Page 58 of Intertwined Souls

I’m guessing I can thank Tammy for that. Being locked away for so many years brings on all sorts of new issues. Grayson noticed right away, but before he could say anything, one of Steph’s fucking friends walked over. Apparently, Steph was too fucking scared to come say shit to my face, so she sent over someone else. I can see her standing on the opposite side of the room smirking in my direction.

I’m fully prepared to not let any of this ruin our night and just turn around and walk away, but that idea goes out the window as a manic laugh sounds behind me and then a fist is flying through the air and lands against the side of the guy’s head.

He drops to ground, knocked out cold. All around us, teens gasp in shock.

“Ryker?” I blow out a surprised breath, but he doesn’t even glance at me.

He just bends down and scoops up the guy like he weighs nothing, tossing him over his shoulder and strutting out of the ballroom.

Cade approaches and we all glance at each other before quickly following in the same direction as Ryker. Biting my lip, I fight off the laughter that wants to tumble out of me at the sight.

We file out, heading down a hallway and out of a back exit door. When we stumble out after Ryker, we find he has tossed the guy to the ground and is leaning over him. Luckily, no one is in this back parking lot right now, although I have a feeling Ryker wouldn’t care even if someone was.

I step forward, but Cade latches onto my wrist. “This isn’t just Ryker mad, he’s in his dark place. Where he could kill someone and not even realize it. Give him a few minutes and then I’ll intervene.”

When the guy comes to, Ryker drops down to straddle his chest and grins manically in his face as he forcefully grips his chin.

“Do you like a little pain with your pleasure?” Ryker mocks in his face. “Well, unfortunately for you I only offer one of the two. One is reserved for my girl. So that leaves just pain for you.”

Wrapping his hands around his throat, he begins to squeeze as the guy fights and scratches where he can reach, trying to get Ryker off of him.

“If you are going to act like an entitled prick, at least be prepared to fight.” Ry tilts his head at him. “Or wait, you probably only ever try shit like that with girls or people you deem weaker than you.” Shaking his head, Ry tsks in disappointment.

My gaze runs over Ryker's taut muscles stretching under his suit. A shiver of desire runs through me as I bite my lip to stop myself from smiling. I know we have to stop this at some point, but him doing this for me is insanely hot, and I just want to savor it for a moment.

“Ryker,” Cade hisses, finally stepping closer to them to intervene.

Ryker releases his neck and chuckles darkly. "Don't worry, brother. I just wanted to leave a little message.”

He jumps to his feet and then roughly flips the guy onto his stomach. Pulling a knife from his pants pocket, he slices down the center of the guy's shirt. When he starts flailing again, Ryker digs the tip of the blade into his skin, drawing blood.

“The more you fight and move around, the more errors I will make. Which means I’ll have to keep restarting over and over again…” he taunts.

The guy stays still as Ryker brings the knife down and begins carving. When he starts yelling and trying to get away from Ryker, Ry tuts and makes cuts over the word he was creating and moves to a new spot to start over.

By the time the guy gives up and stops moving, Ryker has half carved the word about four times and scratched it. Cutting down deep enough each time so it will scar. When he finally finishes, he stands up and I see the word for the first time. Cunt. Carved into his back multiple times but only one is really legible.

Ryker squats in front of him and wipes his knife off on his cheeks. “There you go. Now you can go join the kink party. I’m sure there are some kinky bastards out there that wouldn’t mind adding to your collection.”

Gripping his hair, he wrenches his head back and looks into his teary eyes.

“Speak to my girl like that ever again, and next time I will carve your dick into a sculpture of a cunt,” he seethes. Dropping him to the ground, Ryker faces me and grins. “Want to go dance?”

I shake my head. “I think I’ve experienced prom enough. Let’s call it? Plus, you aren’t super suitable to go back in there.” I raise a brow at him.

Luckily, the black hides most of it, but there are drops of blood on his neck and hands. Grayson and Ryker run back inside to go to the bathroom and get Ry cleaned up while Cade and I walk around the building and towards the front parking lot to the truck.

Rounding the corner, we find Stone leaning against the building. I raise a brow at him and ask, “If you watched him do that, why didn’t you stop him?”

“I’m here to protect you guys. Not that fucker.” He straightens, getting ready to walk with us towards the parking lot when he says, “And I’m assuming it was happening for you?” I nod while Cade grunts out a yes. A barely-there smile forms on Stone’s lips, surprising me. “I would’ve killed him.” He shrugs and then walks ahead of us.

A few minutes after we get in the truck, Gray and Ry join us. Ryker climbs in the back seat with me and takes my hand, intertwining our fingers together.

Searching his face, I ask, “Are you okay?”

Ryker smiles and raises my hand to place a kiss on the back of it. “Yeah, I really am. I felt the darkness, but I was somehow able to stop myself from fully letting it consume me like I have in the past.”

Cade scoffs from the driver seat. “It still consumed you. No matter how badly I would have liked to also torture him, a solid punch to the face should’ve been the end of it. Noah and Rage are going to be pissed because there's no way to hide that we were involved.”

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