63. Cal Walker
Alexa, Play: The Magick - Demo - Witchz
F or a second, everything was quiet. Then, Ronan’s body tensed in rage. He whirled, striding to their bags, pointing an angry finger in the stuffed animal’s face. “Fuck you, Buffalo! He’s protecting them, so he’s just as bad!”
“Ronan,” the pretty boy warned.
“And fuck you too, Dakota.” For a second, I saw two of them before Ronan morphed back into one. And then he was rushing at me.
My drunk ass almost giggled when I realized he was going to attack me with a plushie.
“Fuck you, you fucking pedo lover!” Ronan screamed, and suddenly, the situation wasn’t funny anymore.
“What the fuck did you just call me!?” I snarled as Ronan beat me over the head with the highland cow.
“Pedo lover, you fuck! You disgust me!”
“Pedo lover!? I fucking kill pedos, you dumbass!” I slurred. I tried to throw a punch, but my split vision was making me hella clumsy.
The world tilted, and suddenly, Ronan and I were rolling around on the ground, and he kept smacking me in the face over and over again with the stuffed toy.
“Don’t lie! You work for Apex! We know you’ve been trying to protect all these fucking pedophiles! You’re Damian Ryker’s goon! He’s like the pedo king!”
Even as drunk as I was, my blood ran cold at Ronan’s words. My sluggish thoughts reeled, and suddenly, every time I had suspected Ryker was involved in some shady shit that involved kids swam to the surface of my mind.
I was working hard against the alcohol I had consumed, trying to process the fact that I had been right this whole time.
Instead of trusting my gut, I’d allowed myself to look the other way.
It was easier to pretend that I was wrong, but now, with Ronan literally screaming the truth in my face, I couldn’t pretend anymore.
I had allowed Damian to manipulate me and turn me into the type of monster I’d sworn to kill… and I had never hated myself more.
As the realization rolled over me, suddenly, the constant smack smack smack of the stuffed cow hitting my face became too much for me to bear, and I snatched it by the head.
Intending to pull it away so I could ask Ronan more about what he had just said, I yanked, but Ronan wouldn’t let go.
With a frustrated growl, I rolled so that he was now beneath me, and I pulled harder on the cow, trying to get him to stop hitting me long enough to talk.
Everything went to shit, though, when the cow’s head ripped right off, and Ronan froze beneath me.
I watched as the man’s face went paper white as he realized I’d decapitated his toy, and then he was screaming.
This wasn’t a scream of rage; it was the type of sound someone made when they’d literally been stabbed or just watched someone they loved die.
It was a wail, and the sound chilled me to my bones.
I frowned, and then there was a bang! And suddenly, pain like I had never felt in my entire life tore through my side.
“Dakota! What the fuck! You shot him!?” Logan barked, and I glanced down to find that what Logan had said must be true.
There was an unnerving amount of blood blooming beneath my hoodie, and it took my wasted ass a second to process just how serious this was.
Collapsing on top of Ronan, my vision shuttered in and out. I fought to maintain consciousness as Vox suddenly appeared in the clearing.
“V-Vox?” I mumbled, rolling off Ronan and pressing the cow’s head to my side in an effort to keep my blood inside my fucking body.
Logan immediately pointed his gun at Vox, but he hesitated as Vox held both his hands up to show he was unarmed. My friend’s face was paler than I had ever seen it. He glanced at me, then dragged his silver gaze up to meet Logan’s.
“I’m sorry! I thought he stabbed Ronan or something. Fuck, Ronan, why did you fucking scream like that?” Pretty boy Dakota was yammering, but no one was listening to him.
Logan and Vox were locked in a stare-down, and I wondered if they were going to kill him, too.
I fucking hoped not.
I didn’t want anyone else getting hurt because I was fucking impulsive idiot.
Vox maintained eye contact with Logan and tilted his head toward me in a clear request to check on me.
Logan’s jaw pulsed, and another long, tense moment passed before he nodded his head once and lowered his firearm.
What the fuck? They were letting us go?
Vox was on me in seconds, his hands gently skating over my side, causing me to flinch.
He let out a distressed huff and grabbed the arm I wasn’t using to hold the cow head and sling it over his shoulder.
I groaned as he forced me to my feet, shooting one last look back at Logan, Dakota, and the still-screaming Ronan.
Dakota was doing his best to comfort Ronan, but Logan was staring at us, and I could see the conflict on his face.
He wasn’t sure if letting us go was the right call.
Fuck, I wasn’t sure if it was the right call.
If what Ronan had said was true, and I’d really been protecting a bunch of people who hurt children, I deserved to be shot. Probably worse.
Guilt rolled through me as Vox helped me out of the woods and into the passenger seat of the G-Wagon.
My vision was fading, and the last thing I remembered before slipping into unconsciousness was Vox pressing his head against my temple in anguish.
Then, the car door slammed, and the engine rumbled to life, and I faded into the darkness of my mind, unsure if I even wanted to wake back up.