Chapter 47
Chapter forty-seven
Barrett
Ican’t think. I can’t breathe. There’s only been one time I felt this out of control, and that was my first kill. It had been a kill of passion that led to this unorthodox career.
But it’s been years since I’ve felt this sickening haze take over my body.
Sage is pale and scared. The amount of blood coming from her arm is concerning.
I need to end this quickly, but I’m not sure I can.
There’s a vicious need inside me demanding release, demanding I ensure this man suffers in the worst way possible.
He’s huffing through the pain in his arm and trying to get past me to reach the gun he dropped.
Kicking it away, I flip the knife around in my hand.
It’s a beautiful piece. Comfortable handle with a devastating blade.
My admiration ends there when I remember that this blade wreaked havoc on my pet. My pet. Sage.
I step on his wrist and slice at his other arm, then shove it in his shoulder, twisting when I sink it into the hilt.
It’s enough to make him useless. I don’t savour the next puncture in his other shoulder.
The vicious haze controls me now, forcing me to make each strike fast. Two between his ribs, likely slicing a lung. One in each of his thighs.
Then before he loses consciousness, I tilt his chin up with the hooked tip of the blade. “Enjoy your time in hell.”
I slice the blade across his middle, twisting and digging my way across, leaving him gaping and spilling onto Sage’s bedroom floor.
She’s never coming back to this house. And she’s never leaving me.
I wipe the knife off on the only clean part of his pants left and steal the sheath off the back of his belt.
Hooking it to my own belt and sliding the knife in, I drop to my knees in front of Sage.
She’s staring at the body and I realize I went too far.
I still feel the anger riding through me.
Anger that is all for her. And at myself for not protecting her enough.
“Look at me, pet.” My voice isn’t my own and there is nothing I can do to change that. I can’t touch her. My hands are covered in his blood and I will never allow that to taint her. She’s too precious to me to touch her with his blood on my hands.
Her bottom lip trembles and the shirt she’s holding over her arm has soaked through.
“Sage.” I move into her line of sight. “Look at me.”
She blinks.
“That’s a good girl. We need to leave.” But we can’t walk out the front door looking like this. “I want you to turn around and look away while I wash my hands. Can you do that for me, pet?”
Sage shifts on the floor, using her feet to spin herself around to stare at the window.
I rush to the bathroom and wash my hands the best I can.
There isn’t much I can do for my clothes.
I take a towel and when I crouch back down in front of Sage, I see silent tears tracking down her cheeks.
No sobs, no hiccups. Only a blank face with rivulets of teardrops.
“I’m so sorry, pet.” The words clog my throat.
This is my fault. I underestimated Campbell’s desire for Sage and didn’t secure her house before allowing her to go upstairs on her own.
I saw more than one thing out of place in her living room and a window that hadn’t been fully closed when I yelled her name before the attack.
Replacing the soaked shirt with the towel, I get a sweater from her dresser and slip it over her head and help her get her good arm in, leaving her injured one tucked against her ribs.
Before helping her up, I search the dead man’s pockets, finding only keys and a phone. I take both.
“Let’s go.”
As we’re driving away, I see a sleek car pull into her driveway in the rearview mirror.
Campbell steps out of the driver’s side, straightening his jacket and lifting his chin high, looking pleased with himself.
We turn the corner, putting him and Sage’s house out of sight.
A good thing too, because I want to go back and end this all now, leaving Campbell’s dead and disemboweled body next to his lackey’s.
Sage is my priority.
I call Rafe because he’s the most recent contact in my phone. My lack of concentration won’t allow me to search for the number I need.
“Ye—”
I cut off his greeting. “I need to you to call Hayden and let him in my house. Now.”
“Done.” Rafe hangs up.
“Wh- who is Hayden?” She trembles as she looks at me.
“He’s a doctor who often does house calls for us if we don’t just show up at his door.”
“Y- you guys ha- have all the con- connections.”
I clench my jaw. Sage isn’t doing well, and I don’t know if it’s only her arm, shock, or both. A cold sweat breaks out over my skin. It’s panic, seeping its way through the rage urging me to turn around and end Campbell for good.
I’m helpless, even knowing I’m doing all I can. It isn’t enough.
“Talk to me, pet. Don’t fall asleep.” I don’t know if that’s the right course of action, but until I get her home and talk to the doctor, I go with my gut.
“I never thought …” She trails off.
“Thought what?” I’m glancing between her and the road.
“He would go that far.” Her voice is still raspy.
“I’m so sorry. This is my fault.”
“How is it your f- fault?” Her features tremble as she attempts to frown, but it’s as if she doesn’t have enough strength to do even that.
Is it the blood loss? From a cut on the top of her forearm?
I should know. I’ve experienced my fair share of similar injuries.
I know when something is serious, is bleeding too much, and what the damage will be.
Not with Sage. All physiological knowledge I’ve gained from my career has vanished and all I see is her in pain and fading away.
“I didn’t secure your house before allowing you upstairs alone.”
“No. This isn’t on you.”
But it is. I won’t make the same mistake again.
The gate opens before I reach it. Rafe must be watching for us.
I drive straight through, speeding to the end of the lane leading to my house.
And sure enough, Rafe and Hayden are standing in the open door waiting.
Shoving the car into park, I race around to the other side to pull Sage from the seat and carry her cradled in my arms.
“Straight to the bedroom,” Hayden orders, following with heavy steps on our heels. “What happened?”
“A cut in her arm. But it’s deep and made with the knife at my back.”
Rafe reaches forward, plucking the knife free and I hear both men hiss as I walk into my bedroom.
“What else?” Hayden takes his place at the side of the bed, sliding on gloves.
“Shock.”
Sage stares wide-eyed at the doctor and Rafe. Her lips tremble and her skin carries a sickly pallor. Every breath is shaky, and while she seemed coherent on the drive, I see so much in her eyes. Terror. Confusion. I hate it.
Hayden checks her over quickly for other injuries, then peels away the towel from her arm.
“All right, darling. I’m going to give you something to make you feel better and to freeze this arm while I take care of it.” He doesn’t wait for an answer while he readies an injection, but his eyes don’t leave her face. It’s all muscle memory for him.
And she doesn’t answer him. She stares at the needle as he inserts into her arm, and then at the second one he inserts near her shoulder. Almost immediately, her head lolls to the side, finding me, before her eyes drift closed.
“She needs rest. She may as well sleep while I take care of this cut.”
I can’t stop staring at her sleeping face, no longer trembling, but still looking way too pale.
“What the fuck happened?” Rafe stands at the end of the bed, arms crossed and voice low, slow, and deadly.
“Campbell put someone in her house. He was hiding in her bedroom and attacked while she was packing.” I glance up and I see he’s raised his brow at me. “Yeah. I fucked up and didn’t check the house.”
“And?”
“He’s dead. I went a little too far while she watched.
Campbell pulled up just after we left. I assume to take her.
” I reach into my pocket and pull out the dead guy’s phone and keys, throwing them on the bed toward Rafe.
“It took everything in me not to turn around and end him.” Darkness shadows my words.
Rafe is already scrolling through the phone, having gotten past any security that may have been on it. “You never go too far.”
“I have. Once. And then again today.”
Rafe snaps his head to stare at me, but I look away.
“Sage doesn’t leave here.” It’s an announcement, a declaration. A warning. There is no time limit. All I know for certain is that I’m keeping her.