Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 123212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Without warning, Nic’s hand curls into a fist and it cracks across Colton’s face. I run out of Kai’s arms, ready to check on him when a low laugh sounds through the silence. Colton rubs a hand over his jaw before spitting a mouthful of blood down onto the concrete. He holds his arms out wide while grinning back at Nic. “Is that all you’ve got, fucker?” And with the speed of light, Colton throws a punch that has Nic falling back a step.
I stare in shock. No one has ever landed a punch on Nic, it’s simply something that I’ve always believed to be impossible and the way that Colton stands before him in victory speaks to the devilish goddess living inside me. I’ve never been so fucking turned on.
Nic runs back at him and just like that, it turns into a fucking brawl. I’ve always known Nic to be larger than life, the toughest guy on earth who could take anyone down with a single blow, but against Colton, it’s a fair fight. He’s holding his own and it’s the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t be surprised if Colton had been trained in martial arts, it seems like the kind of thing that Charles would force him into at a young age.
No matter the reasons for why he knows how to fight, what matters is that he’s taking the upper hand, proving to Nic that he underestimated him.
Not wanting their leader to lose, Kai, Sebastian, and Eli dive for their guns, ready to end this, but I’m not about to let that happen. They’ll never hurt him. A punch-up is like child’s play to them and now that I’ve seen exactly what these guys are capable of, I'm not about to let them get involved.
I turn on the boys, staring each of them in the eyes as I listen to the sound of flesh being pummeled behind me. “You’re going to have to shoot me to get to him,” I warn them, watching the hesitation in each of their eyes and taking note of the way their guns lower away from my chest.
“Come on, O,” Kairo says. “Move out of the way. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
I hold up my bruised wrist and show off my red chest. “You didn’t give a shit about me getting hurt when he dragged me down the fucking stairs, now back the fuck off. If Nic wants to come here and step into Colton’s territory to start shit, then Colton has every fucking right to defend what’s his.”
“You’re not his. You’re one of us.”
“The hell I am,” I insist. “You lost me. All of you did. Now get your fucking leader and get the fuck out of here. I never want to see any of you again.”
Sebastian takes a hesitant step forward. “O.”
“No. Please … just go. All of you. I can’t do this anymore.”
He lets out a breath before finally nodding and cautiously stepping around me. He walks right into the boys’ fight and hooks his arms around Nic, hauling him away from Colton. Nic resists and tries to fight him off but the fight has worn him down. “Let’s go,” Sebastian urges. “She doesn’t want us here.”
“I’m not leaving without her,” Nic spits. “She doesn’t belong here. She belongs with us.”
“I know,” Sebastian says, “but today is not the day. We’ll come and sort it out once you’ve calmed down. She’s never going to come back like this. You know that. We need to earn her trust back.”
“How is that going to happen when she won’t fucking talk to me? To any of us?”
“Time, bro,” Eli says, meeting my eye. “She just needs time.”
I walk over to Colton and look him over before watching as Kai gives Sebastian and Nic a hard shove to get them moving. “This isn’t over,” Nic says, looking back at me and wiping blood off his face while making all sorts of guilt come rushing in and sit heavy in my gut. “I’m going to come back for you. You don’t belong here.”
I shake my head, watching as the hurt seeps into his eyes but surely he must know that he stood no chance after the bullshit on Saturday night and then storming in his like a fucking raging bull and making demands. Hell, my fucking wrist is going to be sore for days. “Just go home, Nic.”
He clenches his jaw and as Colton’s hand slips into mine, he finally turns around and walks away.
Chapter 31
There’s a long beat of silence as we stand out in the night, watching my crew disappear up the long drive before Colton pulls me into his side. “Come on,” he finally says. “Let me get you back inside.”
I keep my eyes on the boys, unable to look away and watch how each one of them glances back to look at me with longing and regret filling their deep gazes. I know they’re all hurting, but surely they can understand how wrong this is. Nic’s behavior … I’ve never seen anything like it from him. He's always been so put together, cool, calm, and collected. This possessive wildness isn’t him. I understand that he has a lot on his plate with becoming the new leader of the Black Widows and trying to fill his father’s shoes but he can’t keep going down this destructive path. He's screaming out for help, but it can’t be from me. He needs to learn how to let go.