Chapter 22
Dove
Iturn on the spot, every muscle in my body so tense it feels as though a muscle is about to snap.
Kasen stands there, the epitome of egotistical authority, his strong chest puffed out, his muscles taut.
His chiseled jaw is set into a sharp uncaring line.
The power has gone to his head. I would think it ridiculous if I didn’t know how deadly serious his threat is.
“What did you say?” I whisper cry. I almost can’t believe the words that came out of his mouth.
I need him to say them again so I know it’s real.
So I know what I’m truly up against. Would he really rat me out just so he can control me?
Until the night my dad died, I thought the boy I knew would never, but then he was so willing to send me away all because it was what daddy wanted.
He did it then, I know he would do it again.
His eyes darken, an evil flash in them that should scare me. “You heard me,” he growls.
Fresh pain radiates through my chest, an ache I can’t fight anymore.
“I guess you did learn from the best, didn’t you, Kasen.
I shouldn’t have expected anything less,” I spit back at him.
He wants to hurt me? Well, fuck him, two can play at this game.
I know his secrets, his pain, and I’m happy to use them against him if that’s what it takes.
In two large strides he closes the gap between us, his breathing ragged like a wild beast on the verge of going feral. “You’re right, birdie. I guess the choice is yours. Do you want to go to jail or are you ready to come home with me and accept my protection and everything that entails?”
I can see it in his deadly expression, the bossy asshole is serious.
He knows he’s got all the power here, and there is nothing I can do to fight him on it.
He took the murder weapon, dealt with the bodies, he has all the evidence and everything he would need to lock me up for life.
But what he doesn’t realize is he just lost any chance of ever fixing things between us.
I can see him for who he is now. It’s glaringly obvious.
I stare back at him so hard I want to scream back, but what is the point?
He has the control over the whole town, and I’m a nobody.
No one will listen to me against him, he knows it.
“I will never let you control me,” I whisper.
“Who the fuck graffitied my van?” comes River’s voice from behind me, but I don’t turn to see him. I can’t take my glare off Kasen, too scared he will pounce on me and trap me.
“If we knew, he would already be in our custody.” Kasen glances behind me at River. His lips twitch up at the sides cruelly. “Birdie has decided to move back in with us, let us watch over her until we work out who is stalking her.”
Stalking me. In their custody. How does Kasen know what happened to the van? He was hinting at something when I first got here, but he couldn’t know what happened, unlike River he hadn’t seen the van. What the hell? I’m so confused now.
“Some asshole is stalking her? Like proper?” River asks, stepping closer to us. He looks me over with fresh fear in his eyes.
I shake my head, not sure what else to do. I’m sure that’s not what this is. It’s just a misunderstanding. “The message could have been for River for all we know.”
“A decapitated bird? Sorry, baby, that shit looks like it was for you.”
“He got away, K,” comes Bodhi’s voice. It sends a shiver over my skin.
I turn toward him. He’s all wet and sandy, his breathing harsh and face flushed like he’s been running or fighting, and the flash of dark I saw running from my van makes more sense—it was a Bodhi-size form.
He was there with me at the beach. Fucker.
That’s how Kasen knew what was going on.
They didn’t let me go at all, they were watching me the whole time.
“Who got away, Slater?” His eyes dart to Kasen, widening with alarm, and I realize I’ve overheard something I wasn't supposed to.
Slater regains his composure and shakes his head as if he’s not going to answer me then walks right past, rounding the bar to pour himself a drink. He takes an expensive-looking bottle of whiskey and a tumbler and fills the thing to the brim, throwing back a large swig.
I swallow the lump in my throat. So many damn emotions are running through me right now I don’t know what to do.
Kasen constantly says I’m keeping shit from them, but I know they are hiding more from me.
And he just proved it. How fucking long was Slater watching me for?
Watching me like a stalker himself. How do I know it’s not them messing with me to force me back here?
It totally could be. And now his Instagram post makes more sense.
With fresh rage flowing through my veins, I turn my glare back on Kasen.
“You didn’t let me go. You had your guard dog tail me, didn’t you.
That’s how you knew about the message on the van. ”
“Harsh,” Slater snips.
“Threat, birdie, it wasn’t a message. And good thing I had the presence of mind to send Bodhi to watch over you. You clearly have a deranged stalker who knows you killed a couple of bikers. If he wasn’t there, you could be a dead girl right now.”
Sickness slithers through me, knowing he’s right.
That message scared the shit out of me, especially after what I read from the safe with my mum getting threatening mail.
“One,” I remind him. He killed the other biker.
Has he forgotten that fact or is he just so far up the cops’ asses in this town it literally doesn’t matter that he killed someone, it will still come back on me somehow?
Kasen shrugs, his face cruel in a way that makes me hate him even more than I did.
He’s not just controlling, he’s arrogant and egotistical and pure fucking evil, I’m sure of it.
“This dude is after you, love, so my guess is he thinks you did the dirty work. If I could take the claim, I would, I’m just that good of a guy.
But someone saw what you did. That’s the threat they are leaving for you. ”
He talks to me like I’m vapid, and I want to lash out and slap him or at least knee him in the junk again. Physical violence would make me feel better right about now.
“You reckon it’s the Breakers?” River asks, joining Bodhi behind the bar. I almost forgot he was here, my rage too focused on Kasen.
“Has to be. Unless you have some other fuckers after you, sunshine?” Bodhi asks, a slightly sly look on his face. “Do you?” His glare intensifies, if it’s even possible.
I stare back at him, not liking the way he makes me feel so uneasy.
“No,” I answer with determination. Bodhi was at the beach watching me like a creeper, but he doesn’t know about the shit I found in Mum’s safe.
At least I don’t think he does. He wouldn’t have been able to see me and what I was doing inside the van.
They have no idea this could be related to what happened to her, and I have no intention of telling them what I know.
Fuck them, why should I after the stunt Kasen just pulled.
I know I have no choice but to accept his manipulative offer for help, because right now, I don’t want this psycho stalker to find me before I have a chance to work out what is going on.
Or to be sent to jail. Time safely locked up in their place will give me time to work out who was blackmailing my mum, and if it could be the same person who is now after me.
“Why would someone else be after me? My life isn’t that interesting.
” I brush it off. “I told you, it doesn’t matter if you paid off the Southern Breakers, they will come after me anyway.
That’s how they operate. You probably just angered them more by turning up there and paying off my debts.
What’s fifty grand when you can have some girl working for you earning you thousands each week. ”
River’s eyes narrow to slits. His normally handsome face contorting in a way I don’t like.
I know he’s seen the videos, and it fills me with disgust to know what he must think of me now.
But there is no escaping this chaos I got myself into, so I might as well face it head on and own it.
I tilt my chin higher, ready for whatever he’s about to say.
“So, what, they threaten you, graffiti shit, to get you to come back?” he asks, sounding genuinely confused.
Kasen runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t buy it. Those other thugs were damn near beating you to death. They were going to drag you back with force. They wouldn’t mess around with games. This creep is toying with you. This feels more personal.”
“He’s fucking fast too,” Bodhi adds swiping at a bloody spot on his forehead. “Cut me with a blade of some sort.”
“A blade meant for you.” Kasen steps closer, and I take a couple of hurried steps back, not liking the deranged look in his eyes.
“We don’t know that,” I whisper, but even I know it had to be. Someone is after me for something I did.
“No, our birdie is still hiding shit from us.” Kasen captures my wrists so quickly I don’t have time to dodge him. He holds them hostage in front of me. “Time you tell us the truth, all of it. Or do I search the van for your secrets?”
My heart races like wild. It will take him all of a few minutes to find what I stashed in the van, but I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of telling him what I know. “Fuck you,” I spit.
He tosses the keys that were in my hands toward Bodhi. “Go check out the van, boys.” His voice booms through the empty bar, and I actually flinch with how much he sounds like his dad.
My back presses into the wall as he moves my hands to pin them over my head. “Why are you doing this to me?” I whimper.
His face is too close to me, so close I can feel his breath on my neck. He leans his lips even closer, hovering just over my ear. “Because I protect what is mine, even if they need protection from themselves.”