Property of Drex (Book 2)(45)

Drex left me with a gun, but let’s face it, I can’t hit a blind man from five feet away, so a gun doesn’t make me feel powerful at all.

I’ve had nothing to do but binge watch TV shows and think. Lots of thinking. But mostly I’ve thought of one thing: Drex never told me he loved me. He seemed fine with me telling him, but he didn’t say it back.

Do men like him even say things like that? I don’t know. He shows me how he feels about me. Even without him saying it, there’s no doubt he feels the same way. Actions speak louder than words and all that.

It’d be nice to hear the words out loud though.

Sighing, I let my eyes flick to the eyeball of the teddy bear in my room. It’s hiding a camera. I think I’ve subtly found all of them, and I hope they all belong to Drex. It’s creepy knowing a group of them are hanging out and watching me.

But it also feels good to know that Drex is most likely watching me as well.

I bite down on my lower lip, and debate putting on a show. If he’s watching, he won’t let anyone else see it. If he’s not watching, though… nah. I better not put on a show. I’d rather no one got hurt, and I don’t want to put on a show for anyone else anyway.

My eyes flit over to the daisies on my wall. Yep… I wrote “cocksucker” on them just because I was missing Drex. Drake finally gave me the full story when we were in the hospital, and I regret not teasing Drex about it.

As my mind drifts through an array of more random thoughts, I shift my gaze back to the window, staring at the house that is twenty feet away. I wish Drex was closer. Maybe we could tunnel underground or something.

Boredom is an annoying thing, but I stare out the window like I have for most days, while lying on my back. It’s not until I catch a flash of blue that I jolt up. Maybe I’m seeing things…

I try not to go press my face against the window and give myself away, but I do jog out of my room and head toward the backdoor while pulling Drex’s number up and letting my finger hover over the “send” button. Looking out the large, back bay windows, I see nothing but some trees and my brothers’ sandbox.

My eyes move around the yard, expecting something to pop out and yell, “Boo!” Fortunately, that doesn’t happen, and I put my phone back in my pocket. I’m officially paranoid. Besides, there are cameras outside too. If something ran by, Drex would have—

My breath seizes in my lungs when a shadow falls over me from behind. Slowly, I turn around and my mouth turns into cotton.

“Hello, Eve.”

My eyes fall on the sandy blonde in front of me, and I swallow despite the dryness in my throat.

“Uncle.”





Chapter 43



EVE



Uncle Marshall doesn’t look as preppy and sophisticated as he normally does. He looks haggard and unkempt as he stares at me.

“Been trying to get ahold of your mother,” he says, standing a bit away with no weapons in his hand.

“She left town. I… got into some trouble,” I tell him, stalling, waiting for Drex to show up in his shiny armor and all that. So much for no one being able to get in without the alarms sounding. “How’d you get in?” I ask him, trying not to act like I want to stab him with the butter knife that’s on the table.

Wish I had that gun. Maybe I’d get lucky. What’d I do with it?

Then again… Even though I hate him, I’m not sure I could actually shoot him. I remember a time when he seemed somewhat nice. Back before he was a using bastard with my father and a criminal mastermind who killed him.

He looks around warily, as though he’s investigating. Pulling out my phone now to call Drex would just be suspicious.

He’s wearing a blue shirt, so that accounts for the flash of blue I saw earlier. Surely Drex has seen him by now and is on his way.

“What sort of trouble?” he asks me, not bothering to answer my question.

“It’s too crazy. You’d never believe it,” I tell him, smiling tightly.

My eyes shift to the counter beside us… where Drex’s gun is… Ah shit. That’s where I left it. When my gaze shifts back, Uncle Marshall is giving me a dark smirk.

“You’re a terrible actress, Eve. Really.”

A tense knot forms in my stomach as everything plays out in slow motion. My heartbeat slams like a warning drum in my ears, steadily growing louder as my eyes widen and I dive, acting on instinct alone. A scream pierces the air and it takes me a second to realize it’s from me as a sharp pain spreads through my scalp.

The bastard is pulling me back by my hair, and I feel a sense of weightlessness when he uses his hold on my hair to throw me across the room. A grunt leaves me, stealing my breath, when I hit the ground hard enough for searing hot pain to shoot through my spine and tingle against my toes as I slide on my back. My head thuds against the floor, and my vision dims only for a second before sharpening once again. I stare helplessly as Uncle Marshall casually picks the gun up and examines it like he finds it fascinating.

“All my planning and then you come along,” he says on a sigh. “One crazy coincidence that fucked it all up. Fucking Ben. He couldn’t help himself. Had to have you. I used that.” He looks up at me, toying with the gun as he slowly takes a step toward me. “Backfired when you started letting Herrin’s son fuck you like his whore.”

I don’t move, trying not to spook him. Where the hell is Drex?

“I actually thought you were setting a trap for me with this charade,” he goes on, squatting down just a few feet away from me with the gun casually resting in his hand, pointing it at the ground instead of me. “But then saw Drex all over some girl downtown and realized this was real. He honestly doesn’t give a fuck about you, and I was stupid enough to think he did. No, not stupid. Paranoid. Because of you, this entire fucking thing has gone to hell. Because of you, a beautiful plan has gone to shit. Ben is running, knowing his father is going to slit his throat. Half the men we’d assembled have scattered. The others are dead, thanks to your sweet ex. Damn pussy. All the best laid plans are fucked by pussy.”

My stomach drops as my mind tries to process what he said about Drex and some girl, even though it’s the last thing I should be thinking about right now. Everything boils over until it hits a peak near eruption, and I swallow as he continues to talk, giving that evil monologue I once waited for Ben to do.

My ears hum with a steadily growing white noise, and something inside of me snaps. With one hard push, I’ve launched myself at him, catching him off guard, and I land on top of him as the gun skitters across the floor.

Screaming. I’m screaming again as my fists collide with his face over and over while I straddle him, but it’s not enough. Shoving me off him, his hand connects with my face in a slap so hard I taste blood and hear a ringing almost simultaneously as my head snaps to the side.

When I look back over, he’s standing over me with a gun, but my lips twitch when I see a second gun being put against the back of my uncle’s head.

“I strongly suggest you lower that gun before this gets ugly,” a familiar voice says from the right, and my uncle’s eyes go wide as he glances in the direction where Axle is lounging on my living room sofa across from us. It’s hard to see him from this angle, since I’m still in the dining room, but there’s no mistake about who is right behind him.

My uncle slowly holds his gun out while swallowing hard, and he drops the weapon that clanks against the tile as Drex steps out from behind him and stares at me, putting about three feet of distance between my uncle and himself, but never lowering his gun.

“Your call, Eve. Still want me to do this?” Drex asks as I stand up on unsteady legs.

My breath shakes in my lungs like the oxygen is laced with thousands of tiny air bubbles. My eyes move from the cool blue ones to my uncle’s, and I see the terror in there because he knows Drex will kill him. He knows it’s over.

“Should have went with your first instinct about the trap,” I manage to say despite the tremor in my voice.

The surprise and horror on his face stirs a sense of pride inside me. I hope Dad can see this right now.

“I bet my father was terrified when you threatened us,” I whisper hoarsely, watching his eyes widen as though he’s shocked. Just the look I see in his eyes lets me know it’s true. He did kill him. “I bet he begged you not to hurt us… Not to make him kill himself. I bet it broke his heart to know how sick his brother was.”

His lips thin as he glares at me, and it’s all the confirmation I need. I don’t need closure; no answers will ever be good enough; and I don’t care what he has to say.

“Yeah,” I say, looking back at Drex just as my uncle yells something, but it’s muted as something quiet zips through the air, causing his words to cease immediately.

I hold Drex’s gaze, never looking away, and he never looks away from me either as the telltale sound of a heavy thump hits the ground, rattling the cabinets just a little. My eyes stay fixed on Drex and the small drop of blood that has landed on his neck.

It’s not as messy as I expected, then again, my eyes haven’t fallen to the floor, and I never actually saw the bullet enter. Axle walks in to join us, and Drex hands him the gun, never moving his eyes away from mine.