“Oh, baby. Such a sweet girl. You just sit there and look pretty—I’ll do all the work.”
Nodding, I ease myself down to straddle his waist just above the top of his jeans, my naked body vulnerable and shaking. I close my eyes and think of War. His gorgeous smile. His moving lips as he counts my breaths. His gentle and loving touch.
Breathe.
I can do this.
For War and our baby.
Gabe grips my thighs almost brutally, which has me jerking my eyes back open. This monster has always thought he owned my body. Making me come against my will. I want to make him pay for hurting War, causing Brandon to get lost in the darkness, for the role he played in the deaths of my parents.
I could almost get off on the idea of Gabe’s death.
Over and over again, I think about his neck being spilt open from ear to ear. His blood, responsible for the deaths of everyone I love, will pour from him until his heart stops beating.
I’ll leave this nightmare he dragged me into. I’ll go to college. I’ll raise this baby in a loving home with War in peace. I’ll go on and live when it was Gabe’s plan to take it all away.
I’ll spit on his grave and laugh all the way into the sunset of my own twisted happily ever after.
THE THOUGHT OF Gabe’s death is responsible for an all-consuming nearly orgasmic shudder that ripples through me like never before. It’s not sexual though, it’s a buzzing, electric adrenaline I’ve never experienced. My body responds with anticipation to eradicate him once and for all from my life, not the feeling of his filthy tongue on my clit as he’d like for it to be.
The rage festers inside me, fueling me. Egging me on. My grip tightens around my sanctity in my fist as I wait for the perfect moment.
“You’re something else, baby. So sweet and innocent at times, and fucking naughty as hell at others.” He sits up on one elbow and drags his gun along my bare belly. I try not to recoil in disgust and flash him a seductive smile instead.
“Thank you.”
His dark eyes widen in surprise. “For what?”
“For getting rid of him,” I say with a shiver. “He was different. Scary different.”
He drags the still warm barrel of the gun to my sex and teases my clit with it before letting it trail back up. “I’m kind of pissed off you find him scarier than me. That boy was always a pussy. Maybe,” he murmurs as he pokes the gun almost painfully into my lower belly just above my pelvic bone, “I should scare you a little more.”
My widened eyes meet his and he grins. If this were six months ago in my living room and he were poking me with his finger, that grin would have been charming. But not now, now it chills me to the bone.
“I’m not scared of you,” I tell him, my voice level. “Because I love you.” Those words fall out easily too, but they’re a big fucking lie.
“I love you too, sweet girl,” he tells me, his dark eyes warm like melted chocolate. His thumb slides over my belly just below my navel and he winks.
I make my move and lean forward to kiss him.
I’m coming for you, black knight.
As soon as our lips touch, he groans. Before he can deepen the kiss, I jerk away from him and swing my arm around. I’m clumsy with the weapon that feels too big in my slender hand, but it’s my only shot. I let my anger strengthen me as I stab downwards into his chest.
“What the fuck?” he roars. “What did you do to me?”
Despite his weakened state, he slings me away from him and I bang my head on the headboard. The devil rises from the bed, his malevolent presence scorching me with his eyes. He drops his gaze to Brandon’s knife which now sits firmly wedged to the hilt in his chest.
Blood.
So much.
Seeping and seeping at a rapid rate from his wound. A wound I gave him.
His shaky hand attempts to pull it out, but it won’t move. He darts his eyes all around as if to pull answers from the air on what to do next. But it’s too late. Too late for the devil. This avenging angel already took his choice away from him.
“Baylee,” he rasps and uses what little bit of energy he has to lunge at me.
Screaming, I try to push him away from me but he grabs onto my hips and presses his warm mouth to my belly kissing me reverently, almost sweetly. Possessively even. My stomach roils in disgust and I choke down the bile threatening to spew out at any moment. His warm blood pours from him and runs down between my legs, soaking the bed below my bare ass.
But just when I think I can’t take anymore, it’s over.
Quick.
Painless.
Finished.
His body stills and remains unmoving as I slide out from beneath him.
“Checkmate,” I whisper and shove his lifeless body away.