This Savage Love: A Bad Boy Romance Boxed Set

by Kathryn Thomas

  He pulled up her face so that she could look at him before she went, but by that time she was already gone. Her eyes looked at him blankly, without seeing, without feeling, without consciousness, and Keith knew he had lost her. Natalie was well and truly gone, and nothing would bring her back, not even the power of his belief or hope. They disintegrated into nothing as he looked at her lifeless form. All his blind hope was extinguished with Natalie’s last breath.

  All Keith could do was hold her, with his face pressed against hers, trying to remember the scent of her that he had loved so much. Now, all he could smell was blood and sweat. Gingerly, he kissed her forehead and her cheeks and her blood stained mouth, uncaring of the mark she left on him.

  “Natalie told you that I was dangerous,” a self-satisfied voice said near him. “You should have believed her.”

  Keith didn’t say a word. There was no word to say. He was so numb with grief that he couldn’t bring himself to feel anything besides sorrow. He just sat there with his head bowed over Natalie, trying to tune out Kovic’s words.

  “Remember this moment, Keith,” Kovic said as though they were old friends. “Do not cross me again because I don’t take slights well. If, in the future, I come to you with a favor, I expect to receive a favorable answer. If not… well… I don’t take no very well.”

  He walked away, and slowly, the parking lot emptied of men and vehicles. Soon it was just Keith and Natalie lying beneath the sun. Keith hugged her until the sun had set. He hugged her until the blood on his hands had dried. He hugged her until her body was cold and he knew for certain that this was not a dream. Natalie was never coming back.

  Chapter Thirty Five

  Kristina

  The first night in the car with Kovic, Kristina actually thought about what it might be like to die. There was no fear attached to the thought, but Kristina knew that was only because a part of her still didn’t believe it was possible.

  That was the difference between her and Keith. Keith lived his life with death lurking in the background of his mind, whereas Kristina had never come close enough to it to take it seriously. Even now, surrounded by its presence, she could barely recognize it. That was the only reason she was able to talk back to Kovic, answer him with sarcasm, and ignore him when she pleased. She was not being brave, she was being oblivious…and she knew it.

  A part of her had grown numb. Her physical body seemed somehow detached from her. It was as though she had experienced the pain for long enough and her mind had cut it off somehow so that it barely touched her. Kristina knew that this again was just a fleeting moment. She would move or sit up or breathe heavily and the pain would come screaming back. The only thing she could do was to think of Natalie and Kovic and Keith and imagine the scene as Kovic had described it to her.

  She wondered how she might have felt if it had been Keith who had told her of Natalie’s death. She wondered a great many things in those silent hours, and Kristina was starting to feel as though she might go insane from thinking. There were times she actually longed to speak to someone, even if that person was Kovic. Her mind was starting to play tricks on her, and she hated feeling as though she were losing grip.

  This thought was what spurred her into action. She started looking around the vehicle, searching for something, anything that might help her escape. Kovic had driven quite a distance, but she knew from hearing him talk that they still hadn’t arrived at the meeting point, which meant there was still more distance to cover. It struck Kristina that if she got herself a weapon and she got her hands freed, she could get Kovic while he was driving and use the diversion to escape.

  It was a bad plan, even in her fatigued state Kristina realized that. There were a number of things that could go wrong. Even if she succeeded in ridding herself of her binds and finding something sharp or strong to use against Kovic, the car could flip or hit something and she would be stuck in the car right alongside Kovic. Still, it was her only option, and she was starting to get desperate.

  The car had been emptied of anything sharp or heavy. There was nothing there that Kristina could use. She wracked her brains to think of something she could use, but she came up blank. It was only when she had given up hope that she noticed the tiny bit of wire sticking out from the bottom half of the driver’s seat. Making use of the fact that Kovic had left her alone in the car, she lay down across the seat and reached her bound hands downwards.

  She brushed her finger across the edge of the wire and felt a wave of elation as she realized how sharp it was. Still, her bindings were strong and there was no way that the wire would make much of a difference. She sat back up and kept thinking, her head whirling with possibilities. When Kovic found his way back to the car again that evening, the sun had already started to set and Kristina was starving as usual. She ignored the gnawing in her stomach and sunk back into her seat.

  “Kovic,” she said in a tone that suggested she was close to unconsciousness.

  “What?”

  “I can’t feel my hands,” she said softly, almost tenderly.

  Perhaps it was her tone that got to him. He turned in his seat and surveyed her carefully. “What do you want me to do?”

  “The binds…” she started slowly. “Can you remove them… just for a minute.”

  “That’s the fourth time you’ve asked me,” he said impatiently. “And you already know my answer.”

  “Just for a minute,” Kristina insisted, unwilling to give up. “Please I can’t take the pain anymore.”

  She saw him roll his eyes and sigh. “Man, all you privileged little brats really have a low threshold for pain.”

  “Please,” Kristina said, as she started sobbing uncontrollably, hoping that something about her tears would induce Kovic to be moved. “Please… I’m so tired… and I’m in so much pain.”

  “For fuck’s sake,” Kovic said in frustration. “Stop crying, I can’t stand to hear that terrible fucking sound.”

  “Just for a minute,” Kristina said again.

  He turned around and stared at her for a minute. “No can do,” he said firmly.

  Kristina felt her face harden in response, but she forced her expression into one of sadness. “Couldn’t you at least change the binding?” she suggested desperately, trying not to lose momentum. “Can you use cloth instead? Please… it’s really cutting into my flesh now.”

  Kovic looked down at her hands and sighed deeply. “Fine then,” he said after a long silence and Kristina tried hard not to look too satisfied with herself. “Fine, I’ll change the binding,” Kovic said as he got out of the car and then entered it again through the back seat so that he was sitting beside Kristina.

  “I don’t want you too far gone before we meet dear Keith,” he said as he roughly removed the binds around Kristina’s hands. “I want you nice and perky so that we can put on a show for him.”

  “A show?” Kristina asked as he removed the binds. Kristina felt a wave of relief as her blood flow was restored. It was only then that she realized how badly wounded her wrists were.

  “Of course,” Kovic nodded with a malicious smile. “I want him to suffer this time, and the only way to do that, is to make you suffer while he watches.”

  Kristina looked at his face, wondering what went so wrong in his life that it would create such a monster. “I don’t understand,” Kristina said, shaking her head as Kovic prepared an alternate bind for her hands. “Why do you want him to suffer so much? You’re the one who won; you’re the one who got what you wanted. You killed the woman that Keith loved. So why are you acting like you’re the one who needs to get revenge?”

  “Life is not a fairytale, princess,” Kovic said with condescension. “Things are not always that simple. Things don’t fall in place in a nice straight line. Yes, I killed Natalie, but the reason I killed Natalie was to send a message to Keith. That message was clear: fear me and respect me, don’t cross me or deny me, and if you abide by those rules, everything will be ok. I will never come after yo
u the way I did with Natalie. But Keith… see Keith missed that message.

  “He felt he could fight against me; he felt he could deny me when I came to him with a perfectly reasonable business offer. He didn’t fear or respect me, and I could not have that. The last time I gave Natalie a quick and painless death because I thought that would be enough to teach Keith that lesson, but apparently, it didn’t sink in. So this time, I’m going to make sure he truly understands. Unfortunately, that doesn’t pan out well for you.”

  “You’re really going to kill me?” Kristina asked before she could stop herself.

  Kovic took her hands and bound them well with a ripped piece of cloth. Kristina watched him bind her once more. While the cloth was gentler against her skin, it irritated her open wounds and caused more discomfort. She ignored the pain and focused on the wire on the back of the driver’s seat. She was fairly certain she would be able to tear away her binds if she worked quickly and quietly.

  “I really am going to kill you,” Kovic said with the inflection of a promise in his tone. “And if you doubt that, then you’re a bigger fool than Keith.”

  “I just don’t get it,” Kristina said, and she genuinely didn’t.

  “What don’t you get?”

  “Why do all this… why murder someone in order to get your point across? It’s… insane.”

  “A girl like you will never be able to understand certain things. In my world life is… more carnal. We don’t censor ourselves, and we don’t conform. We do what we need to do when we need to do it. The problem is you’re scared and I’m not.”

  “You’re not scared that one day everything you’ve done will come back to haunt you?”

  “Only the strong survive in this world,” Kovic replied. “I don’t believe I’m going to be punished simply because I am strong.”

  “You’re not strong,” Kristina spat as he finished tying her hands together. “You’re a savage.”

  Kovic smiled as though Kristina had just complimented him. “It’s a savage world,” he said calmly. “That’s what you need to be to live in it. Case in point, you will die tonight… and I won’t.”

  Kristina lay back in her seat and stared at his cold eyes. He didn’t look like a man to her at all; he was a monster with the face of a man. She wanted to tell him a great many things, but she knew it would make no difference. There was no talking to a mad man. He wouldn’t be able to understand a single word she said.

  Chapter Thirty Six

  Keith

  “Keith?” Emma’s voice was fraught with worry.

  “Sorry, Mom,” Keith said. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I came for something,” he said.

  Emma’s eyes fell to the gun in his hand, and then she looked up at his face. “Do you know where Kristina is?”

  “No,” Keith replied. “But I know where she will be, and I’m going to get her.”

  Keith saw the panic written plainly on his mother’s face. In that moment, he knew exactly what she was thinking and feeling. She wanted him to stay, she wanted him to let the police handle it, but at the same time she didn’t want to make him choose. She didn’t want him to have to refuse her; she didn’t want to stop him from at least trying to save Kristina.

  “Who’s going with you?” Emma asked.

  Keith hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should lie to her or tell her the truth. “I’m… going alone,” he said at last, unable to lie.

  “Alone?” Emma repeated, her voice rising higher. “Why are you going alone? I’m sure the boys will want to come with you.”

  “They will,” Keith nodded. “If they knew.”

  “But they don’t.”

  “I didn’t tell them.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t have the time to convince them not to come,” Keith said. “Kovic was very clear… he wants me there alone.”

  “Because he wants to kill you, Keith,” Emma said in desperation.

  “This is different, Mom,” Keith said quickly. “He’s going to be alone, too. When Marie tipped off the cops, they put eyes on every member of the Rusted Chains. They can’t move without the police knowing about it, which means Kovic can’t call on them for back up. He’s going to be alone tonight. It will be just him and me… like it should have been from the beginning.”

  “He’s still dangerous,” Emma pleaded. “And he won’t fight fair.”

  “I know that, Mom,” Keith nodded. “Which is why I’m going in prepared.”

  “He’s going to anticipate that,” Emma pointed out.

  “Mom,” Keith said gently, “I know you’re scared, and I’ll admit, for the first time since Natalie died, I’m scared too. But I have to do this. I’ve been living in the shadow of that memory for two years now, and it’s about time that I get out from underneath it. And the only way for me to do that is by confronting Kovic once and for all.”

  “Keith…”

  “I can’t lose Kristina, Mom,” Keith said before Emma could finish her sentence. “It’ll be worse because I’ll have lost Kristina and it’ll feel as though I’ve lost Natalie all over again, too. And I don’t think I can survive that. I’ve got to do this.”

  Emma looked at him with tears standing in her eyes. She raised her hand to his face and cupped it gently. “You’ve always been brave, Keith. I’ve always admired that about you.”

  “I got that from you,” Keith said softly.

  “Come home safe,” Emma said at last. “And bring Kristina with you.”

  Keith leaned in and kissed Emma on the forehead. “I will, Mom,” he said with conviction. “That’s a promise.”

  Chapter Thirty Seven

  Kristina

  Kristina was panting heavily as she lay across the back seat with her hands to the tiny bit of wire, clawing at it desperately. She had been at it for almost ten minutes, and she had managed to create a tiny tear at the back of her bind so that Kovic wouldn’t notice it. She kept at it, terrified Kovic would appear suddenly and catch her in the act.

  Her arms and hands were aching with fatigue, and her body was cramped in an uncomfortable position. She was using all the strength in her upper body to keep clawing her bind against the wire, hoping that it would make a difference. Twenty minutes in and still she hadn’t gotten very much further. The tear was now visible however, which meant there was the possibility of Kovic spotting it.

  A sound in the distance alerted her to a human presence, and immediately she withdrew her hands from the wire and squeezed them under her head so that it looked like she was sleeping. She lay still and let her breath come in even bursts. A few seconds later, Kovic opened the door and got into the driver’s seat. He had some food with him, but he didn’t seem keen to share it with her.

  Kristina didn’t care at this point. She had gone past hunger. The only hunger that remained in her was the hunger to survive. She wanted desperately to live, and now that she was on death’s doorstep, she knew she had to try everything in her power to get free. She noticed Kovic glancing at her from her barely opened left eye, but he didn’t pay her much attention. She breathed a sigh of relief, as he turned his attention back on the road and started to drive.

  Kristina was sure that the next time they stopped would be the end of their journey. Kovic had promised her that Keith would be there, but a part of her hoped that he wouldn’t show up. It would hurt to think he hadn’t cared enough to come, but another part of her would just be glad that he was safe. They had been driving for ten minutes when Kristina extended her hands out and continued to try and tear at her binds with the wire at the bottom of Kovic’s seat.

  She had to be silent as the night in order to avoid being found out. If she put too much pressure, there was always the possibility that Kovic would figure out what she was doing. She also had to keep her lower body still so that he didn’t suspect that her hands were hard at work. She took little breaks between the cuttings so that
she could assess how long she could get away with it. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, a larger tear ripped through the cloth. The sound was louder than Kristina had thought, and she froze in place.

  Her mind whirred with panic, and instantly she pulled back her hands and hid them underneath her head a second before Kovic glanced back at her. Given that her face was directly behind his, he had a hard time seeing her, which Kristina was deeply grateful for.

  “What was that sound?” he asked out loud.

  Kristina pretended to wake up. She yawned loudly and adjusted her position in the back seat, all the while making sure her hands were covered. “I was sleeping,” she moaned, trying to fill her tone with the necessary fog of sleep. “Where are we?”

  “Never you mind,” Kovic replied. “All you need to know is that we’re close.”