by Lucy Smoke
very beginning, but I didn't know you were this stupid."
"You think you know everything?" she says quickly, squeezing the words
out as if she has something to offer me that might stop me from what I'm
about to do to her.
"I know enough." I rear back and pound my other fist into her face. Her
nose folds under my knuckles—the sharp crunching sounding like a melody
to my ears. She cries out as blood flies. Her nails scratch along my arm as she
fights to get away. I punch her again and watch as the back of her head slams
into the wall. I can practically see the dizziness assailing her. It doesn't
matter. She's going to pay for what she did. For every fucking thing.
Even if she didn't shove Roger's dick inside of me. Even if she didn't put
my finger on the trigger. Even if she didn't make me set fire to my own
mother. She was the catalyst. She planned it all—and yes, though she is
working for someone else, even though she's just a puppet, her betrayal hurts
on some level.
It's my fault for opening myself up—even the small amount that I had—
to her. I've learned my lesson. I won't make this mistake again. My fingers
clench around her throat even harder as the anger finally lets loose.
Using my hold on her, I throw her across the elevator and into the
opposite wall. She smacks into it and slowly sinks down, her hand going to
her face as she ducks my next blow. Scrambling across the floor she reaches
for her purse once more. It didn't even occur to me that she might have a
weapon in there, but there's no doubt I can't let her reach it.
Leaping on top of her, I wrap my legs around her waist and yank her
back, putting her head in a lock with my forearm pressed against her throat
once more. A half-garbled scream erupts from her lips and without warning,
her head rears back and her skull connects with my face. I see stars.
"Fuck!" She bucks and fights like a woman possessed. Perhaps it's
because she really does have a gun in that fucking purse, or maybe she
realizes just how serious I am. Who can really say?
Blood runs down my arms as she claws at me, screaming and cursing.
She tries to head butt me again, but the second she arches forward to bring it
back I tuck my face into her neck and pinch the sides of her throat until she
stops breathing altogether. Her body bows as she struggles to get out of my
hold.
An elbow connects with my face and I gasp as the whole world goes
fucking white for a split second. That split second is all she needs. Corina
breaks free and jumps up, gasping and coughing even as her hand slaps the
emergency button once more. The lights flash back on and the elevator starts
moving again.
I’m not ready to let her get away, though. It’s not gonna be that fucking
easy to escape me.
On the ground, I kick out, knocking her ankles together. She goes down
in a heap and I roll on top of her. Shoving my fingers roughly into her hair on
either side of her head, I pull her up and then slam her back down. If her skull
cracks before I'm able to get my revenge, then oh fucking well. She's not
going any-fucking-where. I can't let her get away—not after everything she's
done. Not after the pain she's caused. I let the rage overtake me.
Once, twice, three times. I beat her head against the floor of the elevator
until my muscles hurt. She scratches my face, punches my ribs. I feel
something crack. It doesn't matter. Water dances in front of my eyes. That,
too, doesn't fucking matter.
Corina manages to get one foot under her and shoves until she's on top.
My body freezes. On top. She's on top. Roger was on top when he—red fills
my vision—I snatch one of her hands, latching onto two of her fingers, and I
squeeze until she screams in pain, until her fingers pop and I can feel them
moving around under her skin, bone scraping against bone.
It's not enough. None of it will ever be enough. Flipping her over, I shove
to my feet and stand over her as she holds her hand to her chest, tears
streaming down her face. Distantly, I hear the elevator floors go by. Then, as
the last ding reaches my ears, I lift my foot over her face and smash the heel
of my boot down.
Corina sags. Her screaming stops. She's out cold. The elevator doors open
and a panting, sweaty Dean comes careening around the corner with Abel and
Braxton and Luc at his back. Red wet blood slowly trickles down the sides of
my arms. My legs feel loose and there's a distant ringing in my ears. Kicking
a foot out to stop the doors from closing, I reach down with one hand and
grab Corina by the back of her shirt, dragging her out of the elevator.
Without any sense of care, I drop her on the tile of the lobby floor and
turn my head. Gone are the attendants that had been at the front desk earlier.
For a long second, the guys seem shocked by my disheveled state, and if I'm
being honest, I am too. I hadn't expected Corina to fight as hard as she had. I
suppose, though, that when one's life is at stake—people will do things they
never thought themselves capable of.
"Get that," I say, pointing down at her unconscious body as I start
walking past them, heading for the sliding glass doors that lead out into the
street. "We're finishing this. Tonight. "
36
AVALON
CORINA SCREAMS. SHE CURSES. SHE LASHES OUT AND THREATENS. THE SOUND
of her shrieking voice is enough to drive anyone insane. I'm half tempted to
walk over there and cut out her tongue, but I hold myself back. For now,
anyway.
"Luc," she sobs. "Luc, please, you have to help me! She's crazy." I am
crazy, she's right about that. "I don't know what she told you, but it's a lie. It's
all a lie."
"Does she really fucking think I'm gonna fall for that?" Luc shakes his
head and turns away from her, and a little part of me finds satisfaction in the
heartbreak that crosses her face a moment before her devilish eyes turn on
me.
"You fucking bitch!" she shrieks. "What did you do to him? What did you
tell him?"
I shrug. "I didn't do anything," I inform her. "And I just told him the
truth."
Luc looks back once more at that and scowls. "Can you shut her up?" he
snaps. "She's getting on my fucking nerves."
Corina looks like she's been slapped. Her face registers nothing but shock
and hurt. Tears well up in her eyes and she sniffs. When she opens her mouth
once more, her voice is softer. "I'm sorry, Luc," she whispers. "I don't know
why you seem to hate me now, but I promise you—whatever she's told you is
a lie—if you want me to be quiet, I will be, but it's the truth. I'm innocent.
I've never done anything to Avalon. I only tried to be her friend, you know
that."
I snort, earning a hard glare from her. "She's not so innocent, Luc; you
know what she did to Kate," Corina goes on. "She was jealous of her—
Avalon's in love with you."
"She better not fucking be," Dean growls from where he stands with his
back against one of the pillars that line the house's empty living room.
"Don't worry, D-man," I say
. "The only man that's crazy enough to want
me is you."
"Doubt it," Luc replies, grinning my way. "You're a very attractive
woman. If you ever do fall for me, let me know. I'd be happy to take you off
Dean's hands any time, Ava. Say the word."
"Watch your fucking mouth, Kincaid," Dean snaps, straightening away
from the pillar.
"Now why would I do that when I've got you to watch it for me," Luc
shoots back, that grin never leaving his lips. "You seem awfully focused on
my mouth, Dean. I'm not gonna suck your dick."
I roll my eyes and step between them as Dean shoots forward, fully
intending to knock Luc down a peg or two, I suspect. "Enough with the dick
measuring contest, you two," I say, lifting a hand as he stops in front of me.
"No need to measure, baby," Dean replies, his voice lowering. "We know
who's bigger, better, and badder in bed."
Luc snickers. "Didn't take you for the type to admit you were bad in bed,
my man."
"I'm not your fucking anything," Dean snarls, taking another step forward
just as the piercing ring of his cell goes off. With a curse, he yanks out his
phone and checks the screen. He points at Luc. "I will fuck you up, Kincaid.
Keep your hands to yourself." His hand lowers and he glares at me. "Don't
leave this fucking room," he growls at me. "I'll be right back."
"Aye, aye, Captain," I say sardonically as he storms out of the room with
his phone pressed to his ear.
"But for your info, Cor," Luc says, returning his attention to Corina as he
moves closer to me. I know he's only doing this now that Dean's out of the
room and because he knows what it'll do to her. His arm circles my waist and
he pulls me closer, intimately closer. Luc's an attractive man, but I meant
what I said—Dean really is the only crazy man I need or have the fucking
mental capacity for. Luc might not seem as outwardly unhinged, but I have
the feeling he's hiding a lot of darkness under those ocean blue eyes and that
boy next door smile of his. "Avalon did tell me all that you've done. She also
made a few more things clear, and over the last few weeks, I've been doing
my own research."
Corina's face goes pale. "R-research?" she stutters as Braxton finishes
tightening the last of her bindings. "W-what kind of research?"
I glance up at Luc, noting the cruel twist of his lips as he smiles at her.
His fingers clench against my side. "All of it revolving around you, Cor," he
says. "And you've been a very bad girl, haven't you?"
"I-I don't know what you're talking about."
I glance between the two of them, curious. Luc's eyes turn hard. His
brows lower and his smile twists even more, tightening the edges of his lips.
"I think you do, Corina," he says, his tone low and dangerous. "You've been
planning this for quite a fucking while, haven't you? Ever since the first day
Avalon showed up. You knew she'd be coming."
"H-how would I know that?" Sweat begins to collect at Corina's temples.
Her gaze rests firmly on Luc as if she's terrified to look anywhere else.
After a moment of silence where Luc simply stares at her—as if assessing
her resolve to keep her lips shut—he loosens his hold on me and turns away.
"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter now," he replies. "What I found, though,
Corina … you're fucking lucky I don't kill you myself. You're fucking lucky
she's got more of a right than I do to take you out." Luc's hands clench into
fists as he steps away from me, moving through the room and into another
several paces away. The glass doors remain hanging open, a pillar on either
side of the opening.
The further from Corina he moves, however, the more unhinged she
becomes. "Luc!" she screams. "Luc, please! You have to understand. I didn't
want to, they made me!"
I turn back to her. "Who?" I demand. "Who made you do what?"
That shuts her up. She glares at me, struggling as she tries to rip her hands
free from the arms of the chair. "Shut up!" she screeches. "You're the one to
blame for all of this! It's your fault he hates me now! Everything was fine
before you came along!"
I roll my eyes and turn away. The shrieking continues as I walk towards
Luc. "Brax?" I call over my shoulder.
"On it," he replies. I don't look back as I hear Corina's chair rattle and
scrape against the wood flooring.
"No! Stop. Get away from me, you-you psycho! " The irony of Corina
calling anyone else a psycho doesn't escape me.
Finally, her screams cut off with a grunt and a low choked back moan.
Thank fuck for Braxton. He'll watch her while I deal with Luc and once Dean
returns, we can fucking start this shit and get it over with.
Luc doesn't react to Corina's sudden silence or the sound of my approach.
He stands in the opposite room, facing away from her. Like I told Abel, in a
lot of ways, he reminds me of the guys. They don't see it, but I do.
I take a second to look around the empty space. "It's funny," I say almost
absently. "Money can buy almost anything..." Only a few hours ago, Dean
and I had been laying naked in one of the most luxurious beds I've ever lain
on, safe and secure like two normal lovers, in a penthouse suite across the
city.
Now, here we are in a small rural house on the outskirts of the city's
suburbia. Though the house is older, it's been well maintained, and it works
quite well for our purposes since the nearest neighbor is a good mile away. It
hadn't taken him any time at all to set this up—almost as if he'd been
planning for it. It wouldn't shock me to learn that he had been. Dean's a
planner, I know that. Still, it's probably made easier by the fact that he's so
fucking rich. It’s amazing what connections and cash can do.
"Not everything," Luc replies softly, and I know from his tone he's not
talking about the house or anything else. No. Whatever is going on in Luc
Kincaid's head is for him and him alone. Whatever he'd found while he'd
been helping to track Corina down and lure her back here, I could tell that it
involved someone very important to him. A part of me doesn't want to ask.
Perhaps being around Dean and the guys—even Rylie—has made me more
human than I care to admit.
"I didn't say everything," I remind him. "I said almost anything."
Luc blows out a breath. If I thought for even a second that he might
betray us, he wouldn't be here. Dean knows that. There's another reason that
Luc's here. "So," I say, "what did you find while you were looking for her?"
His blue eyes jerk up and he glares across the dark space. "You should
know never to ask a man about his demons, Ava," he replies.
A smile flits at my lips. "I'm not afraid of your demons, Luc, but you
should be afraid of mine."
A lock of blond hair falls over the side of his forehead when he shakes his
head at me. "All you need to know is that Corina deserves whatever you do to
her," he replies. Then in a softer voice, "probably worse."
Doubtful, but only because I'm about as worse as it gets.
"Don't worry," I tell him instead. "She's not leaving here." I look back at
her, watching
her eyes center on us through the doorway as she struggles in
vain, the chair scraping against the floorboards. Braxton stands to the side,
watching her with a bored look on his face as he pulls a pocket knife from his
pants and begins to flick it up and down, opening and closing it as he does.
I’m half afraid he’ll end up stabbing himself in the hand, but even with his
eyes centered on Corina, his movements never stop. That blade is like
another limb to him. He doesn’t seem to need to pay any attention to it even
as the sharp edge nearly grazes his palm a few times.
Corina doesn't even look at him. No, Corina won't ever be leaving this
house again. She's at the end of the road and that's why she's so desperate.
She knows I'm going to kill her. I've never tried to hide it.
Inhaling, I refocus my attention on Luc. "There is something I wanted to
talk to you about," I say.
He hums in his throat, reaching up and rubbing both of his hands through
his hair, shaking out the curls there. "Yeah?"
"Dean's going to be the head of the Carter family someday." I shove my
hands into my pockets and lean back on my heels.
Luc frowns at me. "Is that a statement or a warning?" he inquires, not
sounding particularly threatened.
"Just a statement," I assure him anyway. "It's a fact—as true as it is that
you'll head the Kincaid family."
"That I will." He continues to eye me. "Where are you going with this?"
"A place you probably won't like," I reply, then before he can ask me
anything else, I jump right in. "Don't you think that the two of you—the
future heirs of your respective families and businesses—can make this
ridiculous rivalry end?"
Luc is a handsome man. Even if Dean is all my stupid body wants, my
eyes can't deny that. He, a lot like Corina, has an innocent façade about him.
The surfer boy look, I assume. Right now, however, his eyes sharpen and he
straightens, moving towards me with slow, deliberate steps until he stands
right before me. "Is that why you brought me along?" he demands. "You
could've left me at the hotel after you had her. I've been wondering since I got
here what your choice to bring me was all about; I suppose it was this?"
I can feel Braxton's gaze on us, but I ignore it. I'm not afraid of Luc
Kincaid.
"Not completely," I state. "We brought you because you happened to be