Fifty
Bianca
F allon’s hands tightened on the wheel as we peeled out of campus, rocks and dirt kicking behind us.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere,” he muttered. “Put your seatbelt on.”
“What? Do you have a plan?” I fumbled with the buckle as I tried to fasten it.
“Yes.”
My phone buzzed in my tiny clutch, and I pulled it out to see a message from Vincent.
What have you done, baby B?
I dropped the phone back into my bag with shaky hands.
What had I done? What had they done?
When Levin had dropped Dom’s earlier whereabouts on me, I’d nearly vomited on his Italian leather shoes. The knife was only further pushed in when he’d continued unloading their truth and then told me to run.
Now that I had a second to think though, something wasn’t sitting right with me.
Levin and his inability to admit his feelings was one thing, but for him to just come out of nowhere with the cruel shit he’d spouted at the dance?
It seemed off to me. It hurt like nothing else though.
I had no clue what to believe anymore, but the thought of Dom with someone else made me want to vomit.
It hurt. Bad. Maybe this was how Dom felt when he pictured me with someone else.
I was getting a dose of my own medicine. It tasted pretty awful.
I stared out at the dark scenery whizzing past us, turmoil rolling through my body. There was no going back now. I’d sided with their enemy and had run out on them, but if what Levin had said was true, it didn’t matter. I didn’t mean shit to them. They were just out a plaything, nothing more.
But Fallon? He was here for me. At least I hoped he was.
I looked over at him. He was focused on the road, his body tense. He’d told me to stay away from the dance. It seemed odd for him to be hiding out on campus and able to find me so easily when I shouldn’t have been there anyway. It made me feel uneasy.
“You’re not taking me to Hail, are you?” I whispered.
He did a doubletake. “I’d never take you to Hail.”
I relaxed a bit more. My nasty trust issues weren’t doing so hot in that moment.
I’d fallen for a group of guys I’d thought I might be able to have a shot with, who might feel the same.
We hadn’t discussed being in a relationship, but it had felt like we were in one.
A vision of Dom with another woman entered my head again.
I clutched at my stomach as the nausea rolled through me like a freight train.
Not that I had a right to be hurt. Wasn’t I the one who’d let Fallon screw me in a closet after I’d promised to never let anyone but the kings touch me?
Karma. It was splattered all over me in bright red.
“We have company.” Fallon stomped on the accelerator.
I looked behind us to see a car fast approaching.
“Fuck,” Fallon snarled, reaching behind his back into his waistband and pulling out a gun.
I stared horrified at him. “What are you doing?” I shouted.
“What does it look like? See that car?”
Of course, I saw the damn car.
“That’s De Santis’s Mercedes AMG-GT. It’s fast. We won’t outrun him. We’ll have to fight and hope we kill him before he kills us.”
“ What ?” I screeched, peeking behind us again.
Sure enough. The slick black sedan was right on our asses, and I could see Dominic behind the wheel with Vincent beside him. Another car was behind them.
“I don’t want anyone to die…” My heart thudded hard. I didn’t want my kings to be hurt. They may have gutted me with their bullshit, but I couldn’t help how I felt about them. Sure, I was pissed, but they didn’t deserve to die, and I deserved answers.
“Princess, it’s us or them.”
I stared back at Dominic, noting the hard look on his face illuminated by his dashboard and remembered the last time he’d lost his temper on me and beat my ass with his belt.
A scream left my lips as Vincent popped out the passenger window and raised a handgun. Fallon reached over and shoved my head down as Vincent opened fire, the pop, pop of the gun making my heart thrash violently.
Vincent was shooting at us?
God, they really were going to kill us.
The roar of the car behind them sounded out, and Fallon cursed again.
“Fucking Seeley,” he snarled, jerking the car into the other lane.
I chanced a peek to see Levin in a blue sports car with his gun pointed at us too.
Holy shit.
Levin shot, the bullet shattering the back window of Fallon’s car. I let out a scream and covered my head as diamond bursts of broken glass pinged off my skin. Fallon aimed his gun in Levin’s direction and opened fire. Levin hit the brakes and moved out of Fallon’s range.
Vincent fired at us again, ending the brief moment of ceasefire.
“How the hell did they know where we were?” Fallon demanded, dropping the clip out of his gun and shoving another in. “Are they tracking you?”
“What?”
We careened around a curve. Fallon tore my phone from my bag and thumbed through it quickly before letting out a curse and throwing it in the backseat.
“Your phone. They’re tracking your phone . They have an app installed that can find you. Damnit, I should’ve known. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!”
We whipped around another curve with Dom still on our asses. Levin surged around us, moving a few car lengths in front.
“What’s he doing?” I whispered fearfully.
I didn’t have to wait to find out. He raised his hand in the air, and Dom shot out from behind us to match our speed in the other lane. Fallon shot at them, making Dom slow down.
“Don’t! Please, don’t shoot them—”
“They’re trying to kill us!” Fallon shouted back at me in disbelief. “The fuck I’m not going to shoot them.”
I looked at the speedometer. We were going too fast. Way too fast.
“Fallon, you need to slow down.”
“We can’t,” he said, the car lurching forward as he emptied his gun on Dominic’s car.
“We can’t outrun them. You know we can’t. Please. Stop the car.”
“Bianca—”
“Stop the damn car!” I reached out and slammed the gearshift into neutral and grabbed the wheel just as Vincent shot again.
He hit our front tire before firing again and hitting the back one.
The car spun as Levin slammed on his brakes.
A scream tore from my lungs and I smack my head against the passenger window.
It felt like I was on a ride at the state fair that wasn’t ever going to end. I held onto the oh shit handle as the car careened over an embankment and into the woods where it finally nestled itself against a tree.
The airbags deployed, saving me from eating the dashboard. All was silent around us for several long moments.
“Bianca,” Fallon finally called out hoarsely. “Bianca? Answer me. Please. You OK?”
“Mm,” I grunted amid a whimper. I’d really hurt tomorrow.
I didn’t get to ask if he was OK because my door was jerked open, and I was hauled out into the cool night air by Vincent.
“Don’t hurt him. Please.” I wept as I peered through slitted lids to see Levin and Dominic dragging Fallon from the car and over near us.
I let out a wail and tried to break free of Vincent’s hold as Dominic punched Fallon in the face. For every hit he landed, Levin matched him. Fallon was already hurt, his face bleeding from the crash. He clutched at his stomach with one arm.
Fallon managed to strike them both before they knocked him to the ground and began kicking him.
“No! NO! Please,” I shouted, sobbing. “Please, stop! Dominic! Levin!”
“He deserves it, B,” Vincent said in my ear.
“He doesn’t. He doesn’t . He’s trying to save me. Don’t kill him!” I managed to spin in Vincent’s arms to face him
“Please,” I pleaded, taking Vincent’s face in my hands. “ Don’t do this. ”
“You’re hurt,” Vincent murmured, his brows crinkled.
I felt the blood trickling down the side of my face and the aches of my body. I wasn’t going to die in that instant, but Fallon might.
“Did you ever love me?” Vincent asked quietly.
“What?”
“Did you ever love me? Us ?” he repeated. Torment blanketed his features.
“Of course, I did. I still do. You mean everything to me.”
“Then why’d you do it, B? Why a lord? And why’d you run?”
“Because I love him too,” I whispered, tears trickling from my eyes. “So please, don’t hurt him.”
Fallon cried out and grunted as he was struck again.
“Why’d you run?”
“Levin told me to. He-he said all these terrible things about you all—”
Vincent nodded and turned me in his arms so I could see Fallon on his stomach, Levin and Dom circling him like vultures.
“I don’t like when people die, B. I don’t. But I can’t control any of this. Just know that I hurt too. I hurt for what’s to come.”
My heart cracked at his words.
They stopped striking Fallon. Dom turned to me as Levin lifted Fallon to his knees. Fallon’s face was beaten so badly his eyes were nearly swollen shut.
“On your knees,” Dom snarled at me.
Vincent released me.
“Fuck you, Dominic.” My chest heaved as I glared at him.
“Fuck me ?” He rushed at me and gripped my face.
I took a stumbling step back.
“ Fuck you, wasp . You lied to me. You betrayed us. Remember what I said? Remember my promise?”
I shook in his hold, remembering his promise to kill me and the person I’d been with. “You lied to me too,” I whispered.
He’d promised no other girls. He’d promised not to hurt me. His promises were shit. Except the one to kill me apparently.
“Now get on your fucking knees.”
I focused on Fallon who was staring at me through his swollen, purple eyelids, his face covered in blood. Levin had a gun pointed at his head, his aim steady.
Defeated, I sank to my knees, knowing there wasn’t a way out.
Check and mate.