I’ve never smelled charred, burning flesh before, but I never want to either. Valerie’s hair catches on fire and I see her skin begin to melt off and she’s still grinning, even though the pain must be unbearable. But she’s watching Wilson Cobb’s expensive suit go up in flames just like she is and I guess that’s as good of a way to go to hell as any, with him right in tow.
I’ve had a hundred victories, but I could never match up to Valerie Hanson. She has way more fucking guts than I ever did.
Twenty-Two
Adrienne
I can’t look away. The fire takes over my vision, and I can feel the heat of it, hear the screams, smell the burning flesh in the air. I fumble, stumbling backwards as I try to get away or get closer to help my mother, I don’t even know.
My gaze is glued to them. I can’t stop watching. It’s a nightmare come to life.
“Come on, Adrienne,” a voice keeps calling out to me, and I feel someone tugging on my arm, hard. “Come on, we have to go! We have to go right now.”
I look over to the source of the sound in a daze, vaguely realizing Hannah is standing next to me. She’s pulling on the sleeve of my dress so hard the material starts to rip, her desperate eyes connecting with mine.
“Please, just listen to me,” she snaps at me. “We need to get you out of here right now!”
I let her pull me away at that point, stumbling behind her in my too-high heels. I follow her out of the hall through the side-entrance, my knees nearly giving out when I walk inside the building. I want to look back.
But every time I attempt to turn around, Hannah pulls me harder, not letting me rethink my actions. It’s not until we’re in the salon that I realize what she’s trying to do.
This is the chance I’d get to leave. My only chance of getting away.
I assumed there would be a price to pay for my freedom.
I just didn’t know my mother’s life would have to be it.
She pushes back the carpet. I don’t realize I’m sobbing loudly until she opens the trap door, and I only realize I’m calling out Memphis’ name when Hannah furrows her brows at me.
“Don’t worry, Adrienne,” she tells me. “He’ll come. Now get away. You need to be fast.”
“I need Memphis,” I say. “He needs to come with me.”
Hannah lets out a frustrated sigh just as I see Sage enter with Memphis close behind him. I shriek in a mix of horror and relief. They must have followed us out.
Sage approaches us in long steps and I step in front of Hannah. I still haven’t figured out whose side this man is on, but I know I can’t let him hurt Hannah if my instincts are wrong about him. I won’t let anyone suffer for me anymore.
“Adrienne…” Memphis comes to me, his gaze pained as it connects with mine.
He embraces me. The house is in complete chaos, the smell of fire and the sound of sires approaching in the air.
“You need to go,” Hannah tells us urgently, pointing at the trap door. “You need to leave, right now.”
Memphis half-carries me towards the door in the floor when Sage steps in his way.
“Don’t fucking do this,” he tells Memphis, and I clutch him tighter to my chest.
He can’t take my Angel away from me now.
“Step the fuck aside, Sage,” Memphis tells him in a crisp voice.
It’s the first time I don’t hear him mocking Sage for his name. The two men are glaring at each other having a silent standoff. The house is erupting in screams, heavy smoke billowing from outside into the house.
Finally, Sage curses out loud, but steps aside nonetheless. He moves out of our way, and Memphis tries pulling me after him, but my legs just won’t cooperate with these stupid shoes Wilson made me wear. In the end, he throws me over his shoulder, my body feeling light and frail against his muscular build.
He carries me down the trapdoor, into the darkness below. The last thing I see are Sage and Hannah’s faces etched with worry as we descend into the underground.
“Adrienne. Adrienne, please.”
The voice keeps talking to me, gently at times, and harsher, rougher at others. I don’t know how to respond. It seems as if I’ve forgotten how to talk and interact with another human being. My mind is consumed with the sight of seeing my mother and her new husband bursting into flames.
I look up, my eyes empty as they connect with a familiar stormy grey pair.
Memphis.
It’s Memphis.
You love him. He’s here to help you. You can break down later.
It’s dark where we are, dark and damp as hell. I hear water running, and the smells are assaulting my nose.
“Where are we?” I stumble over the words, looking around and feeling disoriented.
“We’re under the sewers of the house,” Memphis tells me, stroking my hair. “We’re going to be out in a minute. I don’t know where to go from here, sugar. You’re gonna need to help me. Do you know where we could go? Where we’ll be safe for a few nights.”
I exhale, exhausted. I rack my brain for anything that might help us with this situation. Suddenly, I know exactly where we could go.
I recite the address to Memphis and he nods when I explain where it’s located. Out summer cottage. The one place I remember where we were always happy with my family. He helps me along the dark sewers. We need to get out of here, and fast, before Cobb’s men realize what happened to us.
I follow Memphis, my once pretty dress turning into tatters as we make our way to our destination.
Finally, we come to a small iron ladder leading upwards, and he climbs behind me as we make our way up. My whole body aches and burns as we emerge in the real world, covered in sweat and grime.
We come out on a relatively empty street. Memphis grins at me, nodding and letting me know we’re in the right location. I’m glad we’re out, but we’re still too close to Wilson’s mansion, closer than I would’ve liked.
Memphis pulls me behind him and I follow. I think I’m still in a state of shock, unable to completely comprehend what just happened back at the house. It all took place so fast, it barely sank in.
But one thing is for sure – my mother is gone.
She didn’t even scream as she burned.
In fact, a blissful smile was on her face as she stared at her new husband, knowing she’d take him down with her. We hitchhike and some guy takes us on in the back of his truck. The wind whips at my hair and it feels good. Every mile away from Wilson’s mansion finds me breathing easier.
“We’re almost there,” Memphis tells me as we get off the truck and he bangs on the side of it, telling the guy to go.
He pulls me closer and presses a tender kiss to my hair.
“You’re sure this is a safe place?”
I nod.
“It’s our summer cottage. I don’t think Wilson knows about it.”
Not that it matters, I add in my head.
He has to be dead. He has to.
Memphis nods, and seeing me stumble in those ridiculous heels, he bends down and gently takes them off my feet. He moves to carry me again but I bat him away. I can walk on my own damn feet. I’m the last member of my family and I’ve got all of them to make proud. There’s been enough weakness to last me a lifetime.
My eyes lock on Memphis’ face as he takes my hand, traveling from his strong chin to those full lips, and his troubled eyes.
I realize he’s all I have left now.
My family has been effectively wiped out. It’s just him and me now and we’re going to make it through this.
We have to.
Twenty-Three
Memphis
“Is it around here?” I ask her, and she barely meets my gaze. “Sugar. I know you don’t want to do this, but we need to get to shelter before night falls.”
She nods and points to the left of the field we’re currently trudging through. We’re both exhausted and I get it. I don’t want to do this any more than she does. It’s almost like we keep leaning
one each other in a way. I’ve never really had that.
We got dropped off about a mile away from where Adrienne wanted to come. I had to follow her lead on this one because I sure as hell don’t have anywhere to go. We’re looking for the house and night’s falling fast.
I put my arm around her and she slumps against me slightly. My strong little thing. I can’t imagine what she must be going through right now. I don’t think I would still be walking, were I in her place.
Losing your parents is one thing, and watching them die is fucking horrific. But losing a parent the way Adrienne lost Valerie today? Fucking brutal.
I’ve done a lot of unforgivable things in my life, gruesome things, and I don’t think any of my accomplishments come close to what she witnessed and lived through.
I don’t know what to tell her at this point to make it better. So we keep walking and I keep her close, making sure that she’s still moving. Finally, we find the right place.
The house is cute. Small, no more than a couple of rooms, nestled in a small glen. You wouldn’t know it was there unless you’d been there before. It’s off the main roads and perfect for what we need – a bit of privacy, and hopefully a bit of safety.
Not that I imagine dead men could come after us. And I doubt Wilson Cobb is in any fucking state to chase anyone anywhere, aside from maybe through their nightmares. No, I’m certain he has to be dead.
After Valerie’s sacrifice, no just God could have allowed that fucker to live.
The last I saw, his entire left side had been engulfed in flames and he was screaming as the flames licked at his ears and hair, singing eyebrows and burning flesh. I almost wished I’d staid to watch, but being out of there with Adrienne is worth that particular show. I’m only sad I wasn’t the one to do it, that it had to be Valerie.
Had I killed him years ago, had I figured it all out, none of this would have happened. So many lives spared.
But I can’t change the past.
Adrienne finds the key to the house and we get in. I find the electric box and switch on the lights and put the kettle on to make some hot water. There’s not much in the cupboards aside from tea and some sundried, but they’ll do. At least we’re safe.
“Sugar?”
She looks up at me, sitting in the living room with her face having been hidden in her hands. I hadn’t seen it in the darkness, but her makeup is smeared across her face and her cheeks are red, eyes puffy from tears she must have been crying since we got out of the mansion. I set the mugs of tea down and go to sit next to her, scooping her into my arms.
I’m still in the ridiculous fucking suit. I wince when she lurches against me, pressing against my wounds, but I don’t budge and I don’t let her move either. So I hold her there.
“It’s going to be alright,” I promise her, and the words feel hollow.
After what she’s been through, I don’t think there are words left in the world that would convince her that things are going to be better. Though you can rationally imagine it somewhere in the far future, I don’t think a person in that state, after that kind of trauma, can actually imagine there being a silver lining to anything.
Though Wilson Cobb being dead is a pretty big fucking silver lining, I gotta be honest.
“She was so brave,” Adrienne says finally, and I nod quietly, letting her gather herself. “I can’t believe she did that… I didn’t have any idea she was planning anything like it. The dress designer was an old friend of hers, I know that much, and I guess she must have helped hide something in the dress? But I didn’t even smell anything…”
She’s rationalizing, looking for the sense behind it all. That’s good, at least she’s processing it.
“Some sort of accelerator and a small fuse or trigger… Sage said he saw her pull something before the… well, before it happened,” I mutter, wishing I’d shut up.
She nods blankly.
We sit there in silence for a while, Adrienne tucked under my arm, her legs across my lap. The tea sits forgotten on the table. Neither one of us feels particularly thirsty. I brush my hand through her hair, slightly tangled as it is from running, crawling, escaping. She’s still as beautiful as the first time I saw her. More, actually, because now I know how brave she is. What a fighter she is.
Just like her mother.
I kiss the top of her head.
“I’ll never let anything happen to you, Adrienne,” I tell her, and I mean every syllable.
I can’t imagine a life without her, a world in which she doesn’t exist. Fate has tried to tear her from me one too many times and though I haven’t known her for that long, I know that I love her. I know that we’re meant to be. I know that she’s the one and this is it for me, this is the endgame.
I never expected to turn into such a sap, but I guess love can do weird things to a man.
“I know,” she says, looking up at me and smiling. “And I’ll do whatever I can for you, Angel. I love you.”
“I love you too,” I utter, and never have those words been more true than when we speak them.
There I go again. Shakespeare would be fucking blushing about the kind of shit I’m thinking, but I can’t help it. I’m filled with so much emotion that it wants to burst at the seams, and my wounds aren’t exactly healed. It’s damn near dangerous for me.
I tip her chin upwards a little so she would meet my gaze. There are still tears swimming there, but it doesn’t make her any less attractive to me. I lean in gently and kiss her, pecking her on the lips, but she deepens it slowly. There’s no overt lust there, just pure, honest affection and love. It feels good.
Better than it ever has.
This is it, I think. This is the way it was supposed to end.
But I should have known that we’ve been too lucky and the devil won’t stay in his grave for too long.
Twenty-Four
Adrienne
That night, we fall asleep in each other’s arms. I relish the feeling on Memphis’ body against my, molding my curves into his embrace as we fall asleep for the night. I’m convinced I’ll be plagued by nightmares and unable to catch a wink of sleep, but I end up falling into a deep, dreamless slumber, for which I am immensely grateful.
I’m woken up in the middle of the night, getting up in the bed like an animal that senses danger. My heart is pounding, and I wasn’t even having a bad dream… There’s just a feeling that something’s off making me want to get away from here, and fast.
Memphis pulls me closer sleepily, and I try to get lost in his arms another time, but I can’t quite do it. Something’s wrong here. Something bad is going to happen.
“Come back here, sugar,” Memphis grunts at me, but I shrug his arms off. “What’s wrong?”
The instant he realizes something’s really off, he gets up as well, stroking my back in long, calming motions.
“What’s wrong?” he repeats the question, and I furrow my brows, trying to come up with an answer. “Are you okay, Adrienne?”
“Something’s off,” I tell him hushed tones. “I feel like something bad is about to happen… Just a feeling. Can we go check downstairs to make sure everything’s alright?”
I turn towards him and he nods, getting out of the bed.
“Do you want to wait here?” he asks me, his worried eyes drinking in my concerned expression. “Or would you rather wait here?”
“I’m not sure.”
I twist my hands nervously in my lap. Memphis makes a move to get away, when suddenly, the door leading up to the bedroom flies off the hinges. I scream, a loud piercing voice breaking up the silence of the night.
Several men file into the room, wearing black uniforms I’m horribly familiar with. Memphis moves towards me immediately, but he’s too slow. In the next second, two men grab me by my shoulders and hold me in a vice-like grip. I whimper, unable to break free.
Memphis growls at them, his eyes trying to find mine. But I’m already retreating into the back of my mind, to my safe place where eve
rything is still alright.
“Well, well, well.”
The voice from every single one of my nightmares interrupts my thoughts and my whole body shivers. Slowly, someone makes their way into the room with the help of another guard. My pupils dilate and my blood pumps with adrenaline. I try to break free of the guards’ grasp, but they’re holding onto me too strong, and there’s nothing I can do. Memphis makes a move towards me, but another guard points a gun at his temple, and he stays in place, glaring at the men surrounding us.
A presence enters the room, immediately filling me with dread and fear.
Wilson Cobb.
Still alive, even after my mother sacrificed her own life to take him down.
He looks horrible. Like something from a nightmare. Supported by a guard, he hobbles into the room and I almost avert my eyes, I’m that scared of seeing his horribly disfigured face. Or what is left of it, anyway.
Wilson Cobb is no longer the devilishly handsome man he once was. One side of his face is ruined completely, reminding me of a trademark villain. His skin is peeling back horribly, and it’s probably my imagination, but it almost feels like I can still smell his charred flesh in the air.
His eyeball is naked in its socket, his face melted and horribly disfigured. I cannot even imagine how much pain the man is in. Fueled by hatred, he must’ve skipped the recovery period just to get back on Memphis’ and my trail.
And now he has us cornered… And the real fight is going to go down.
Cobb hobbles into the center of the room, swatting off the guard helping him with annoyance. He glares right at me, ignoring Memphis completely. He comes up to me and I whimper helplessly as he gets closer. I try to look away, but his burned hand forces my chin upwards, making me look at him.
“Look at what she did to me!” he snarls at me. “Look at what your mother made me become, sweet thing.”
I can’t look away. I want to, because if I don’t, I’ll have nightmares for the rest of my life. But I can’t tear my eyes away from his face. The scent of his still-cooling face invades my nostrils and I feel bile rising in my throat. I feel like I’m going to be violently sick, but I also know Cobb’s only going to punish me for it, so I try to keep it down.
Savage: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance Page 14
