Chapter 35 #2
Faster than he can react, I lunge toward him, closing the distance quickly.
With a manic shout, he raises the gun to shoot, but he doesn’t have any experience facing someone head-on when he attacks them, and even though he manages to fire off a shot, it barely grazes my thigh.
It burns like a fucking bitch, but the pain only makes my bloodlust take over, knocking it from his hand and tackling him to the ground, slamming his head against the hardwood with a sickening thunk.
My hands wrap roughly around his neck, and I only distantly register the sound of footsteps approaching as I fight to separate his fucking head from his body.
“Cormac,” Skyler shouts, bringing my attention to him and not the struggling man beneath me.
“I’m a little busy, Sky,” I mutter.
He frantically runs toward us, “Too bad. We need to go.”
I scoff, “This little fucking prick,” I emphasize with a squeeze of his neck so hard he squeaks like a dog toy, “tried to kill Brigit. I’m gonna end him as slowly and painfully as I can.”
“No, you’re not.”
I can’t stop the dark laugh as I look up at my friend, “Why not?”
“Because Steele got into the house,” he says, leaving me frozen on the ground.
“Brigit,” I say aloud the only thing I can even think about.
“She’s in the saferoom. I don’t think he knows she’s there,” he breathes. “But he’s tearing the place apart, searching for something. Either way, you need to end this now, or let Leo and Tate take him back to Mingle to deal with later.”
The man below me struggles weakly against my hold, pleading for his life, and all it does is remind me of how Brigit sounded when she did it, how terrified she was because of this man.
I want to slice every inch of fucking skin from his body and put all his misdeeds and wickedness on display.
I look up at my friend, and he must see the devil in my eyes, the drive to cause this man irreparable, fatal, torturous harm.
“It wouldn’t be the first time the ring got soaked in blood,” Skyler adds. “His would just be added to all the others spilled there.”
Rage and fear fight against each other. I want to kill this man slowly for what he did.
Both to me and Brigit.
But if I do, there’s a chance Steele finds her.
Even if we leave right now, there’s a chance he gets to her first.
With a furious shout, I drive my fist hard into his face, shattering his nose and knocking him the fuck out.
Loud, hurried stomps filter in through the front door, and once again, Leo and Tate show up to take care of the fucking mess.
Looking down at the piece of shit that took every fucking thing from me again, I get up, noting the small trail of my blood getting left behind.
“Are you hurt?” Skyler looks at my leg in disbelief. “You let him shoot you?”
“Let him?” I scoff, taking off in a run toward the door and Skyler’s awaiting car.
Skyler chuckles, “Man, you suck at this now.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I mutter. “Give me the keys.”
He doesn’t hesitate, tossing them into my hand and running to the passenger side.
Once the engine roars to life, I peel out of there as fast as possible, taking off towards home. Towards my Bunny, who thankfully has done what she was supposed to.
“What the hell happened?” I bite, still holding onto the anger of not getting to tear that asshole’s body into pieces.
“With Brigit?” he asks for clarification. “Or with the comm?”
“With all of it.”
I can tell that he’s already nauseous from my driving, but if he needs to fucking vomit, he’s just gonna have to do it into one of the black duffels we brought along.
“Well, first,” he swallows and breathes out a huff of air.
“Brigit was texting me about some case. Oh, fuck.” The creaking of the passenger seat screams as he lays it back, tossing an arm over his eyes, releasing a nasty belch.
“Long story short, she figured out the connection between Aidan and Ben was at a murder trial. And the trial turned out to be Jesse Morrison’s.
“Steele and Foley helped Morrison cover for the murder,” he continues. “I can only guess what Foley got in the deal, but Steele got himself an affluent weapons dealer. I had no idea that he was part of the deal we fucked up, but it makes sense now that he showed up when he did.”
I’m not paying attention to my speed, too focused on getting back home and processing everything Sky is telling me.
“And Brigy,” he dry heaves. “Brigy found all your stalker shit.”
“She what?!”
“You knew she was going to,” he mumbles. “Jesus Christ, I’m gonna puke.”
“Pick a bag,” I tell him. “Then keep talking.”
“Fuck you.”
Then he does, in fact, bolt upright and vomit into one of the black bags, zipping it back up and setting it on the floor.
With a disgusted groan, he wipes the back of his mouth and continues, “She was leaving. Like put on clothes and tried to bolt. And that was right when we had lost contact because Jesse fucking jammed the signal. So I was calling, pleading with her to stop and get her ass back in there. But I’m telling you,” he gags again.
“I’m telling you she’s pissed. She would have run out that door if it hadn’t started jiggling from the outside.
As soon as I told her who it was, she got back into the safe room and promised not to leave. ”
“He didn’t get in the house until she was safely behind the wall?”
“Right,” is all he can say, holding back more nausea.
“Can you pull up the security and check that he hasn’t gotten in?” I plead.
He groans, grabbing his phone and unlocking it with shaky hands. He doesn’t even look at the screen; he just sets it up so I can see it.
Glancing between the road and the phone, I don’t see Brigit anywhere, which is probably a good sign, but Steele won’t stop trying to call someone. Over and over again as he walks through the house.
“You think he’s trying to reach Jesse?” I ask.
Skyler nods, “I’d put money on it.”
“What is he looking for?” I wonder aloud.
“Same thing he was when you were incapacitated before. Evidence to justify killing you.”
“I thought we had a deal with him,” I mutter. “Why would he want me gone? And bad enough he’d be part of killing an innocent?”
“Those are very good questions, bat man,” he gags. “You should save them for Steele.”
The truth is that there won’t be any time for questions.
The second I get my hands on him, he’s fucking dead.