Chapter Fourteen #2
“What the fuck have you done to her? What do you want?” I shout. “If you’ve hurt her, I swear it’ll be the last fucking thing you do.”
Everyone is looking at me and I realize they don’t know what’s going on. I quickly shift my phone to loudspeaker.
“I haven’t hurt her,” he says, amusement coating his voice. “And I won’t. If you do something for me.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“Disband Valens. Do whatever you have to get that house wiped off the college’s list of societies. You have twenty-four hours to make that group disappear, if you want Leona’s pretty little face to stay that way.” He cuts the call off.
For a moment, we go silent as we stare at each other in horror.
Then, we are all talking at once. I don’t listen to what the others are saying.
I have already decided that I will do whatever I need to do to ensure Leona’s safety.
I will burn Valens to the ground myself.
Hell, I will watch the whole fucking world burn if it means saving my girl.
And when the fire is over, I will kill Matthew.
Slowly and painfully. I will make him cry for his mama and I won’t stop when he does.
The noise around me dies down and soon only Shawn is still speaking. “Okay guys, let’s start making some calls. Let’s let the Valens members know that the group is shutting down temporarily,” he says.
“Wait, you’d actually agree to shutting Valens down for Leona?” I say.
“For you,” Shawn says, looking decidedly uncomfortable. “Leona is your girl. That makes her part of the family.”
The four of us start to head out, followed by Erin and Laurel.
“No,” I say turning back to them. “You two wait here.”
“No way,” Erin says. “Leona’s one of our best friends. We’re coming with you. You don’t have to worry about us getting into a fight. We just want to be there if Leona needs someone.”
“If she needs someone, I’ll be there,” I say.
“Erin, drop it. You’re not coming,” Shawn says. “Just wait here. Every moment we stay here arguing about this is a moment when Tilly might decide to screw us over and tell Matthew we’re on our way.”
Erin makes a frustrated sound, but the girls stay where they are.
We burst into action, get in the car and Lucien floors it. Adrenaline pumps through my veins. This isn’t like the last time. Last time, I wanted to make a point. Now, I had murder on my mind.
“You know we could be walking into a trap, right?” Damien says as we drive. “Obviously, I’m not saying we don’t go; I’m just saying we need to be prepared if we’re going to be ambushed. You got any weapons in the boot?”
“I think there’s a couple of baseball bats we can use. I have my knife too.”
“I don’t need a weapon. I’ll kill that fucker with my bare hands,” I say, the adrenaline pulsing through me once more.
It’s not long before Lucien pulls up in front of the Hawks’ house.
Lucien runs around to the back of the car, opens the boot, and gets out the baseball bats. He hands me one.
“No, I have my knife,” I say. “Who wants this one?”
“Give it to Shawn. I have a knife too,” Damien says.
The door isn’t locked. That tells me it probably is an ambush, but I don’t care. I throw the door open, and we run in.
Surprisingly, it’s not an ambush. Four or five of Matthew’s guys are sitting around looking bored.
I roar and throw myself at the first of Matthew’s people.
They snap out of their stupor, and come towards us and we all clash.
I swipe at the first guy with my fists. I strike him on the upper arm but he doesn’t go down.
He picks up a heavy metal chain from the floor, which he swings at me.
It smashes into my ribs and I feel pain like I’ve never known, but I don’t let it stop me.
Instead it fuels my rage and I swing again, this time with the heavy handle of my knife in my fist. It cracks the guy in the temple with a sickening sound and he drops to the ground.
I turn to see who I should go after next, and I blindly swing my knife hand, blade out, catching one of Matthew’s guys in the thigh. He cries out and clutches the instantly bleeding wound, effectively taking himself out of the fight as well.
“We’ve got this Zan,” Shawn says. “Get Leona.”
But his words slam against a strange rock wall.
The guy I got is down, but still moving. Anyway, there’s more to get. More to hurt. More to make them pay and if I just threw myself back into the fray, knife swinging blindly among the fuckers…. Blood and bodies and retribution…
I can feel a vein in my temple pulsing and throbbing.
“Damien, you, Shawn, and Lucien keep them fuckers in the main building occupied, yeah? Only one of us needs to go down to that basement, and it’s me.”
“You sure, dude?”
I give him a look.
“You think I can’t handle this on my own?”
Damien holds his hands up.
“Just making sure. You know how you get.”
“Yeah,” I say. “I get even.”
I circle around the back, and sure enough, just around the back of the building is a shed. It’s unguarded—first mistake—and unlocked—second mistake. I suppose I can’t expect the Hawk boys to operate with some sense. I open it, revealing a long corridor.
Well, it’s not actually unguarded. Toward the middle of the staircase, there’s a Hawk guy keeping watch. He’s a string bean of a man. I don’t know what Matthew was thinking. Did he expect a guy that looked like this to be able to hold me back?
I lunge toward the guy before he has the chance to react or yell to get Matthew’s attention. My fist makes contact with his face. I don’t know what his involvement is in this, and it doesn’t matter. I pummel him, catching a couple of stray, pathetic hits that attempt to put me off him.
They don’t work.
I grab his shirt front as he gasps through blood and broken ribs digging into his lungs.
“The only reason you’re not dead right now is because I have bigger fish to fry.”
“I—I didn’t do anything! I’m just standing watch!” he sputters out.
“Yeah, well, the guys that just stand by when someone’s doing some fuck shit get the business too.”
I punch him square in the face again. His nose crunches beneath my fist. The crunch of bone and cartilage sends a thrill through my gut. When his eyes roll into the back of his head as he passes out, I kick him hard. It’s what he deserves.
I shove my hands into the guy’s pocket. I find a key, which immediately unlocks the door at the bottom of the stairs when I get to it.
My blood boils over at the sight in front of me. I force my gaze to Leona. The only person who’s important now. The one I have to save.
She is tied to the bed. Matthew is up, in just his boxers fiddling with a camera he has set up just across from Leona. He hasn’t realized it’s me yet.
“I thought I told you to stay outside until I needed you to drop her back—“
When Matthew looks up, his eyes widen. Then, he glares.
“You gotta be fucking kidding me. How hard is it to watch a fucking door?”
“Maybe get better goons next time. You got something of mine. I’m here to take her back.”
Matthew sneers at me. “Oh, come on. It’s just a little bit of fun. Besides, this is the kinda shit she’s into, isn’t it? I just wanna play, too. She’s not unwilling.”
“Fuck you!” Leona snaps from the bed. “This sicko was gonna force me and then film it like some creepy sex tape just to get back at you over making him weak.”
“That’s what this is about?”
“What else would it be? You think you own everything? Heh. Think again.”
Matthew smirks and goes to one of the many shelves behind him on the wall. He takes down a bat and twirls it in his hand.
“You know, I was planning on showing Leona here a good time and sending her back to you,” he says. “But I think making you a part of the fun will be more satisfying. I’ve been waiting years to knock that stupid fucking smirk off your face.”
Matthew takes a swing at me, which I barely dodge. It clips me in the shoulder.
“Don’t be a bitch, Zander,” Matthew coos at me, his tone disgusting. “Take your punishment. You’re so good at dishing it out, I think you need a taste of your own medicine!”
He lunges at me again, and surprisingly, the fucker is fast. The bat bashes against my side, knocking some of the wind out of me. Matthew laughs—and I get livid. He really thinks he’s not only gonna have his way with my girl, but beat the shit out of me in the process?
Nah.
I growl, lunging for him. On his next swing, I let him think he’s going to hit me again, but instead I grab the bat. Using the momentum, I snatch it out of his hands. He looks startled for a second before I toss it to grab the handle and then crack it across his face.
I send him crashing into the shelves behind him. He curses in pain, but I don’t give him the chance to recover, bringing the bat down on his head. I feel the wood weaken, like it wants to break. Luckily, it doesn’t.
“You disgusting, little bastard,” I snarl. “Did you really think you could get away with this, huh?!” I strike him again, and this time, the bat does break.
So I pummel him with my fists.
He fights back. He’s better than the goon he had watching his door.
He catches me in the cheek, splitting the skin.
The pain that blooms there only makes me grin.
I grip him by the front of his shirt and head butt him.
When he cries out in pain, all I feel is a deep, sick satisfaction that’s probably pathological, but I don’t care.
“Zander! Stop!”
I hear Leona’s voice from behind. It makes me stop.
“What?” She can’t possibly want me to let this go?
“Untie me,” she says. “I want to help you.”
There’s fire in her tone. If there was ever a moment that made me realize a girl was meant for me, it was this one.
I leave Matthew on the floor. I undo Leona’s restraints with my pocket knife, leaving the rough ropes dangling from her wrists. She looks tired, but fired up at the same time. She’s been waiting for this moment, I’ll bet, since the moment she realized what Matthew’s plan for her was.
We both approach Matthew. He glares at us through one swollen eye. Blood drips out of the corner of his mouth. I jerk him up from the floor. He struggles pathetically as I get behind him, holding him in a vice grip against my chest.
“He’s all yours, Leona.”
She has a grin on her face. I’ve never seen her fight before—not like this. It’s fucking magical, seeing how fluid and powerful her jabs are as she sinks her fists into Matthew’s stomach and face.
“Let me go!” Matthew snarls through a mouth full of blood and swollen lips. “You’re really gonna let her fight me? She should at least get a fair shot, eh?”
Leona laughs.
“Your funeral.”
I cackle, letting Matthew go. He can’t even stand, falling to his knees in front of Leona.
My little pit fighter doesn’t play fair, kicking him square in the jaw, making him yelp like a little bitch.
He tries to steady himself on the floor, hands planted there, when Leona kicks him in the gut, sending him on his side.
He clutches where she’d kicked him. Curled up on the floor, he shows how pathetic he really is.
Leona nudges him onto his back with her foot. She steps on his chest, causing him to cough out in pain.
“You ever come near me again, and I’ll fuck you up worse than you can imagine,” she sneers. “I’m not just some damsel that has to get saved. And let’s be clear—I hear about you doing this to anyone, I’m coming for you.”
Leona steps away from him.
She clings to me, which sends fire through my ribs, but I don’t push her away. I bite my lip and let her hold me.
Not completely satisfied, I give him one more well-placed kick to the head, leaving him unconscious. For now. It’ll be a great pleasure to finish what I’ve started.
I look to Leona. Other than the ropes on her wrists, and the break in skin from where she hit Matthew, she looks untouched.
“Did he—“
“Of course not,” she says. “He was too busy making sure all the settings on his silly little camera were perfect to start before you came in.”
I snort.
“What a fuckin’ loser.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Just my head, but I don’t think it’s bad,” she says.
I draw Leona close.
“God, Leona, I was so worried about you,” I say. “I swear I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”
I lead her out of the basement and only then do I look back. The others finished up the fight. They’re bruised and bloody, and Lucien looks like he has a dislocated shoulder, but they’re okay.
“Lucien, you need to get that arm looked at. But will you be okay to take Leona back to the house, first?” I ask.
He nods.
“Damien, Shawn, fancy finishing Matthew? I am going to end the fucker. He will wish he’d never clapped eyes on Leona, or Valens, or even his own fucking mother when I’m through with him.”
“Always,” Damien says.
Shawn nods.
“Please don’t leave me,” Leona says quietly from my side.
“You’ll be safe with Lucien,” I say.
“I know. But I don’t want Lucien. I want you Zan. Please,” she says.
I’m sure she’s in shock after this one hell of a day.
I feel like I’m going to explode. On the one hand, Matthew has to pay for this. But on the other hand, how can I leave Leona when she’s begging me to stay with her? I feel like this choice is gonna define who I become. I suck in a breath.
“Shawn. Damien. I can rely on you guys to teach Matthew a lesson he’ll never forget, right?” I ask.
They both nod their heads grimly, and I feel Leona relax against me. I know I made the right decision in choosing Leona and our future over revenge. I think this girl just might be my savior.
For once, I’m gonna let her save me. I’m choosing her over revenge. Knowing her changed me. Maybe not as much as Leona thinks I have, but for now, I will trust Damien and Shawn to make Matthew wish he had never been born.
But, I won’t have forgotten about this, after the dust settles and everyone else has moved on. And when Matthew least expects it, I will finish the bastard. And I will make sure he knows exactly why.
Behind us, someone laughs.
When I look over my shoulder, my eyes widen at the sight of Matthew barely standing, with a gun pointed right at me. Time seems to stand still as a loud shot rings through my ears and Leona shouts. Vaguely, I feel pain somewhere in my side.
He shot me. That’s a first.
I sink to the ground, everything in my body feeling heavy. My side is hot and wet.
I can hear Leona screaming my name as the world starts to go dark.