Chapter 37
DOVE
“You don’t get it!” Reese’s fist slams into my gut and the world goes white.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t think.
Every muscle contracts in agony, and my body fights to curl up and protect itself. Earlier, he moved me to new chains so I hang in the shape of a Y with my wrists pulled skyward. There’s no way to curl up. No way to protect myself.
I have to soak it up and pray for it all to be over.
“Then… tell me,” I gasp out, my words as raw as my core. He punches less when he’s talking and I’ll give myself as much grace as possible.
“Why, so you can pretend you care?” He rubs his fist against his opposite palm, and then hits me again, sending my stomach up under my ribs.
“Everyone forgets that Nico had more than two people in his life. Sure, I wasn’t a brother like Felix.
I didn’t know him until later but that doesn’t make me any less important.
What, you think friendships can only be measured by the length of time for importance?
Nah. We knew each other after he saved my life and he didn’t blink twice when he did it.
We hung out. We got drunk together, we scoured bars and hooked up with hot bitches. ”
“So you helped him rape them?” The words slip out before I can stop them and I’m silenced by Reese’s fist in my jaw.
“Fuck you,” he snarls. “Y’know, half of those girls retracted their lies anyway and the others were more than happy to get paid off so I don’t see what the big deal is.”
“You don’t?” I slowly lift my head, then swipe my tongue around my mouth to gather the blood leaking from my split cheek.
Once it’s heavy on my tongue, I spit it on the floor.
“You covered up crimes that most would kill you for. More than that… you let those lies manipulate Felix for years. Years. Never mind how many people signed on the dotted line because they felt bad for that bitch upstairs.”
The next punch knocks me out cold. I catch a gleam of the ring on his knuckle as it flies toward my face and then there’s nothing but empty, hot darkness.
I’ll die here.
But it’s okay.
I gave Alex fourteen good years and Felix can give him decades more. He’ll protect him. Keep him safe.
I hope they bond.
In my unconscious dream, I exist in a world where we left together. I told Felix the truth and he came with me when I ran. We moved to somewhere with mountains and nature, like Montana or even all the way to Canada, then we raised Alex together.
No guns. No blood. No death.
Just a peaceful life.
“Get the fuck away from her!” Felix’s voice drifts across the mountains and consciousness stirs in my mind.
“No! I’m gonna kill her and you’re gonna watch!”
That’s Reese’s voice. That twisted bastard. I want to kill him. I want to kill him for covering up Nico’s crimes, for betraying Felix, and for kidnapping my son.
“Don’t you get it?!” That’s Felix again. “There’s no situation where you walk out of this room. There’s no path where you win. You kill her and I’ll kill you slowly. You walk away and I kill you fast.”
“You talk shit like that when I’ve got a gun to your bitch?!”
Reese again. They’re getting louder. It’s like coming up for air the way everything comes back to me in a rush; the throbbing ache of my stretched shoulders, the stinging throb of heat from open wounds and growing bruises, and the strange tickle of something falling around my shoulders.
“I trusted you,” Felix snarls. “I should have known you were nothing but a rat when you kept disappearing but I believed your bullshit about the woman you were seeing. I did the best I could by you and you stabbed me in the back at every fucking turn!”
“You don’t get it! He was my friend too! I missed him too, but you never asked about anyone else because you’re a selfish fucking cunt!” Reese yells loudly, then his footsteps carry him two steps forward.
My eyes snap open.
Beyond Reese’s head, Felix is in the doorway with his gun drawn and Toph flanks his shoulder.
I don’t have time to understand how they got here or why they’re even here.
I just react.
Curling my hands into fists, I grit my teeth and with a yell, I tense my core and lift my legs as high as I can.
Another yell of pain squeezes through my clenched jaw, but Reese doesn’t have time to turn before my legs wrap around his neck and lock tight, his throat caught between my thigh and calf.
Felix instantly surges forward, snatches the gun out of his hand and then punches Reese so hard that the shockwave moves through me.
I tighten my legs further.
Reese chokes and gags. He claws at my thighs until Felix grabs his arms and holds them out of sight, leaving me no obstacle to pour all my fury and hatred into squeezing my legs together as tightly as I can manage.
Pain fades. My heart pounds and adrenaline surges, igniting a heat up and down my legs.
Drool spills from Reese’s lips and dampens my leg so I twist in utter disgust and a sickening crack rises up from his body.
He’s limp in an instant just as tiredness takes over and my grip goes slack.
Reese falls to the floor. Dead.
“Fucking cunt,” I pant weakly. “I hate him. I fucking hate him.”
“Dove!” Felix is suddenly in my face with one arm around my bare waist, pulling me snug against his body, and the other hand against my face. “Oh my god you’re alive. I was so fucking scared you were dead.”
“I’m alive,” I pant, blinking owlishly. “You’re here?”
“I’m here.”
Something clunks and my leg arm goes slack, then drops with only small pain to my shoulder. “You came?”
“I came,” Felix breathes, then his mouth collides with mine and I barely feel when Toph releases my right arm.
Pins and needles rush down my limbs but I ignore them and wrap my hands around Felix’s head, cradling him as close as I can manage while deepening the kiss.
We don’t move.
We don’t breathe.
We lock lips and our tongues slide together as if we’re trying to imprint one another with our touch.
I never thought I would get this ever again.
I thought it was over.
Breaking the kiss with a gasp, tears suddenly flood my eyes. “Where’s Alex?!”
“He’s safe,” Felix replies breathlessly. “He’s safe. He’s totally fine.”
“Oh god,” I gasp again, still panting from exertion. “Oh my god.”
“You’re okay. You’re safe now. I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
I sink my fingers into his hair and grip on as we make it down to the ground, and a sudden, powerful shiver moves through me just as another shake rolls through the room.
“What’s going on up there?”
“Bree,” Felix replies, studying my face over and over. “She’s causing chaos. A distraction.”
“Here,” Toph stands with his hands on his shirt. “Take my shirt. I couldn’t find clothes.”
“No,” Felix cuts in suddenly and there’s a heavy warmth to his tone I’ve never heard before. “Take mine.”
“One at a time,” I tease tiredly, but there’s no denying Felix’s possessiveness when he sweeps his shirt off his back and slides it over my bare shoulders.
“Wow.”
“Ow?” Felix hesitates. “Did I hurt you?”
“No, I saw wow. I’ve seen you like this before, but this…” I motion to his tattoos and the sexy curve of his tense torso. “It never gets old.”
“I think you’ve taken one too many blows to the head,” Felix smirks, gently feeding my arms into his shirt, then quickly buttoning it up. “You can flirt with me all you like once we’re out of here.”
“Caterina… is she here?”
“Long gone most likely.”
“Do you know for sure?” I catch Felix’s wrist with my hand as he buttons the shirt to my neck. “Is she still here?”
Toph and Felix exchange a look, then Toph shrugs. “It’s possible she’s standing her ground.”
“We have to kill her.” Using Felix’s shoulder for balance, I climb to my feet and his shirt drifts down past my hips. “I’m not leaving here with her alive.”
“Dove, we can kill her another time. Right now, I want to get you out of here and seen to!”
Never in my life did I think I would see Felix beg, but he does so openly, clutching my shoulders and pulling me close.
His gaze is heavy and unblinking, as if I’ll turn to dust the moment he looks away.
“I have to do this, Felix. If we leave her alive, I’ll never be safe. We’ll never be safe. Alex will never be safe.”
“She doesn’t matter. Alex does and I swore to him I’d bring you back. Going after Caterina is too risky!”
Tears continue to slowly track down my cheeks even though I barely feel them.
It’s like some part of me is crying while the rest of me is in shock.
“Felix, I’m doing this for Alex. I want my baby to sleep safely in his bed tonight. I’m not asking permission.”
Felix surges forward again and kisses me so hard that pain flares across my bottom lip, but it’s a good pain and my heart surges.
“So that’s a yes?” I gasp as we break apart.
“Yes,” Felix grumbles. “Although I’m not happy about this. Here.” He hands me his weapon, then ducks and grabs Reese’s discarded one from the floor. “Let’s go kill a Queen.”
As we rush from the cells, Felix reaches out to Bree to see if anyone has eyes on Caterina. “Bree!”
“Felix?” Bree’s voice crackles with static.
“Anyone seen Caterina?”
“Let me check. You find Dove?”
“I’ve got her.”
“Good. Get her out of there!”
Felix glances at me as we make it to the top of the steps. “Caterina,” he says back. “Where is she?”
A long silence drags on from the call as he linger in the hallway, debating the best use of our time.
Splitting up won’t help anyone but we can’t just hang around in a burning building.
By the time Bree’s voice reaches us one again, soft curls of smoke stretch along the ceiling.
“Saw her maybe twenty minutes ago on the third floor,” Bree yells. “But we had a helicopter land maybe five?”
Felix and I lock eyes. “The roof!”
Of course Caterina will do everything she can to get out of here.
She’s not the kind of woman who will stand and fight with her people.
Not like Felix. Even now, as we rush up stairs two at a time and race down hallways flooded with smoke, Felix doesn’t waver.