Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 128980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
“Please,” he sobs, drool and snot dribbling down his chin pathetically. He’s sniffing constantly, his eye puffing up and his nose displaying hints of red around his nostrils. I know the deal. I bet he feels invincible when he’s loaded up to his eyeballs on coke. Not so invincible now.
I blink. I shouldn’t have, because my fleeting darkness gives me a swift replay of his hand connecting with Camille’s cheek. Rage consumes me. I’ve killed many men. I’ve done what’s needed to be done. I was detached, hidden far away out of sight and feared by thousands. I was the sniper. I was the unknown. I was calm, cool, and collected. Dangerous for all of the right reasons.
That all changed when she fucked me over.
I made sure everyone in my path saw the hatred in me. It didn’t matter that my vengeance was misdirected. Raining holy hell on the enemy felt like my only available outlet. I needed an outlet for the anger and hurt. The hurt she’d caused me.
So I took myself out of the concealed darkness on the edge of the danger zone and put myself in the field. That day, I looked into the eyes of a man and saw fear before I killed him. I didn’t care. I became reckless. Stupid. I was so stupid. My selfish need to lash out resulted in the deaths of two of my own men. Two faces that’ll haunt me forever. Two men who left behind wives and children. Two good men. I wasn’t a good man. It should have been me. Self-loathing and guilt—it’s plagued me. Has done so ever since.
That’s not going to be an issue today. My meltdown back then was because a woman fucked with my head. I can feel a similar rage rising in me now, except I’m perfectly lucid with it. I know exactly what I’m doing.
I holster my gun and release Sebastian’s neck, and with one more crushing kidney punch, he crumples to the ground like a sack of shit, whining and whimpering on his way.
“You’re not going to be working for a very long time, pretty boy.” My foot comes out and delivers a precise kick to his ribs.
Holding back from killing the fucker is the hardest challenge I’ve faced.
Chapter 14
CAMI
I’ve never seen violence so raw and damaging. And yet something deep and scary inside me knows he’s holding back. He could finish this in a second. He’s making Sebastian suffer. The power of his fist is clarified with each ear-piercing crack.
Time stops, the sounds blurring into nothing. If it wasn’t for the furious burn of my cheek and pounding of my head, I would think I was dead. I feel dead. Defeated. Shocked and weak.
Sebastian appeared from one of the cubicles as if from nowhere. Just one refusal to entertain his pleas for a second chance made him flip. Just one attempt to push past his threatening stance spiked the flash of anger in his eyes that I’ve seen before when he’s been high. But his violence pales in comparison to what I’m seeing now.
I really do believe that Jake Sharp could kill any man with his bare hands. The precision of each hit, the punishing blows.
“Jake.” I push his name past my thick tongue and watch as he releases Seb and lets him crumple to the ground as he searches me out, as if he’s just realized I’m here. When he lays his eyes on me, he straightens to his full height, seeming taller than ever before, and gives me a stare full of resolve.
Then he stalks forward, bending when he reaches me, and lifts me into his arms silently. He pulls me into his chest and looks down at me, his dark eyes glazed and haunted.
The lump that’s settled in my throat expands and bursts, because through my shell shock, I manage to conclude that what’s just happened wasn’t only Jake doing his job.
His nostrils flare before he centers his attention forward and stalks out of the club with me cradled in his arms. The music is still loud, but I can see people whispering to each other as I’m carried through the crowd, Jake’s grip becoming firmer with every stride he takes. My eyes are heavy, and my heart is full of hope.
Hope that I never encounter Sebastian Peters again. And hope that Jake Sharp stays with me forever to ensure it. To protect me from him. From everything.
* * *
The bright lights of my foyer make me squint, the harsh glare too much for my tired vision to tolerate. My body is rising and falling in flow with Jake’s long paces, and my arms are back around his neck. There are many thoughts tangling my mind right now, but the loudest one is telling me to hold on tighter. To never let him go. I’ve had a lot to drink, but the delivery of a stinger of a whack and a crack to my cheekbone from my fall have done a great job of sobering me up. I’m tired but with it, foggy but clear.