Chapter Twenty-Five Larissa #2
Silence. Distant slow chirps sound in the distance.
Wind. Nothing but wind as it bites my face and cheeks.
My exhales cloud, with each one giving my position away easily.
A veil of darkness sweeps through the camp as the biting cold sets in, numbing my skin.
Dread joins it, cloaking me in the truth.
That the breaths I’m exhaling might very well be my last. It was and remains the double-edged sword of seeking his help.
Though I knew it—have known it—I never believed he wouldn’t give me the benefit of hearing me.
But so far, he hasn’t. Anger starts to simmer in place of my fear as I lash out. “Face me, you fucking coward!”
“You don’t want that right now, DiCicco.
” He spits my name like acid, a reminder of where we are and who I am to him in his mind.
His enemy. His voice is so low, so fucking deadly, that I can’t help the shiver that runs the length of my body.
Hunted. It’s what I feel right now, and it’s in the air.
Though I refuse to allow signs of any weakness in my voice as I prompt him in search of his direction.
“Why, what’s next? Waterboarding? Jesus, I hate stating the obvious, but since we don’t seem to speak the same language, I guess I’ll remind you that I’m fucking unarmed and you outweigh me by at least fifty pounds. Though, if you feel you need this much cover, I guess I should be flattered.”
“Last chance.”
Nervously fingering my necklace, I whip my head to my right just as the bushes to my left rattle and settle.
Catching a faint sight of a silhouette, I follow it until it dissolves into the surrounding darkness.
No better off, freezing, and growing more furious at the situation, I flex my hands and begin boiling over.
Will summoned, I decide to take action, darting my eyes over the campground for something to use in my defense.
Scanning the base of the nearby trees, I second-guess my decision when I see Tyler’s axe is missing.
No one is coming, Larissa.
Swallowing the last of my panic, I allow my rage to multiply tenfold as I flip the switch from flight to fight, without any real way of protecting myself.
But if this unhinged bastard is really about to attempt to end my life, I’m not going down without making it a battle he’ll be hard-pressed to forget.
“Last chance for what!? You fucking fool!”
Blindly stalking around camp, the moon chooses that moment to disappear behind the tops of the trees, leaving me in the pitch black.
Frantically blinking to adjust my vision, I thrust my palms out to steady myself.
Slowly trekking over the uneven ground, I speak up again, the black wrath infused within me rising like a tide.
“So, this is it, huh? What it’s come down to?
Brute force with minimal conversation, so fucking pathetic. ”
Picking up one of the fire logs, I swing it and decide I won’t be fast enough.
“Not to mention anticlimactic. I don’t even get to know why I’m being—” My foot noisily drags on one of his lightweight cooking pans, interrupting my rant, and I instantly drop to grab it, finding it equally useless when I remember the morphine.
Morphine, which, if I can get to it in time, may knock his delusional ass out before he can do his worst. Spotting the UTV nearby, and knowing a key is somewhere on these grounds, most likely in his pocket, I quickly come up with a game plan to pinpoint which tub it’s in when his voice slices the air.
“There’s not a fucking thing here that will stop me.”
“Well, then, Marine, we have a difference of opinion.”
“The truth, Larissa,” he bites out, and I know, can feel it’s been spoken through clenched teeth and he’s on the verge of snapping.
He’s on edge; more than that, he’s unhinged.
Whatever went down tonight isn’t looking good for me.
It’s apparent that whatever he’s just dealt with has put my head on a chopping block.
Crossing me off the list of people necessary to remain breathing to finish his mission.
It’s then that images of the man I sought out make my next decision.
The same I’ve made half a dozen times already—to blindly trust him, with what minuscule amount I have left.
“You don’t want the fucking truth,” I seethe. “You don’t want anything from me but permission to do your worst!”
Ripping off his Henley, I toss it at my feet, my nipples granite due to the bitter cold, which I don’t let deter me as my skin heats rapidly from my ramping anger.
“No, what you really want is a reason to behave and treat me badly,” I stamp out, adding my sports bra to the pile and making sure he hears every word.
“Well, look no further, Marine, but if you want my truth …” I kick off my muddy sneakers and peel off my socks.
“Here’s what I know.” I pull down my sweats and ball them in my clenched fists.
“Hell isn’t hot, Tyler. It’s dark and cold, and you never know what or who is coming for you. ”
Hating the detectable shake in my own voice, knowing it’s rage but probably reeks of fear, I lift my chin to my enemy while tossing the sweats at my feet.
Standing utterly naked as I roar out my declaration.
“I’ve already been here, so the joke is on you, because you can’t do a fucking thing to me that hasn’t been done!
You want more truth? Come get it, you sick fuck! ”
In an instant, I sense him at my back, his rough exhale hitting my neck.
Whipping toward him, I’m stopped as his calloused palms grip my hips so hard I have to stifle my cry, just as both my swinging fists land sound punches.
His rebound is instant, and I’m knocked off my feet.
Landing hard, back on the muddy, rapidly cooling earth, I thrash beneath him as he pins both my fists—which he caught mid-swing—next to my head.
Arching my back to gain leverage, I glare up at him, expecting a metal return stare, but instead, his expression … his expression …
Eyes a solid wall of metal, his features are a hellish mix of retribution and rage, and inside them, I see my own death.
Holding my scream, instead I roar back, defying that death and the man intent on delivering it.
“You fucking fool!” I scream from a place I’ve rarely dared to venture to, the rage all-consuming as I blast my hidden truth and foolish hope from my core, from my very soul. “All I wanted was to get close to you!”
Pointlessly, I thrash beneath him, now eaten by black wrath.
Utilizing it to somehow get my right hand free, I begin to strike as hard as I can.
Gaining no ground as he continues to press me to the freezing earth, overpowering me.
It’s when I dare glance back up at him that I see that my words have somehow registered, as his eyes flicker between deathly metal and obsidian pools.
Lust, confusion, and utter rage skitter along his profile, equating to a godlike vengeance, before he blinks them back into pure metal.
“Who are they?!” he roars, his nose now an inch from mine.
“I don’t know!” I scream as I buck and twist. “Ciro wouldn’t let us see them!”
Summoning everything inside me, my heart pounds in my ears, heat bubbling along my skin as I issue my threat. “You better fucking kill me, you bastard,” I rage, “you better fucking kill me.”
Frantically bucking to gain leverage, enough to jostle him atop me, I spot the top of the Glock tucked in the back of his jeans. Thrusting up with everything I have, I manage to shake free enough to reach for it … just as he captures my mouth in a bruising kiss.
The sheer force of it pins me flat to the ground, his teeth sinking into my lips before he begins sucking feverishly. A growl leaves his throat as I slap and claw until I’m sure I’ve broken skin and drawn blood. With one last cry of muted outrage, I’m released and lifted to my knees.
Tyler glares over at me as he slowly reaches back into the waistband of his jeans before dropping the gun to the side of us, within both our reaches. Everything in his expression, his demeanor daring me to go after it.
Just as I go to swing, my throat is wrapped in his iron grip.
A shriek escapes me just before he begins thrashing his tongue into my open mouth.
Enraged, I palm the hand holding my throat, adding to his pressure, cutting off more air.
Gripping his hand so hard that it feels like my fingers will crack.
He rears back at the feel of it, hesitation skittering along his profile as he glares down at me.
“Do it,” I order. Even with the loss of air, my voice is unrecognizable to me. “Do it,” I command before my air is cut completely by us both.
The air charges between our heaving chests, and within a blink, a pleasured groan vibrates along my parted lips.
Batting my hands away, he pushes his exhale into my mouth, forcing me to take his air.
Within the ragged inhale, we’re tangled tongues and hands, groans mixing.
In the length of my next heartbeat, I’m thrust away from him, the force of it so powerful, I fall on my ass.
Chest pumping, I run my tongue along my bloodied lip as jagged metal sweeps the length of my naked body under the blue hue of the rising moon. Gun within reach, I don’t dare dart my eyes toward it, but he senses my intent anyway before we both fly into motion.