“Don’t fucking lie to me,” he bellows, forcefully spinning me around and slamming my back up against the wall.
My head collides with the bricks, and for a few seconds I see stars.
I should be screaming, trying to alert someone, but with his cold, evil eyes staring down into mine, I’m frozen.
“Who are you?”
Instead of responding, he lifts his arm, backhanding me across the cheek.
“Motherfucker,” I mutter, feeling my healing lip split back open.
“Where’s the fucking money?”
“I don’t have any fucking money. Do I look like I have the odd fifty G hanging around?” I spit.
“You turned up with a bag. Where did it go?”
“Read my fucking lips, arsehole.” His hand grips me around the throat and he squeezes enough to scare me but not to cut off my air supply. Not yet, anyway. “I. Don’t. Know.”
His grip tightens as his lips purse in anger.
“This is going to go two ways,” he warns. “Either you tell me where that money is, or you’re not leaving this alleyway breathing.”
His eyes hold mine, but if he’s hoping to see fear in them, he’ll be bitterly disappointed. I’ve dealt with arseholes like him my entire life. He can threaten to kill me all he likes—hell, he can do it if it’s going to make him feel better about himself—but I won’t give him any details that might lead him to Zach, which is where I assume the money is.
“No wonder Jet had such fun with you,” he says, a smile full of evil intentions appearing on his lips. “Maybe I should get in on the action before putting you out of your misery.”
His arm lifts once more and I brace for the hit that sends me crashing to the ground. My head ricochets off the concrete, a piercing pain spearing down my neck at the same time my shoulder begins to burn.
Seconds before he drops down to me, I have the briefest opening to reach down for my ankle with the arm I didn’t land on.
I breathe a sigh of relief when my fingers wrap around the cool metal handle of my knife. I knew there was a reason I slid it in here before leaving the flat earlier. If I learned one thing from my mother, then it’s to always trust my gut, and my gut has been screaming at me for days that something’s not right. I’m so fucking glad I listened.
He practically dives for me, wanting to take advantage of me being in a heap on the ground, but the second he’s in reaching distance, I flip my knife and drive it into his neck.
I have no idea where I hit. All I care about is that I did.
His eyes go wide as realisation hits him.
“You’re going to fucking pay for that,” he gargles, blood flying from his mouth as he spits each word.
I pull the blade from him as fast as it entered, and I manage to use his momentary distraction as he reaches for his neck to scramble out from under him.
He looks up at me as I stand above him, my knife still firmly in hand in case he tries anything more, but the longer I stand there, the only thing I witness is the life draining from his eyes.
30
Spike
“Zach. Spike.” Biff’s scream fills my quiet studio. The panic within it turns my blood ice cold.
Pushing my stool out behind me with such force it crashes against the wall behind, I run for the door and rip it open.
Looking as concerned as I feel from only those two words, Zach appears in his doorway.
He looks at me for the briefest of moments before he runs toward reception. I follow right behind him and collide with his back when he grinds to a halt in the entryway.
“What the fuck?”
Looking over his shoulder, my entire world seems to crash around my feet at the sight before us.
“Kas,” I breath, pushing a frozen Zach aside and running toward her.
My eyes flick over her. The amount of blood covering both her face and her clothing have my heart threatening to beat out of my chest.
“I-I’m okay,” she whispers.
Stepping up to her, I reach for both of her hands. I find one clenched tight with something in it.
Lifting her arm, I drag my eyes from hers to see what she’s holding.
My eyes widen when I find a blood-covered knife in her grip.
Prising it from her fingers, I place it on the coffee table behind me before taking her face in my hands.
“Are you hurt?” I have no idea if the blood is hers or someone else’s, but the fact she’s standing here and talking is a good sign.
“N-no.”
“What happened?” Zach barks, coming to stand beside me, having dragged himself from his shock.
“A… a guy j-jumped me. H-he…” she blows out a breath, her body trembling beneath my hands as her adrenaline starts to subside.
“Sit down,” I encourage, dropping down before her and pulling her onto my lap.
“We need to call the police,” Biff says, coming to sit on the edge of the coffee table with a bowl of bubbly water and a facecloth.
“No,” Kas cries. “Fuck,” she mutters, dropping her face into her hands. “He was one of Jet’s guys. He wanted the money.”
“Fuck,” Zach barks.
“Dawson,” I shout, making Kas jump on my lap. “D, get out here right now.”
In seconds, a door opens and heavy footsteps head our way.
“What the—”
“Call your brother now,” I demand. “They missed one.”
He doesn’t need any more explanation than that. He pulls his phone from his pocket and barks orders down the phone.
“Where is he?” he asks Kas.
“In the alley down there.” She lifts her arm, her trembling hand pointing in the general direction. “I… I stabbed him… in the neck. I think he’s… I think he’s…”
“Don’t worry,” he soothes. “We’ve got it covered.”
The second he hangs up, he pockets his phone and dashes back to his room before emerging with whoever his client was and the two of them go running out the door.
“Fucking hell, Tiny.” I pull her into my arms, rest her against my chest and hold her tightly as her body continues to tremble.
She doesn’t say anything. None of us do as the atmosphere continues to almost suffocate the four of us.
“Where’s your client?” Kas finally asks, breaking the silence.
“No show. But don’t worry about that right now.” She looks up at me with her huge blue eyes, and I fear I lose the last padlock I’d fused in place around my heart all those years ago.
“Jesus, fuck.” Zach barks, marching to the other side of the room with his hands threaded through his hair.
He paces back and forth for a bit while the three of us watch him with curiosity.
Eventually, he draws to a stop and stares between the two of us. His brows pull together, but some of the anger that was surrounding him when he first marched out here with me has vanished.
“You fucking love her, don’t you?” he barks at me.
Kas startles in my arms. “Zach, please,” she begs. “Don’t do this now.”
A beat passes, but before I know I’m even doing it, my lips part and I say the most honest thing I have in years.
“Yeah, yeah I do.”
Kas gasps while Zach barks a curse.
“Y-you do?” she whispers, looking up at me with disbelief in her tear-filled eyes.
“Yeah, Tiny. I do.”
“Oh my God,” she gasps, her small hand coming up to cover her gawping mouth. Her tears spill over, and despite the fact that she’s clearly got a smile on her face, the sight guts me.
Pulling her into my chest once more, I drop my lips to the top of her head as she cries.
“Take her the fuck home and look after her,” Zach demands.
My eyes lift to his. His anger and frustration are right there in his familiar blue depths, but there’s more. There’s understanding, compassion, acceptance.
“Thank you,” I mouth.
“Let’s clean
you up first,” Biff says, wringing out the washcloth as I release Kas so she can get to her.
Once she looks a little better, she stands—quietly thanks both Biff and Zach—before tucking herself into my side and allowing me to walk her out to the waiting Uber.
As we set off down the street, we pass a cluster of bikes parked at the side of the road. Both of us crane our necks to see what’s going on, but it’s too dark.
“Come here.” Releasing my seatbelt, I slide over beside her and pull her into my arms. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”
“Yeah?” she asks.
“Yeah, and maybe a little scared,” I admit with a laugh. “Do you always carry a knife?”
“Shit, my knife,” she gasps, sitting forward in panic.
“It’s with Zach and Biff. It’s okay.”
She looks at me for a beat before resting back against the seat. “I always used to. When you live in the places I have, you need to be able to protect yourself when the inevitable happens.”
“Have you ever—”
“Used it before? No. I can honestly say that was a first.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“It was just a slap.” I narrow my eyes at her. I know her tells now, and I know she’s lying. “Please, Spike. I’m okay, I promise.”
“Okay,” I agree, because she looks too vulnerable right now to do anything else.
The second we’re inside the flat, I start pulling off her bloodstained clothes. By the time we’re in the bathroom, both of us are just standing in our underwear.
I twist the taps and pour in a generous amount of bubbles that fill the room with a relaxing floral scent.
Turning to her, I brush the hair from her face and take her cheeks in my palms.
“This is the last bath we’re having like this,” I tell her, staring into her eyes.
She nods, her eyes heavy with exhaustion. An idea hits me, and my fingers twitch to do something with it, but I need to wait. I need to look after my girl before I start making any plans.
Removing our last few items of clothing, I step into the hot water and reach out for her to join me.
Just like the last time, she settles between my legs and nuzzles into my chest as the soothing water surrounds us.
Silence stretches between us. I’m desperate to ask her what happened, but I know that I need to give her the time to process. I can’t even imagine what’s going through her head right now.
“I thought he was going to kill me,” she says quietly after the longest time. My hold on her tightens, but my lips remain sealed, allowing her to say what she needs to. “His eyes. They were… they were so cold… dead. If I didn’t do what I had, then I would have been the one leaving that alley in a body bag.”
“Fucking hell,” I breathe, not really believing what I’m hearing. “I’m so proud of you,” I repeat, needing her to know just how fucking brave, how incredible she is.
“For killing someone?” she asks, sounding confused.
“No, for standing up for yourself. For taking control of the situation. For being so fucking brave.”
“I just did what anyone would do,” she says quietly, not making a big deal out of this.
Dropping my hands to her waist, I lift her and spin her until she’s sitting astride my hips.
“No,” I say firmly. “What you did was incredible. You’re so fucking strong, and I’m so fucking gone for you.”
She gasps, but I don’t allow her time to say anything. Instead, I slide my fingers into her hair and pull her forward. My lips brush hers, testing the water, but the second I feel her tongue sneak out, I know she’s on board.
I part my lips, and she hungrily slides her tongue in search of mine.
Our kiss is slow, passionate, and I try to pour into it everything I feel as I attempt to ignore the fact that she hasn’t said anything in response.
I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me, but I know I’m being selfish. She’s just been through something huge. Hell, she’s been going through something unbelievable since I first dragged her off that stage. However she’s feeling about me shouldn’t be her biggest concern right now.
“Spike,” she moans into my mouth, her hands gliding over my chest and stomach until one of them wraps around my length.
“That’s not—” I start, wanting to tell her that sex wasn’t where I was intending this to go.
“Shhh,” she soothes, as if she’s suddenly the one looking after me as her hand gently strokes me.
She kisses across my jaw and down my neck as she continues working me.
Part of me wants to tell her no, that she’s injured and should be relaxing, but I know better than to try to stop her when she wants something.
So instead of taking her hand in mine and forcing her to lie back down, I stretch out a little more as she kisses across my collarbones, enjoying the feeling of her touch.
After a few minutes, she lifts up, her eyes burning into mine as she sinks down on my length.
My eyes threaten to close as the sensation takes over me, but I fight it, my need to keep our connection stronger than my need to drown in the feeling of her.
“Fuck, Tiny.”
“No talking,” she demands, pressing two fingers to my lips before dropping her palm to rest over my heart. “Just feel.”
I nod. It’s all I’m able to do as she lifts up and slowly sinks back down again.
Needing to give her the escape from reality that I’m sure she needs right now, I reach down and begin to rub slow circles against her clit.
She moans in pleasure, her muscles clamping down on me as her back arches.
It’s a fucking fine sight, despite the blood that’s still covering some of her skin.
“Come, Kas. Show me just how good it feels.”
After only a few seconds, her body tenses and her eyes slam shut as pleasure races through her. Her pussy squeezes down on me so tight that I have no choice but to fall over the edge of the cliff with her.
Pulling her down onto my chest, I run my fingers up and down her back as she catches her breath.
“Spike,” she whispers.
“Yeah, Tiny?” When I look down, she’s staring up at me with awe in her eyes.
“I think I love you too.”
My breath catches at her words before a smile curls at my lips.
“You think?”
She shrugs. “I’ve never loved anyone before. But I’ve also never felt like this before either.” She draws circles around my heart as she speaks causing goosebumps to prick my skin despite the hot bath we’re in.
“It’s scary, isn’t it?”
“A little. Mostly, it’s kinda exhilarating.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She looks away for a moment.
“What’s wrong?”
“Can you… can you wash my hair, like you did before?”
“For you, anything.”
After I finished washing her, I wrapped her in a fluffy towel to dry off before tucking her into bed. She could hardly keep her eyes open, so after forcing her to take a couple of painkillers, she curled up and almost instantly fell asleep.
I’d hoped I was wrong about her being injured, but the second I started massaging her scalp as she asked me to, she let out a loud gasp and I knew it was wishful thinking.
Finding my phone in my jeans that I’d dropped on our way to the bathroom, I discover numerous missed calls from Zach, Biff and D.
Going for Zach first, I lift the phone to my ear and listen to it ring.
“Is she okay?”
“She will be. She’s sleeping. I don’t think it’s really hit her yet.”
“Fucking hell,” he mutters. I picture him tugging at his hair and spinning around the way he does when he doesn’t know what to say down the line. “I’ve only known about her for a couple of months and she’s already aged me a few years.”
“You don’t need t
o worry about her, Zach. I think she’s more capable of looking after herself than we are.”
“I know. Fuck,” he barks. “But it shouldn’t be that way.”
“I know, man. But it is what it is.”
“I fucking hate that I haven’t been able to help,” he admits.
“You’ve helped more than you think you have.”
He blows out a long breath. “D sorted everything.”
“Was he…” I trail off, but Zach clearly knows where my question is heading.
“No. Although he is now.”
“Who was he?”
“Jet’s brother. Cruz didn’t think he was involved anymore. He hadn’t been seen for months. Seems that he might have just been working in the background.”
“Is that it now?” I ask, almost pleading for this to finally be over for Kas.
“Yes. Well, they’re pretty confident.”
“That’s not exactly reassuring.”
“They thought they had them all last time, so…” he trails off. Neither of us need a reminder of tonight’s events.
“D’s going to call you. He’s got a friend or something who Kas might want to talk to about all this.. A shrink of some sort.”
“I’ve already had a missed call from him.”
“Okay, you should probably call him back then,” he suggests awkwardly.
“Yeah…” Silence hangs heavy between us. “Zach?”
“It’s okay, Spike. Everything’s okay.”
“I… um… What I said earlier, it’s tru—”
“I know,” he interrupts. “I know. Just… just promise me something.”
“Sure.”
“Make sure her future is a fuck load better than her past.”
“You got it. She’s one of us now, Zach. We’re not going to fail her.”
“Maybe so, but you’re the only one with her heart.”
My breath catches at his words. “Fuck,” I mutter.
“Trust me, I know how you feel. Just for the love of God, don’t fuck it up.”
“I’ll do my best, man. I’ll do my best.” I hear Biff in the background asking about Kas and I make my excuse to hang up so I can ring D.
He tells me a slightly more detailed version of what Zach did, seeing as he was there with Cruz when they found the motherfucker who jumped my girl. He also explains about his friend and tells me he’ll shoot her number over so I can give it to Kas, should she feel she needs it.
Defy You: A Brother's Best Friend/Age Gap Romance (Rebel Ink Book 3) Page 26