7. Carter
Chapter 7
Carter
I let out a menacing yell and shoved my way through the cabin, pushing the masked members out of my way.
Moans, cries, and laughter drowned in my crimson-coated senses, and my hands clenched tight at my sides.
The heavy thump of my heartbeat echoed in my head. My fingers tore at the top two buttons of my button-down shirt. Heat covered my skin like a blanket, sweat dripping down the back of my neck.
As I ran through the cabin, members turned their heads, excitement crackling in the air.
I broke out of the cabin into the night, a breeze coasting through the darkness, and paused.
Dammit, June.
Where are you?
My eyes raced between the encroaching shadows of the trees and the cars littering the driveway. The cabin’s exterior lights bathed the space in a harsh glow, but their reach barely scratched the depths of the surrounding forest.
A sudden flash of white drew my gaze down the drive.
June’s hair tumbled over her shoulders, her negligee swirling around her pale thighs as she sprinted away.
“There you are, dollface.”
Familiarity struck my chest.
That was the second time I’d called her by that pet name tonight.
She was thirteen the night it had happened—her face flushed with the bravery of a confession she was barely old enough to make. I couldn’t help but notice how her features held a fragile beauty, like the porcelain dolls all over Amber’s room.
The nickname stuck as a secret between us, tucked away in a dark corner of my mind. Not that it mattered much then. I was seven years older, and she was far too young for my college-ready mind to take seriously or care about.
“Ready or not, here I come.”
June glanced over her shoulder as I jumped off the porch, stalking towards her, then dashed into the tree line off the driveway .
Darkness swallowed us whole as I approached her exit. “You’re only making things worse for yourself.”
A jolt of electricity wound through me as the first bit of fallen pine needles crunched under my boots.
She crashed through the forest like an elephant trapped in a cage, banging her way through, her bare feet not slowing her down. Twigs snapped, her grunts marking her location like a beacon on a screen, her sharp inhales like a songbird singing into the night.
Two thick car beams cut through the trees, highlighting her as she weaved in and out of the bush and pine. She darted toward the road, and a smile carved my face.
“Hey. Over here. Please , stop.“ She shouted as she waved her arms, rushing into the middle of the road. She lit up like a Christmas tree, the beams exposing every cut in her nightgown and a small broken stick embedded in her hair like a Pocahontas feather.
I slowed my pace and moved to the side, my lungs sucking in the thin air.
What was the elevation here again?
The car’s engine revved as it sped up, gunning toward her.
“Stop.” She waved her hands in the air.
There’s nothing out here—where did she think they were headed?
The car approached, and she put down her hands as she walked toward the slowing vehicle. I frowned and moved forward, my heart leaping into my chest .
“Don’t get in that car, June.” My feet picked up the pace, a sheen of sweat forming on my brow. “Listen to me. It’s not what you think.”
Why do I care?
Go with him and die, June.
Take the burden off my hands.
I clenched my jaw and rushed toward her as a masked man stepped out with the face of a boar, its tusks coated in painted blood.
June gasped as he lunged for her, his hand diving into her lush hair, causing the most haunting scream to emanate from her lips.
Nothing I had done made her scream like that.
The man laughed as he jerked her around and opened the back seat of his car.
“She’s mine.”
He spun with her, his hand low, causing her to bend over like those prisons in Russia. A whimper rose from her parted lips as she planted her hand on his, spun around, and elbow-locked him, making the easily two-hundred and fifty-pound man cower to her will.
The roles reversed.
I chuckled as I stalked toward her, giving her a standing ovation. “Very impressive, dollface.”
Why didn’t she pull a stunt like that with me?
“I’ve been practicing.” She gave a smug smile as the man knelt beside her, her fingers bending his backward and toward his ear .
“Let him go so we can finish and I can go home.” I dropped my hands to my sides. “I never want to think about you again.”
She winced, and the boar made a fist with his free hand.
I jumped forward as he stood with an upward swing, snagging his meaty knuckles before he connected with her pert little nose. “I said she’s mine .”
Kicking out, my boot connected with the side of his knee.
Crack.
The man buckled with an agonizing scream, causing June to release him.
She backed away from me as she glanced down at the man wailing on the ground. “Don’t...don’t come near me.”
I stepped over the man who curled into the tightest ball he could muster, holding his dislocated knee, and continued my tiresome pursuit.
June’s gaze darted from the right to the left, scrambled backward with haste, and then picked up a fallen branch on the roadside. She fisted the makeshift bat and held it over her shoulder as though she were ready to hit a home run.
“Come on, now. After I just saved your life?”
“Only because you want to kill me yourself.”
I shrugged, and she swung the branch, cutting the air in half with a whir.
“Does that matter?”
Her brows raised as she scoffed, a smudge of dirt marring her cheek.
The urge to wet my thumb and wipe it from her perfection teased me.
She swung again, sending herself off balance in a half spin, her arm flinging behind her and toward me. I reached out, took hold of the offending weapon, and wrenched it away. “I’ll take that.”
June fell to the ground, her negligee creeping up her waist as she glanced up at me, her knees blooming red.
I tossed the weapon aside and stood over her as she grimaced, my dick hardening.
“Don’t…” She dug her fingers into the dirt road beyond the gate and drive, and dragged herself away from me.
I could drag her back to the cabin by her ankle... right now.
“Don’t what?”
June pushed herself to her feet as blood dripped down her shin. She hobbled to the left, back into the trees, her hand reaching out for support. “Leave me alone.”
Her words burst out in a raspy scream, bouncing between the trees that stretched for miles. No one was going to save her, even with the party raging on a fair distance behind us.
We were in our own little world out here.
Just me, her, and my desires.
“Don’t leave you alone?” I laughed as I mocked her. “I don’t intend to—not like Ethan.”
Her brows squeezed together as she heaved in lungfuls of air. “You killed him. He didn’t...” she sobbed. “He didn’t leave me.”
I pulled the mask from my face and dropped it in the leaves beside me. “Do you know where your precious boyfriend was before he took you out tonight?”
“Working. He had a business meeting.”
I raised a brow. “Working his co-worker into his desk, bareback... and rough.”
“You’re lying.” A storm brewed behind her hazel eyes, darkening them. “That doesn’t give you the right to kill him, Carter Morgan.”
Why didn’t I wait until he high-tailed it back to his side piece?
“No one gets to hurt you but me. That is my right.”
“You’re insane.” Her feet scuffed against the ground as she backed away, kicked leaves and pine needles to the side. “What happened to you?”
“You did.” I pointed my index finger at her and gritted my teeth. “You happened to me, dollface.”
“Don’t call me that. You said yourself you wanted nothing to do with me.”
“That was before.” I rushed her. In the blink of an eye, I had her bound against my chest. “Now I want everything.”
I thrust her face down and straddled her hips. She gave a pained sob as I grabbed the back of her neck, keeping her face affixed to the dirt.
“Keep struggling, dollface.” I rubbed my hardening cock against her ass. “You’re such a vicious temptation.”
“Carter...” A sob broke from her lips, putting my hips on pause. “Do anything you want to me, but don’t...don’t do that. Please.”
Rape ?
That’s something I hadn’t considered.
“Why shouldn’t I?” I leaned in closer, pressing my chest against her back, my teeth nibbling the soft cartilage at the top of her ear.
“I’m just...” Her voice softened to a whisper, and I tugged on her ear, causing her to squirm.
“Just what, dollface?” I nudged her legs apart with my knee and pressed myself between her thighs.
She growled a deep and menacing growl that would set a dog on edge.
Her head whipped back, and stars burst through my vision as she slammed into my nose. Blood gushed down in twin falls, coating my lips and chin, intermingling with the dried blood on my throat.
“I said don’t call me that.”
Falling back on my haunches, I held my nose in my hands, my fingers checking for moving pieces. I groaned, and she bucked, sending me tilting to the side.
Her round ass came into view with a small birthmark on the underside. The urge to lick it eviscerated the pain in my face.
I swiped the blood with my forearm as she scrambled across the forest floor and lunged for her. “That was a mistake.”
Snagging her ankle, I stood and dragged her as she kicked at me with her free leg, her torso twisting, her fingers digging into the ground with shrieking screams. Her body and hands cleared a path behind her, making no mistake. Someone had been there.
June bent at the waist and picked up debris, throwing it at my head.
I turned my head to the side—the debris brushing my cheek. “You’re gonna need to do better than that.”
In a blink, she twisted onto her belly, her free leg hitting the back of my knee, sending me flying to the ground. I dropped my hold on her and caught myself before my face smacked into a raised tree branch, then launched upward just as fast.
“Why do you have to be so difficult?”
I dropped on top of her as she flailed her arms, her fist striking my ribcage and solar plexus. Air rushed from my lungs as I snagged her wrists and pinned them to her chest, the position reminiscent of the cowboy room inside the cabin.
“Because I don’t want to die, you asshole.”
“Don’t you think Amber thought the same thing when you stabbed her twelve times?”
“How many times do I have to tell you—“
“Why do you insist on lying?”
She paused with a deep scowl, and her upper arms scraped from our wrestling, a trickle of blood skimming down her upper arm. “I’m not lying. You said you have proof.” She bared her teeth. “Show me.”
“I don’t have to prove anything to you.”
Her head dropped to the ground as she laughed. “Because you’re a twisted fuck who needs to use his trauma as an excuse to do bad things to women?”
My hand wrapped around her chin, digging my fingertips deep into her cheeks, causing her to grunt and shake her head in a futile effort to free herself.
“I’ve never harmed a single person in my life until now. You should have been first, but that’s neither here nor there. I’m going to take great joy in killing you.”
“Then get it over with. What are you waiting for?”
What was the point of waiting?
Paul and his ridiculous request.
“I have plans for you.”
“Show me the proof, Carter.”
I shook my head and sat back.
“Show me the fucking proof, Carter.”
Her chest shuddered as she sobbed, tears streaming down her face—the anger dissipating. A hardness in my chest cracked as she cried.
I released her cheeks and gripped her hands tighter with my other as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.
“I don’t want to die,” she whispered as I pulled up the attachments from the email chain with my anonymous angel of truth.
“Example one. Your confession, two weeks after the funeral.” I pushed play on the audio clip, and June’s voice filled the dark forest.
“I did something really bad, Bailey. I wish I could tell you what it is, but you’ll hate me forever. I already hate myself.”
“Hold on.” June’s sobs froze, and she hiccupped, her brows furrowing. “That’s...”
“Seriously? You’re going to deny it?”
“You said two weeks after her funeral?”
I nodded and moved on to the next piece of evidence.
“That’s not possible.”
“Oh yeah, and why not?”
“I didn’t know Bailey until about three years ago. Amber’s been dead for ten.” A small victory smile formed on her lips. “Someone’s been lying to you, Carter.”
Was that hope growing in her watery eyes?
I narrowed my eyes. “Not really, that could just be a typo.”
“Okay, fine. Show me something else. You said you have proof. That audio could have been me confessing anything.”
My fingers trembled around the phone as the murder weapon enlarged on my screen. “What about this?” I turned the phone screen towards her. “Your father owned a hunting store with custom made knives.” I brought it closer to her face, the real one buried against my back. She pinched her brows together. “The high school boys raved about them.”
She laughed, a full-bellied laugh, causing my stomach to clench. “I’m sorry.” She turned her head to the side, her arms relaxing under my hold. “Is that your evidence?”
“Your father’s initials are etched in the handle.”
“He put those on every custom-made knife. It’s called free advertisement.” She tipped her head back, the arteries in her throat protruding through her delicate skin. “Carter Morgan, you didn’t go to medical school just to have ‘idiot’ written on your forehead.”
My focus sharpened on her.
“You killed Ethan and put me through all of this because you lacked critical thinking skills. You better have more concrete evidence than this.”
I swiped a trickle of blood from my nose with my blood-soaked long sleeve.
The most damning video of them all burned into my retinas, setting my teeth on edge. Rage burned in my belly, and the desire to snuff out her life as though she were a bug under my shoe rampaged on.
Turning the screen toward her, her fit of laughter suffocated under a sharp gasp. Her head tilted toward the phone, her eyes taking in the video of her walking through the dark with a knife in her hands and blood staining her clothing and hands.
“That’s you. Isn’t it?” Her brows pulled down and together, forming a slight crease above her nose.
June’s mouth parted. “That’s not possible.” She shook her head frantically. “That’s not me. That’s not possible. I would remember something like that.”
“I’m not the idiot you thought, huh?”
I pocketed my phone and stood, jerking her up to her feet.
She stood frozen as I pulled the cable ties from my back pocket. “I didn’t want to use these, but I’m tired of these cat and mouse chases.”
Trapping her wrists in the ties, I grabbed her upper arm and dragged her through the forest, picking up my mask along the way and placing it over my face.
Five hours remained of our night together, and the only one whose blood fell was mine—but that was about to change.