Chapter 7 #2
No chance in hell, asshole. I bring my heel down and stomp on his foot as heavily as I can in sneakers.
It must shock him because he releases me instantly, and I run like the fucking wind.
I might be tipsy and injured and fucked up in the head over that kiss, but I can still move.
Music rings in my ears as I dart through the sea of partygoers, heading for the way I came in that leads onto the beach, but as I go to push through the crowd, that same damn bodyguard from earlier stands in my way blocking the opening, arms crossed over his chest, deadly serious expression on his face that makes him look deranged.
Shit. I break into a cold sweat. There is no way out. My pulse races like crazy. Frantically I turn, searching every wall for another exit, but I can’t find one.
Bodhi’s assessing eyes lock with mine. “You know hard is my favorite, Dove.”
He let me go on purpose to see what I would do? I can see it in the way he watches me. What the hell is wrong with them?
The three of them team up and move in on all sides of me, caging me in and taking way too much delight in my terror. I can see it in the wicked smiles on their lips and twisted satisfaction in their eyes. They are predators. I fucking hate them, all of them.
“There is nowhere left to run, birdie.” Kasen’s hands clamp down on my arms in a way that makes me jump out of my skin. Or is it the controlled way he stares at me as he makes contact, all power and self-righteousness. “You’ve caused enough trouble for tonight.”
I glare up at him, my body so tense it feels like I’m going to snap something. “You can’t make me leave with you.”
“Wanna make a bet?” His hand moves under my ass, and before I know it, I’m being scooped up in his arms and carried through the bar like a baby.
What the fuck. I shove at him, fresh pain rocketing through me with every movement, but I don’t care. Pain I can deal with; whatever this controlling shit is, no way. “Put me down, asshole,” I scream at the top of my lungs, hoping someone in this bar will come to my aid.
Instead of anyone asking why I’m being manhandled or why I’m screaming like a woman possessed, the crowd parts for us, giving him a clear path to the front entry.
If I wasn’t a part of it, I wouldn’t be able to believe what I was witnessing.
Kasen could literally do anything he wants to me, and the crowd would always cheer him on.
It’s horrifying. He could be carrying me out of here to murder me and no one would bat an eyelid. How are they all that scared of him?
He carries me effortlessly to the car park, and Slater is one step ahead of us, opening the door to his Ute so Kasen can shove me in the front. “What the fuck is your problem?” I cry back at him as soon as he releases me into the car.
“My problem! You’re the one who broke my French doors, destroyed my curtains, then stole my Astin Martin and burnt down one of my properties.” His voice booms through the car, I think I’m supposed to fear him, but all his anger does is enrage me more.
I meet his furious glare. If he wants a showdown, he’s going to get it. “Your property! That was my parents’ house, and you know it. And your shit wouldn’t have gotten destroyed if you didn’t lock me up in your stupid house like your prisoner.”
He leans into the car, his face just an inch from mine, his scent wafting all around me, consuming me. “One I acquired after your mother died and you and your dad vanished,” he spits back, just as mad.
My eyes narrow to slits, my chest heaving with all the things I want to yell at him, all the pain I have suffered because of his family. “She. Was. Murdered.” The words tremble out of my lips. “She didn’t just die. Your dad killed her.”
His dark eyes lock with mine in a way that sends a shiver down my spine, cold and calculating. What the fuck is that look? “That was never proven.”
Tears blur in my eyes, I can’t stop them.
This is too much, he’s too much. Of course it was never proven, because his fucking family own this town, not because Keller Throne didn’t do it.
“What, so you just took our home so you could knock it down and build another of your luxury apartments in its place?”
With a disappointed shake of his head, he slams the door, trapping me in the car.
The truth must be all too much to handle now I’m here and he’s forced to confess his actions to his once friend.
Admit that he only cares about his dad’s stupid company.
That people are just commodities to him, nothing more.
Turning his back on me, he mutters something to Bodhi and River. River claps him on the back, their closeness a chilling reminder of how the Deadwater Crew will always stick together. Nothing has changed for them. When their little chitchat is over, Kasen stomps around the front of the car.
I lunge for the driver’s door handle, but he’s faster, swinging it open before I can make my getaway. “Move,” he utters, his voice calm, but the way his chest heaves gives him away; I have him rattled.
My heart racing wildly, I glare back at him, not ready to give up so easily. “No.”
With one hand, he shoves me back into the passenger seat and takes his place in the driver’s side.
Damn it. I cross my arms protectively across my chest, adrenaline surging through me, not because he hurt me, he didn’t, but because I’m so out of control.
I’m trapped, and it doesn’t matter how I fight him, he won’t let me free.
I should have run while I had the chance, taken River’s keys, and got the hell out of town before he found me.
But I never had the chance, not really if River was watching me for him anyway.
And a stupid part of me had to see River.
“You can’t keep me locked up with you forever,” I seethe.
“Watch me,” he growls.
The scowl on my face deepens. “I’ll get out again, and next time I won’t hang around.”
He huffs out a bitter laugh. “You should have taken that chance while you could. The only way you’re leaving my protection is if I let you.”
“Who the fuck do you think you are, God?”
He doesn’t justify my bitchy question with an answer, but the smug-as-shit grin on his face tells me that’s exactly what he thinks.
With a frustrated huff, I stare out into the night sky, wondering why he hasn’t started the engine and the two of us are sitting in the car park. “Thought this was Slater’s car?” I snip, not really for conversation, more just thinking out loud because the fresh silence between us is suffocating.
“He’ll catch a ride with River. Someone blew my car up tonight.”
A stupid smirk crosses my face for two reasons. One, I destroyed his car, whoops, and two, he doesn’t know that his mate no longer owns his combi. “Doubt it.” I huff out a laugh as I pull the keys from my pocket and dangle them just out of his reach.
His brow pops up. “Why do you have River’s keys. One charge of stealing not enough for you tonight?”
“Oh, please, we both know you’re not going to rat me out to the cops. What will you say, the girl I kidnapped and locked up in my house escaped and used my car to get away?” I roll my eyes. “Come on, Throne.”
“If I wanted you arrested, Dove, it would only take a call.”
I huff out a breath. His power trip doesn’t impress me.
He reaches for the keys, but I’m faster, tucking them back into my pocket. “Why do you have the keys to River’s combi?” he snaps when he can’t get them.
I fake a smile. “It’s my combi now, and it’s a real shame I didn’t get to take it for a spin before you turned up to ruin my fun.”
He winds down his window, and Slater and River approach. “River, why does Dove think your combi is now hers?”
River pops his head in the window. “She won that car fair and square, bro.” He winks in my direction, all playful, when he knows he’s on my shit list with the other two.
“See.” I smirk mostly to myself. Got to take whatever win I can in this situation.
Kasen massages his temples like I’m stressing him the hell out.
I kind of hope I am, that way he might just let me go and get on with what I came here to do.
“Looks like you two are finding your own way home then.” He winds his window back up, sand and gravel flying up behind him as he takes off out of the car park.
“Rude,” I mutter under my breath. Also, did he just say home, like implying they all live together in his place?
He sighs heavily as if the weight of the world is resting on his shoulders alone. Tension radiates off his massive frame. But he doesn’t say anything else, just drives through the streets, making the asphalt his bitch.
“If I’m so much trouble, why are you taking me home with you?” I push.
His eyes flick to me then return to the road. “Do you even understand the trouble you caused tonight?”
I give him a bitchy-as-hell look back because fuck him. “You caused. I didn’t lock myself up. Don’t deflect your shit onto me.”
He sucks in a labored breath. “Why are you acting like a child over all of this? We’re trying to help you.”
“I don’t want or need your help. I keep telling you repeatedly, but your stubborn head won’t listen to me. And apparently, you’re intent on ruining what is left of my life. Hasn’t your family already taken enough from me? My mother, my house, now my freedom.” I count the items out on my hand.
He keeps his eyes solidly glued to the road in front of him, but I don’t miss the way he cracks his neck. “Dove,” he practically shouts my name.
“What?” I mutter back, starting to feel like a misbehaving child with his bossy tone.
“After you and your dad disappeared on us, the investigation into your mother’s death stalled.
For some reason there was too much missing evidence.
The settlement of the estate also froze, the mortgage and rates fell behind, and your dad clearly wasn’t coming back to pay them.
Throne Developments stepped in,” he explains, as if that’s what I just asked him when it wasn’t.