Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
GRAYSON
Hale turns to look at me.
“We need names,” he states.
“All of them.”
I jerk my chin toward him, my eyes finding his before I speak.
“Let’s catalog some shit, then.”
The last thing I want to do is catalog a damn thing, especially this shit.
This is the kind of stuff that my nightmares are made of—well, all our nightmares.
However, I know that it needs to be done.
I know that it does as much as I don’t want it to.
I wish I could just throw this fucking drive in the trash and forget it ever existed.
Pressing my lips together, I look down at my feet and clear my throat before I inhale a deep breath and hold it for a moment.
Letting it out on a heavy exhale, I stare at the asshole in front of me.
I want to kill him.
I want to torture him.
Visions of Ravet flash in front of my eyes, replacing Landon’s face with his.
The rage builds even bigger inside of me, and if I wanted to kill Landon before, my mind replacing the image of his face with Ravet’s makes me want to do more than just end his life—I want to torture him.
“You don’t get shit,” Landon growls, taking me out of my mind and thoughts of torment.
“I don’t give a fuck what you say or do,” he says.
“Those people will kill my entire family. They don’t give a fuck.”
“Your family?” I ask, unsure that he’s really just said that shit to me.
I can’t keep it in.
I almost laugh in his face.
Fucking family.
That is goddamn rich coming from this absolute monster.
He’s worried about his family , people whom I know he hasn’t contacted in years.
He’s lying.
He’s worried about something else, something that he is trying to keep from us.
He’s lying.
Moving toward Landon, I take a moment to crouch in front of him.
I know that everyone else in the room is watching me.
I also know that they’re ready to jump between us if needed.
They want him alive, and they know that I want him dead.
Although I don’t think that Brody would stop me from killing him, and without a doubt, he’d add an extra couple of punches to my face again, too, at the same time.
“You’re a fucking liar,” I grind out.
“The only family you have is a mother and sister who disowned you years ago. Everyone else is dead. If you think you’re going to fuck me, you’re sadly mistaken.”
His lips curve up into a grin.
“I’ve been fucking you from the moment you laid eyes on my property.”
I press my lips together and roll them a few times.
“You haven’t,” I state.
“You have not a fucking person in this world who gives a fuck about you or who would know that you were gone. Nadine is not yours.”
Landon’s lips curve up into a grin, almost as if he thinks he’s really got me or something.
He doesn’t have a goddamn thing.
Never did, never will.
This motherfucker needs a taste of his own goddamn medicine.
“She was mine first. She will always be mine. I’ve imprinted myself on every ounce of her, inside and out. Doesn’t matter what you do to me,” he says, changing the entire goddamn subject as he continues.
“Because I will always be the man who took every part of Nadine’s virgin body. I will be the man who owned her and made a fucking mint off her cunt. I trained her, guided her, and made her who she is. I will always be there, in the back of her mind, a scent, a memory. Always there.”
I don’t respond to his words.
They don’t need my fucking response.
His words are bullshit laced with truth, and that pisses me off.
Instead of killing him quickly, I stand to my feet and take a step backward.
“Do we need him to catalog the faces on that drive?” I ask, not looking away from him.
Vaughn clears his throat.
“We don’t,” he says.
“We can use the facial recognition. We just have to plan a good death for this fuck. We’ve already killed one government official. We don’t need anyone breathing down our necks.”
My lips twitch into a smirk at the same time Landon’s turns down into a frown.
I almost laugh in his face again.
This has become the most comical of meetings.
With the absolute rage that I feel bubbling inside of me, I wasn’t sure I could smile, but Landon has proven to be fucking hilarious.
Theron speaks before I can say anything, though.
“What are his charges?” he asks.
“Sticky fingers and anger management issues,” I say, my lips twitching.
God, I hate this asshole.
Brody is the next person to speak, which surprises me.
I’d almost forgotten he was here, minus the death glare he focused on my back, that is.
“I know what we can do with him,” he offers.
Turning to look at him, I arch a brow, curious to know what he has planned for Landon.
I know that it will be good, because Brody hates him just as much as I do.
He moves forward, stopping just in front of Landon.
“We do to him what he did to my parents. Then we do to him what he did to my sister, leaving him pants down and dead in the men’s bathroom of the Willow Club.”
The room is bathed in silence, but not out of disgust, at least not from me or any of my Securus partners.
In fact, the plan is diabolical, poetic justice, and I am indeed impressed, to say the least.
NADINE
I’m not sure when I fall asleep or when the women leave, but a noise causes my body to stiffen, my heart to race, and my eyes to pop open.
I don’t make a move, though.
Attempting to keep my breathing shallow, I listen for anything else, any other sign of movement or noises.
I hear something again.
A door, maybe the refrigerator?
Then footsteps.
They’re soft, almost as if whoever it is knows I’m here and is trying to be quiet.
Then the bedroom door opens.
Turning my head slightly, I shift my gaze to the door, and that’s when I see him.
It’s Grayson.
He’s standing with his shoulder against the jamb, his eyes on me and a bottle of water in his hand.
“I know you’re awake,” he murmurs.
“I can tell with the change in your breathing.”
I don’t know what to say.
And I’m not even sure I can say anything at all.
I’m not sure what time it is or, honestly, what day it is.
I don’t push myself to sit up.
I stay where I am and roll onto my side so I can see him.
“You need help going to the bathroom or anything?” Grayson asks.
His voice is gruff, serious, and lacks the tenderness that he usually has when he talks to me.
He watches me, but I can’t tell his mood.
He’s different, and I know it’s because of what he’s seen.
I don’t think I could ever forget the fact that Landon called him and then forced me to do everything he did, plus whatever happened after he choked me until I was unconscious.
Judging by the soreness I feel all over my body, it was ugly.
“I’m okay,” I say.
“Your brother wanted you with him,” he announces.
Swallowing the thick lump in my throat, I stare at Grayson and wonder if this is something we could ever get past.
We haven’t been together for long, only officially for days, and what happened is huge.
I’m not sure he will ever be okay with it.
I wonder if this is the end before we even truly had our beginning.
“Grayson,” I whisper, trying not to cry.
I can hear my voice waver, and I know that the tears are on their way.
I’m on the verge of sobbing right now, which I absolutely hate.
Still, I’ve been through a lot, and I’m feeling everything—every emotion I can possibly imagine feeling is building inside of me at a rapid pace.
“I’m pissed off,” he announces.
I open my mouth to protest, to beg him not to be mad at me.
I would have done anything not to have Landon violate me.
I would have gone to the ends of the earth not to have that monster look me in the eyes again, let alone touch me.
I don’t get the opportunity because he continues, and what he says isn’t what I thought he was going to say.
“I’m angry at myself, and I’m not worthy of standing here in front of you. I’m not worthy of protecting you since I’ve already proven that I failed. I should have let Brody take you with him. I put up a fight because I’m a selfish fucking bastard, but I do not deserve to have you in my bed, and I sure as shit don’t deserve to lie beside you in it, either.”
That speech is freaking amazing.
Out of this world.
And it’s beautiful, too.
Sitting up, I bite the inside of my cheek so I don’t cringe at the pain that slices throughout my entire body.
Holding out my hand, I make a motion for him to come over to me, but he doesn’t.
He stays where he is, a scowl on his face.
“There is absolutely nothing that you could have done to stop what happened from happening. You can’t blame yourself, and I don’t blame you one bit. In fact, I will go as far as to say I’m glad it happened.”
His scowl deepens.
“Why?” he asks.
“It’s done and over with now, right?”
“It’s done.”
“That’s all I need to know. It’s done, and I don’t have to look over my shoulder another minute of another day. I can breathe.”
He dips his chin once, his eyes never leaving mine.
“You can.”
“It’s done, Grayson. Come to bed.”
He shakes his head once.
“I’m going to sleep on the couch.”
His words cause my heart to break.
I can almost hear it crackling in my ears.
I need him with me.
I don’t want him to think that he’s not worthy of me because he wasn’t there, wasn’t somewhere he had no idea he had to be.
Not when I know that I’m the unworthy one in this room.