Page 1 of Savage Vicious Heir: Part Two

1

ELLIOT

“It seems my soft-hearted brother here paid Ethan to befriend Miss Bancroft after she developed an unhealthy little crush on Elliot and he rejected her.”

Scott’s words repeat over and over in my head as blood roars past my ears, stopping me from hearing the laughter that rings out around me.

Ethan still stands at the end of our table looking both embarrassed and terrified, but it isn’t him I care about.

Did I do what Scott just explained to Abigail? Yes, in a way, I did. But my intentions were never so cruel, so vicious.

I was trying to protect her.

I shake my head and pain slices through my chest.

“Here,” Scott snaps before throwing a wodge of notes down on the table and shoving them towards Ethan. “Now fuck off, yeah?”

Ethan’s eyes drop to the cash before moving to mine.

“Take it. We’re done,” I confirm, my voice barely sounding like my own.

I learned the art of cutting myself off from reality and pulling on a mask, armour, long ago but Abigail always manages to penetrate it.

Usually, I can appear unaffected by anything, but right now, I fear that I’m not hiding my true feelings.

“Just for the record,” Ethan says as he swipes up the notes and pushes them into his pocket. “I think you’re an arsehole for what you’ve done to her, Eaton.”

My chin drops in surprise. No one usually dares to say those kinds of things to our faces. Especially someone with the social standing of Ethan Smith. But I quickly find that I don’t have any words to come back with.

For the first time, I truly care about the pain I’ve caused.

Scott, on the other hand, scoffs before a sinister smile pulls at his lips. “We’re Eatons, kid. Arsehole is our middle name. Now, we’ve got shit to discuss that doesn’t include you so fuck off, yeah.”

Scott shoos him away as if Ethan is nothing more than an irritating fly.

The second he steps away from our table, my head twists around without instruction from my brain as I search the tinted windows that hide the busy street housing the pub for Abigail.

“Don’t even think about it,” Scott sneers, predicting exactly what I want to do.

What I need to do.

A warm hand slides up my thigh and I jerk away from Lauren. Her hand is like being touched with a branding iron. It burns, and not in a fucking good way.

I need to get out of here.

I need?—

Sliding from the bench, I push to my feet but the second I stand to full height, Scott’s demanding voice rings through my ears.

“Walk out and the first thing I’ll do is call Dad,” he warns. “And I won’t just tell him you refused this date, I’ll tell him all about your littlegirlfriendtoo.”

My blood runs cold, the walls of the pub closing in around me.

Having Scott know about my feelings for Abigail is bad enough. But my father can’t know.

He’ll ruin her and he’ll force me to watch.

With acid burning up my throat at the thought of the pain Johnathon Eaton could cause a sweet girl like Abigail, I retake my seat, gritting my teeth when Lauren’s hand returns to my thigh, squeezing in what I assume she thinks is a supportive gesture.

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