In an instant there was a gun to Mark’s head. “You touch her again and I swear, not only will I kill you, but I will kill your whole family,” Carter growled menacingly at him.
And here was my chance. “Kill him, Carter. Please, baby, he really hurt me,” I pouted, holding my face. Please kill him; I can’t have Mark hurt Ashton! Please.
“You want me to kill him? Are you getting sadistic, Princess?” Carter asked, looking me over for the first time since he entered the room.
“That’s not the first time he’s hit me today.” I raised my chin, pouting and trying to look wounded.
A look of hatred went across his face and his eyes flashed with rage. The shot rang out loud in the room. Blood splashed across my face. Mark slumped to the floor, dead. I watched, emotionless. All I could think of was: at least Mark won’t be able to torture Ashton now.
“Come here, Princess,” Carter instructed, smiling at me warmly. Without hesitation, I stepped over Mark’s dead body, but Ashton was back on his feet. He grabbed me, throwing me behind him protectively, slamming me against the wall.
“You don’t fucking touch her!” he spat at Carter, looking so angry that I was slightly surprised that Carter wasn’t dead already from the force of the hatred coming from Ashton.
Carter’s jaw tensed, his eyes locked on Ashton’s in some kind of battle of the stares. “I appreciate you looking after my wife for me while I was away, Agent, but I’m back now, I can take care of her,” he replied calmly.
Ashton’s body tensed against mine. “Wife… but…”
When he looked back at me with wide, shocked eyes, silently asking if that was true, I pressed my lips into a thin line and nodded in confirmation. I couldn’t deny it while Carter was there. I couldn’t explain that I didn’t want it, that it was forced upon me, that it repulsed me to the very core. Ashton’s jaw tightened as his eyes shone with sympathy.
“Yes, wife,” Carter confirmed harshly. His gaze flicked to me, his eyes hard and warning. I knew that look, and it was always one I didn’t dare ignore. “Come here, Princess,” he repeated.
I went to move, but Ashton wouldn’t let go of me. Carter raised his gun, aiming it directly at Ashton’s face. My world stopped spinning. This was it, he was going to die. He was going to be murdered right in front of me. I loved him so much that I would die for him; actually, I loved him so much I would live for him. Death was easy compared to Carter. If Ashton died it was going to kill me inside, and that would be worse than death. I couldn’t go through that, not again. I loved Ashton so much, more than anything and everything. He was my life, he was my soul mate. I couldn’t allow this to happen.
“Please don’t, Carter, for me. Please, baby, I’m begging you, please.” I tried desperately not to cry as I struggled against Ashton’s hold. His gaze flicked to me, a little shocked expression on his face. He was begging me with his eyes to stay with him, to stay behind him. I shook my head. “Carter, please. I’ll do anything you want, anything. Just don’t hurt him. I can’t see any other people die because of me, please?” Ashton still wouldn’t let go of my wrist, so I elbowed him in the ribs where he had the bruises. He grunted in pain. It hurt my insides to know that I had caused him pain, but it worked to my advantage, just like I thought. His hold loosened for a fraction of a second and I scooted away just out of his reach, towards Carter.
“No, Anna!” he screamed, trying to grab me, but I was too quick.
Four guns all pointed in his face, making him stop in his tracks. He was looking at me, pleading with me to go back to him, but I couldn’t. I needed to try; I needed to make him safe if I could. I put my hand on Carter’s gun and pushed it away so it wasn’t pointing at Ashton anymore.
“Please don’t hurt him, baby,” I pleaded, looking right into his brown eyes. I pushed away all my fear and hatred. I didn’t care what he did to me, but Ashton had to live. I stepped forward slowly towards Carter. “Please,” I whispered as I got right in front of him. I ran my hands up his chest, making him shiver. Lust crossed his face and I fought with every nerve in my body not to flinch. “Please don’t hurt him.”
He sighed deeply. “Tell me why not then, Princess,” he suggested, lowering his gun and trailing his fingers across my face.
Oh shit, what the hell can I say? “I’ve seen too many agents be killed because of me today. Plus, I… I know his girlfriend. I like her. She really loves him, Carter, he’s everything to her. He’s all she has in the world. He’s all she lives for. Please don’t hurt him. She needs him,” I begged, putting my arms around his neck. He looked at Ashton. I didn’t move, I couldn’t look back at him, I knew what I’d see: shock, love, horror and hurt. Carter regarded Ashton with indecision clear across his face. I could see how much he wanted to kill him for putting his hands on me, but he also didn’t want to do it because I was begging him. He always had liked to try and give me everything that I asked for. “For me? Don’t take him away from her. Just let him go home. I’m here now, we’re together. No one else needs to die because of me.” I smiled – at least, I hoped I was smiling, it felt more like a grimace. Carter rolled his eyes, and his face softened. My heart took off in a sprint knowing that he’d conceded.
Carter dipped his head slowly, and I held my breath, knowing what was coming. When his lips pressed against mine, I whimpered and fought the urge to recoil and gag. His arms snaked around my waist, crushing me against him. He moaned in the back of his throat and finally pulled away, his eyes shining with excitement.
“I’ve missed you, Princess,” he purred, kissing down my neck. I swallowed my sobs and squeezed my eyes shut. I heard Ashton groan.
“I’ve missed you too, Carter,” I mumbled.
My scalp suddenly burned as Carter gripped the back of my hair roughly, pulling my head back so I had to look up at him. “Don’t mumble, Princess, you know I don’t like that,” he growled, pulling hard on my hair, making me grit my teeth against the pain that was shooting through my scalp.
“I’ve missed you too, Carter,” I repeated, louder this time.
“Good girl.” He smiled before setting a soft kiss on my cheek.
“Keep your fucking hands off her!” Ashton growled, trying to step forward as he reached for me.
One of the men that had entered with Carter smashed his gun into the side of Ashton’s face, hard, sending him to the floor with blood pouring from his mouth. Carter ignored him. I glared at Ashton, begging him silently to be quiet. He shook his head at me as he spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor. I didn’t dare move. I needed him to be safe, I would do whatever it took, but he needed to help me by being quiet. Carter was going to let him go, and that was all I needed.
“Princess,” Carter murmured, running his hands down my body, squeezing my ass as he moaned in the back of his throat. “You are so fucking hot. I hope you got plenty of sleep last night because I’ve missed you so much, I don’t think you’ll be getting any tonight, Mrs Thomas,” he purred lustfully. Vomit rose in my throat as a cold shudder trickled down my spine. Carter didn’t seem to notice my reaction though as he used the sleeve of his expensive white shirt to wipe the side of my face. “So beautiful,” he whispered, smiling at me proudly.
Behind me, I could hear Ashton pushing himself up. Carter’s eyes flicked over my shoulder and he cocked his head to the side. “Right then, what shall we do about him?” he pondered, nodding at Ashton.
“I thought you were going to let him go,” I mumbled. Had I not convinced him enough? Had I not made my case strongly enough? Knowing I needed to do everything in my power, I stepped closer to Carter and gripped my hand around the back of his head, guiding his mouth to mine as I went up onto tiptoes. He responded immediately, kissing me fiercely, taking control. The kiss was just like I remembered, rough and demanding.
Finally, he pulled away and put his forehead to mine. His brown eyes danced with excitement and joy. “Fucking hell, Princess, I forgot how much I loved you.” He smiled, running his hands through my hair.
“Tell me you love me,” he ordered.
“I love you,” I replied, instantly. It was a natural response to the order, although every single syllable left me feeling dirty and used.
He sighed contentedly, his hand cupping the side of my face, caressing it gently with his thumb. He nodded and pulled away, a playful smile on his face. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do; we’ll play Russian roulette. We’ll each do a shot, the three of us, and if he’s still alive then he can go free,” he offered, grinning happily.
I started to shake, I hated this game. This game was the reason that guns terrified me.
Wait, is he actually going to give me a gun? If he gives me a gun, I’m going to kill him with it! I felt the smile tugging at the corners of my mouth, and I fought to keep my composure so that he wouldn’t know what I was thinking. I nodded eagerly, and he smiled at me curiously.
“Are you over your gun phobia now, Princess?” he asked.
I shook my head in response. “No. Guns still scare the hell out of me, but I really want him to go free. I’ll do anything. I’ll take his shot as well as mine,” I offered, holding my hand out for the gun.
“No, you fucking will not, Anna!” Ashton cried, stepping forward. One of the other men shoved him against the wall, punching him repeatedly in the stomach and chest. The sound of Ashton in pain would haunt me forever.
“Stop it! Please, stop it!” I screamed, clinging to Carter’s shirt, almost shaking him in desperation.
Carter laughed quietly. “Richard, stop, we have a game to play,” he chirped excitedly. The guy stopped hitting him and stepped back.
Ashton pushed himself painfully back to his feet. “Anna, don’t,” he begged, barely able to talk. I turned away from his face. I couldn’t look at him anymore; he was breaking my heart. He’d only just fixed it and now he was breaking it again. Worse this time, nothing could ever fix me; I would never get over him because he was everything that was good in my world.
I watched Carter take out all of the bullets and put one back in; the whole time a grin was stretched across his face. “Now, I don’t think I want to give a SWAT Agent a gun so I’ll pull yours for you,” he said to Ashton, who actually didn’t look frightened, just extremely pissed off and murderously angry.
I couldn’t allow that to happen, I couldn’t take the chance of the bullet being in the chamber when the gun went off. “No! Point it at me, I’ll take his one too,” I insisted. A lone tear rolled down my cheek as I reached for Carter’s hand, trying to pull the gun in my direction.
Carter scoffed. “Princess, that’s not how the game is played, you know that, you’ve played before,” he stated sternly, raising his gun to Ashton, whilst holding me back with his other hand. Panic surged through me and I grabbed for his arm again. He shifted and rewarded me with another slap to my already sore face. I yelped and slammed against the wall, putting my hands out for balance to stop me from falling to the floor.
“I’m going to kill you!” Ashton growled through his teeth. “I swear to God, I’m going to rip you to fucking shreds with my bare hands.”
Carter chose to ignore him and didn’t respond. The gun was pointed directly at Ashton’s face. “Carter! At least aim for his leg or something! Please, I don’t want anyone else to die today. Please?” I begged.
My heart was in my throat as Carter’s finger squeezed the trigger. I flinched, waiting for the loud bang, waiting for the sound of Ashton’s agonising cry of pain as the bullet ripped through his flesh, waiting for the sound of his body hitting the floor.
But nothing happened. It just clicked.
Unable to hold my nerve anymore, I turned to the side and vomited violently. Carter laughed wickedly, gripping my arm and pulling me to my feet while I continued to dry heave. “Nope, not over your gun phobia. You threw up last time we played too, you remember that? Best night of my life,” he cooed, looking right into my eyes. I was barely able to stop myself from punching him in the face; I just needed to get Ashton out first. “You remember that night, right?” he repeated, slipping his hand down to my ass and pulling my body flush against his. I nodded and closed my eyes, willing myself not to remember the night that he first forced himself on me and took my innocence. My whole body was shaking, my breathing was coming in gasps, and my heart was beating too fast. I closed my eyes, fighting for control of my emotions so that I didn’t switch off and go into meltdown – that wouldn’t help Ashton survive.
When I opened my eyes, I saw that Carter was looking at me, clearly amused. He wiped my mouth roughly, laughing before bending and planting a kiss on the corner of my mouth. “Your turn now, Princess,” he instructed, waggling his eyebrows at me. He turned the gun in his hand so he held out the handle to me. I looked at it hesitantly, unsure if I would be able to do what I had planned. I took a deep breath before raising a shaky hand and taking the gun from his grasp. “That’s a good girl. All you need to do is pull the trigger.” He smiled and pushed the gun so it was pointing under my chin. I closed my eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths. When I opened them, I looked straight at Ashton. I nodded, hoping that he would get ready and know what I was planning.
I took one last deep breath before I whipped my arm down, aiming at Carter’s chest and pulled the trigger again and again, counting them as they went through the chamber. Ashton had one click, and this was probably only a six shooter gun.
Click
Click
Click
Click.
Okay, it’s the next one! I braced myself for the slight recoil of the gun. I pulled the trigger again.
Click
Nothing happened. I pulled again and again, still nothing. Ashton groaned. What? No! Why didn’t it go off?
Carter burst out laughing and took the gun out of my trembling hand. “As if I would give you a loaded gun, Princess. You’d probably shoot your beautiful face off, then where would I be? Widowed at twenty-eight,” he said, pulling me to him. “But I am pretty pissed off that you just tried to shoot me,” he growled, pulling my hair back and slamming me into the wall.
Oh shit, this is it, Anna, fight or die.
I heard a gunshot go off. A real one this time, loud and horrifying. I heard a groan of pain, I snapped my head around quickly to see what had happened, and my world collapsed in on itself. Ashton was falling to the floor, blood seeping across the shoulder of his shirt. I screamed hysterically. He was dead. Ashton, the love of my life, my soul mate, the only thing I cared about, was dead.
Desperation and horror washed over me as Carter threw me to the floor. I wanted to stay there and curl into a ball and die, but I couldn’t. Carter wouldn’t let me die. I would have to live, knowing that Ashton was dead because of me, and I couldn’t do that.
Either Carter was going to die or I was. I wouldn’t live without Ashton. I pushed myself up off the floor and punched Carter hard in the face, catching him off-guard and sending him stumbling backwards. My foot shot out and landed a kick right in the middle of his chest which made him fall to his knees. While he groaned in pain, I took the advantage, grabbing the back of his hair and slamming his face into my knee with as much force as I could manage. I heard his nose snap and I smiled, throwing him to the floor, smiling as he writhed in agony. I kicked him in the groin and stomach, bringing my foot back again to kick him in the face, but he grabbed my foot, pulling hard so I fell onto my back, knocking the wind out of me.
“Shit,” I gasped as I saw him getting to his feet.
I could vaguely hear sounds of a scuffle, a chair or table breaking, but all I could focus on was Carter. He was going to kill me, I could see it on his face, there was no going back this time; this was it. I rolled to my side, pushing myself up to all fours. As he went to kick me in the face, I put my hands up to shield myself and pushed his leg to the side, making him lose his balance slightly, allowing me time to get to my feet.
I smirked at his shocked expression; I’d never once tried to fight him back, well, not like this anyway. My meagre sixteen ye
ar old attempts at fighting him were pathetic because back then I’d known nothing, unlike now. “Yeah, I had lessons. I wanted to be able to kill you if I ever saw you again,” I explained, shrugging.
I was actually enjoying this. My back was hurting like hell, but I ignored it as he came for me again, almost growling with rage. His hand shot out towards my hair, so I whipped my head out of the way and kicked him in the stomach. Stepping forward, I grabbed hold of his shirt, throwing my knee up as hard as I could into his stomach twice before he grabbed me and slammed me into the wall.
He pulled his arm back and I saw a flash of silver before pain like nothing I had ever felt in my life blasted through my stomach. It felt like a burning hot poker had been shoved into me. I grunted, gasping for breath as he pulled his arm back, sliding the knife back from my flesh before driving it back into my stomach again.
Using all of my might, I shoved him away from me, seeing the serrated edged flick knife he had in his hand. My blood dripped from the blade, landing in patters at his feet. I sucked in a ragged breath, leaning against the wall for support as my hand fumbled at my stomach, feeling my wet, soggy T-shirt.
I could taste the blood in my mouth and my whole body seemed like it now weighed a thousand pounds. My breathing was laboured as my lungs constricted because of the pain that was consuming me, crushing me, drowning me.
“Princess? I… Oh God, what have I done?” Carter gasped, stepping forward, his eyes wide and frantic. “Shit. I need to get you some help. You’ll be fine, you’ll be fine,” he muttered, reaching down and pressing his hands over the wounds he’d inflicted, trying to staunch the blood flow. “I’m sorry, but you shouldn’t have pushed me. You made me do this!” he ranted, shaking his head angrily. I wasn’t sure if he was angry at himself for stabbing me, or angry at me because I’d ‘made’ him do it.
“I hate you, you sick son of a bitch. I never loved you. Just let me die!” I hissed, shoving his hands away from me with as much strength as I could manage.
Blurring the Lines (Nothing Left to Lose, part 2) Page 25