Page 38 of Promise to Break

I take a deep breath and step forward. It's now or never. Carrying the plate as carefully as I can, I set it in front of Kai.

"Again, I'm really sorry," I begin. "The diarrhea stuff wasn't meant for you. To be honest, you seem like the most decent of the bunch. You've never treated me or my girlfriend like a whore, so I'm really sorry that happened to you."

I intend to turn around and let him eat the soup I made for him in peace, but a hand I don't recognize stops me. I know it's Liam even before I see the ring on his pinky. The idiot thinks he's royalty with that gold ring engraved with the letter B on it.

"Touch me one more time, and I'll cut your cock off. That way, you won't be able to hurt my friend, and maybe she won't have to marry a maniac like you."

"Love, it's unbecoming to talk to your best friend's future husband like that. Where is she?"

"None of your fucking business."

"But it is, isn't it?"

I don't grant him a response as I try again to walk away.

"Where's our soup, love?" This time, Liam stands in front of me, and only his hands are in the air as a sign of surrender.

"You didn't sit on the toilet. No soup for you. Although, now that I think about it, you probably need to shit a little bit of the crazy away."

I glance at Killian, who's trying to appear aloof. For once, I know he cares. His hand is on the tabletop, clenched so tight the slightly tanned skin loses the blood flow and turns white. And his eyes. The void in there is gone, covered with a dark storm of fury.

"You're a bit of a cunt, you know that, love?" Liam keeps going, and I roll my eyes, preparing to keep the verbal battle up with the all-proper bastard. But I don't get the chance.

The next thing that happens, however, leaves me afraid more than ever of the monster that is Killian Fierro. Killian flips the chair out from under Liam, and it doesn't take Killian more than a few hundredths of a second to get Liam in a chokehold.

"Speak about her like that again, and you know what's going to happen." There he is. The Ax. No playfulness in sight. The monster, the killer, is real. "Have I made myself clear?"

"You're crazy," I shout. "Do what you want. I'm not going to witness a murder." My legs take me away from those three as fast as I can make them move.

Chapter sixteen

Maricela

"It's too much," Julian says as he brings in the plants from the garden. This time, I plan to make Killian pay for real.

"No, it's not. I think it's the perfect solution because his girl did the same to me. Let him feel the burn of ivy." I admit what Lila did and instantly regret it. My friends didn't know about that one. Fuck.

"Lila did this to you?" Raven looks up from her game with Baron and one of his toys. "When? Does Killian know?"

"I don't know if he knows about it or not. Probably. More than likely, it was on his orders."

"He would never."

"Raven, I know you love him. I can even understand it. But he could, and he would."

Raven's sweet and peaceful expression disappears like it never existed on her porcelain face. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because it was in my underpants, and I felt it for two weeks. She crushed it into a powder, so I couldn't see it. The nurse told me I was lucky the shit didn't get wedged all the way inside." Even I can hear the embarrassment in my voice. It was painful and very shameful to have to seek medical assistance.

"That bitch. You should have told me." For the first time, I see my friend angry. Fuck, she's raging. It's like looking at a blonde version of Killian.

"It was fine. I went to the doctor. I pulled them off me fast, but it wasn't without pain." That was an understatement, but I don't want to make a big deal out of it. And it's not that I could do anything about it at the time. No one at school would do anything to someone like Lila. And Killian was my enemy, so I certainly couldn't go to him. He's still my enemy. Why should I tell him something that would only amuse him?

"You should have told someone," she continues, "and it's not Killian who has to pay for that. You know I'm right. He's never done things like that to you. It was all that bitch's doing."

"Maybe, but she did it because of him. We both know that's true. She made me her enemy because he told her to. I truly pity her. Now he's decided he wants to fuck me, so it's supposed to be okay for me to let all her dirty deeds go?" I shake my head. "Lila can be a royal bitch, but she's his future wife. He doesn't respect her or me." This and so many more reasons is why I need to make Killian leave me alone. I'm not strong enough.

"He told the family he wouldn't marry her." Julian has just been standing there this whole time, listening. He hates that bitch more than anyone. Lila knows about him being gay, and she holds it over his head. I don't know what she makes him do for her, but it can't be anything good.

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