“Whatever. Face Kai’s wrath then,” he says, but he kisses her cheek as if to soften the blow.
We stand to go to the bathroom right as the halftime bell sounds off.
Yes.
This was my plan all along.
Tons of people rise from the stands to go to the restrooms, concession stand, etc.
In no time, I lose River to the giant crowd, and run outside the school.
It’s dark outside, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. “Good” because it’s less likely they’ll see me. “Bad” because monsters are out at night. They see a young girl walking alone and they’ll pounce.
No sooner than the thought enters my mind, and I’m being pulled back and thrown into the side of a dumpster.
I scream, and then Chad's furious face comes into view. His hands wrap around my throat against the black collar Kai gave me today and squeezes tightly.
I claw at his hands and try hitting him in the face, but he doesn’t let up. He's going to do it this time. He’s actually going to do it. As black spots start in my vision, my last thought is, I’m going to die, before everything goes dark.
Gravel digs into my back as I come to. Kai’s hovering over me, still in his jersey, and actually looks a bit worried.
I groan, trying to sit up quickly. “Chad—” I start, and my voice comes out hoarse. “He tried to kill me.”
Kai gently touches my chin and tilts my head from side to side and I wince a bit. His eyes darken when he stares at my neck. There’s likely bruising there.
He shoves a paper into my hand, and I stare at it in confusion before seeing what it says.
“I know her pussy’s tight, but you can’t trust her. She’ll fuck you over the first chance she gets and then come crawling back to me.”
Fucking Chad.
Kai looks absolutely murderous.
“He’s lying, ya know,” I say quietly, staring at the note in my shaking hands.
Wait. That’s not Chad’s writing.
“Well then, I guess we better get home and find out. You said you were a virgin earlier. Let’s see if you were lying.”
“Kai,” I say tersely. “This note isn’t from Chad. The handwriting doesn’t match.”
He roughly grabs the paper from my hand, crinkling it into a tiny ball, and without a word, grabs my hand and stalks off with me toward his car.
10
Ava
As I reach Kai and Desiree, I know that I’ve only made it this far because Killian allowed it. He could have caught me and scooped me up without much effort. I see Desiree wince in pain as Kai grabs her by the face and snaps at her.
“Let her go, Kai. Why are you doing this? Just stop!” I scream at him. It’s different between Killian and me. We have history. He thinks I abandoned him or something worse. It doesn’t give him the right to treat me the way he does, but this girl doesn’t even know the boys or the things they’ve been through. She’s walked right into Kai’s web, and I don’t think she’ll make it out unbroken.
Kai laughs, but there is no humor in it. He’s disgusted by me and he wants me to know it. “Don’t fucking talk to me, after what you…”
I feel Killian standing behind me, silent, and I lose my mind.
“WHAT!?” I scream. “What the fuck did I do to the two of you? I left, I’m fucking sorry that the old bitch was trying to sell me and…”
Kai doesn’t let Desiree go, and instead, he drags her over in front of me and grabs me roughly by the arm. I wasn’t nearly as close to him as I was to Killian when we were younger, and in the beginning, when they first started the Vipers, he told Killian I was a liability for the two of them. But as time went on, and I proved myself by bailing them out of some sticky situations, we understood each other. Because we had something in common. We both loved Killian more than anything, and if it came down to it, we’d both take a bullet for him. It stings when he growls, “Shut your fucking mouth, slut.” I don’t back down. I glare up at him despite the fact it feels like his fingers are going to crush the bone of my arm.
I don’t see it coming, but I hear Desiree scream when she’s dropped to the ground and Killian lunges at Kai, shoving him so hard he stumbles and falls to the ground. They wrestle around for a moment, evenly matched.
I start to move forward and try to pull Killian off of his own brother. I know the risk, one blow and either one of them could kill me. But I don’t get the chance. Damon rushes past me and, with the help of two other guys, pulls Killian off of Kai.“Don’t fucking touch her again.” Killian spits the words at Kai and shoves Damon off of him.
Before I realize what is happening, Killian is grabbing me by the arm just like he fought his brother for doing. The difference is, I’m his property. In his mind, he’s the only one who can touch me this way.
“You’re back to being twisted up over some stupid bitch who fucked you over!” Kai yells as Killian swings open the passenger door of his car, fully prepared to shove me inside. I twist in his hold, something he wasn’t anticipating. Rage fills my chest as my eyes zero in on Kai.
“Fuck you!” I scream, years of frustration bubbling out of my chest. “I don’t know what you think you know, Kai, but you’re a fucking liar if you say I didn’t love your brother with my whole heart. You know I was always down for him, whatever he needed, whenever. For both of you.”
For the first time since we were kids, I see the hardened expression that seems to be permanently
