A Kingpin Love Affair (A Kingpin Love Affair #1-5)(58)

“Alzerro, you listen to me. You have to stay alive. You have to kill Mack. You have to get revenge….” My eyes stung as I tried to open them, and my body felt hard—as if bricks were being piled on me piece by piece, brick by brick. I knew I needed to keep my eyes open. I knew I needed to keep thinking. I needed to hold on to hope, but I couldn’t when the darkness called to me.

“Zerrooooo…” Those were the last words I would ever hear, and the last image to hit me in the face was one of Bree, and the look on her face knowing I had let her down. I cut her deep with my actions not even realizing the knife was in my hand. I stabbed her in the back because I thought she had betrayed me. In reality, it was I who had caused her the ultimate betrayal.

Then the darkness came and there was no point trying to fight it. It was inevitable.





Chapter Two

Zerro

My body ached badly as I threw my legs over the side of the bed. The cotton sheets felt soft against my skin—soft just like Bree’s skin. I had to shake my head to get the memories to leave my mind.

“You’re too weak to be getting up and moving around,” Jared said interrupting my thoughts. I looked up from the hardwood floor and up to his face. His eyes were dull, reflecting no light. His face was sunken in, and it looked as if he hadn’t shaved in months. I didn’t have room to talk, though. I don’t look much better I’m sure. It had been three weeks since I had last seen Bree, since I had last touched her. Since I had allowed Mack, the fucking snake, into my cabin. Just thinking about it caused my blood to boil.

“Funny, last I remember you didn’t have a medical degree,” I retorted in a smartass tone, adjusting myself. My leg was fucked up from the gunshot. I had lost a shit ton of blood, and though the shots I had taken to the chest hurt, nothing hurt as bad as trying to move my leg when it had stitches and pins in it.

Leaning against the door of the room, he smiled at me as if he thought what I said was actually funny, when really I was just trying to be an asshole.

“You don’t need a medical degree to know you should be lying in bed. Resting. Cooling off. Staying hidden.” In one whole sentence, he named four things I would rather not be doing.

“No…” I hissed out as a burning sensation flowed through my leg. “I would rather not just lay here while Bree is out there and that ass fucking hole has her. I would rather do anything, but sit here and hope and pray for something good to come from all of this.” I sneered.

“Hoping and praying won’t do shit in this situation, but going into something without a plan won’t help either. Do you want to put yourself in line for death again?” I kept my eyes trained on the floor as I attempted to stand for the first time in weeks. My body was worn and tired, but at the same time, it was begging for a release of energy. To get up and move around. Nothing Jared was saying was going to stop me from doing what needed to be done.

My foot hit the floor, and although there wasn’t any weight on it yet, I was slightly hesitant to stand. It hurt like a bitch lying down, so I’m sure it would be no better standing. It didn’t matter though; I had to start somewhere. Putting most of my weight on my arms, I pushed myself up slowly attempting to push the majority of my weight onto my good side. Once I was ready, I shifted weight to the other side, ever so slowly.

“I swear to fucking god, you have a death wish, Zerro. A death fucking wish,” Jared muttered under his breath angrily.

“No death wish, Jared…” I hissed out between clenched teeth as a burning sensation radiated up my leg. It hurt, but not as bad as I thought it would. “I have a need for revenge. A burning, all-consuming rage to have revenge on Mack; to get Bree back. Sitting here in this fucking bed, not getting better, not moving, and allowing myself to think about it more, just adds unneeded fuel to the fire.”

In my rant to Jared, I didn’t even realize I had come to stand on both feet while holding the side of the bed. Releasing a deep breath, I let go of the sheets and stood by myself. I looked up at Jared and watched him walk over to me—waiting for me to fall to the ground I was certain. I wasn’t used to feeling weak, to needing someone. If anything, the need for help just made me angrier. I wasn’t coping with the shit that went down. I was simply waiting it out until the moment I could sink my knife into Mack’s flesh.

“Bree needs you, Zerro. She needs you to come and save her wherever the fuck she is, but she also needs you to be strong and healthy because, without those things, you’re useless to her. If you go barreling in there without a plan, without fully being healed, you become a liability.”