you and I, Eden. You let love lead you astray and apparently so did I.”
“We’r
e nothin’ alike,” she argues. “I might have gotten led astray, but love never made me crazy.” She scrutinizes me, her eyes dragging up and down my body, taking in every inch of me. “I will never be like you because you’re unravelin’. You’re weak, Ashley, and it took a real man to make you feel real emotions to realize that!”
“Shut up!”
“What was it that got you lyin’ to men to take their money?” she continues, assaulting me with questions. “Morbid fascination or you just like how killin’ men feels? Does it make you feel powerful to emasculate them?” she asks and laughs. “God, how I used to love emasculatin’ some of them,” she admits, reveling in the nostalgia. “But what was it for you, Ashley?” she asks taking a step forward. “Because personally, I think it’s the greed of it all. You liked the money too much.”
“Shut up!”
“And that’s why I pity you,” she continues, fearless as she steps closer. “Girls like you come from broken pasts and require male validation. You live for it, but apparently, one man’s validation isn’t enough for you. So, you used the ruse of that contract to give yourself a little game.” She stops, issuing me with a sympathetic look. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
I remain still. I keep my lips pursed, staying silent.
“And out of those men whose beds you shared and who’s money paid for your little pets, how many of them actually raped you like you said?” she asks, stepping ever closer. “I’ll tell you how many I think raped you … ZERO!”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” My outburst even scares me, louder and fiercer than I could ever imagine.
That’s the God’s honest truth. She’s talking like she knows me and my story, but she doesn’t. The contract was a good coverup, and I did get greedy, but after having an abusive father, I believed that no man should ever get to feel superior to me again.
Playing the girl in the contract was the best part I ever got to play in life. I got to combine reality and fantasy. My black past got to merge with a bright future. I just never imagined anything outside of that deception.
“We could’ve helped you,” Eden suddenly says, breaking me away from my reverie. “We could’ve ended this cycle. We would’ve helped you.”
Sweet Venom (Crazy in Love #1) Page 43
