Page 281 of Heart So Hollow

Colson takes the barrel of the gun in his other hand and offers the grip to me. My eyes dart back and forth in confusion.

“Take it,” his deep voice cuts through the silence.

When I hesitate, he shoots me a warning look. I don’t want his gun, but I reluctantly lift my hand and wrap my fingers around the grip.

He lets go of the barrel and takes a step back, “Shoot me.”

“What?” I murmur, glancing down at the gun hanging at my side.

Colson lifts his chin, his blue eyes reflecting back at me with defiance, “Shoot me,” he says louder this time.

“No,” I whisper, looking around the kitchen for God knows what.

“Have you lost your sting, Honeybee?” his voice drips with disdain, “You know you want to after what I did to you. You remember what an amazing night that was...”

Slowly, I raise my eyes to meet his, clenching my jaw as his face begins to change, like a man transforming into a beast before my eyes.

“Remember how bad I fucked with your head?” Colson grins, sensing my anger like blood in the water, “And still, you wanted me so bad that you drove to Cincy with me,” he runs his tongue along the backs of his teeth, his tone turning venomous, “you were so hungry for more that you fucked my hand on the way back. And you liked that so much that you made me pull over so I could fuck your face!”

I grit my teeth and look away as he taunts me, but he doesn’t let up.

He leans in, bumping my head with his nose, “You made a deal with the devil that night, didn’t you? I marked you as mine, tasted your blood on my tongue, and you surrendered everything to me—mind, body, and soul,” he leans into my ear with a whisper, “signed, sealed, and fucked.”

The gun barrel taps my thigh as my hand starts to tremble.

Colson pulls back, “I should’ve kept you tied to that bed. Then you wouldn’t have run off and broke your promises like a lying little whore!” He looks me up and down, “Just see if I let you leave here again...”

I jerk my head up, my arm tensing.

“You want to know why I didn’t say anything until now?” he jeers at me, “Because fucking with you and getting under that soft, beautiful skin of yours is like being edged all day for months on end.”

My fingers tighten around the black metal.

“My fucked-up mind is what gets your panties wet, isn’t it? I can put a gun in your mouth—a gun—and you’ll keep coming back to me,” he lowers his voice again, “like a little bitch in heat.”

Now, all I hear is Bowen’s voice, assaulting my eardrums while air hisses through my teeth.

“You wanted me to find you. I almost put a bullet through your head, and you still loved me,” Colson growls, “because I am your worst. Fucking. Nightmare.”

The next thing I see are my arms out in front of me, pressing the end of the barrel into his chest, tears blurring my vision.

“You gonna pull the trigger, Brett?” Colson snarls, “Do it! Before I bend you over my table. If you thought Bowen’s gun was bad, wait ‘til you see what I’m going to do.” His voice reverberates against my face, “You’ll be wishing for death!”

I pull the trigger and feel the click of the slide against my palm. Then all the air leaves my lungs, and everything goes silent.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT

Colson

One Year Ago

“Feel better?”

Brett stares down at her hands, shaking and still gripping my gun with white knuckles. Then she jerks her head up, eyes wide with horror.

I’m not dead. And there’s not a gaping bullet wound in my chest or blood spatter across the kitchen. It’s just us, standing opposite one another, in silence.

“You—” she presses the back of her wrist to her mouth, her eyes darting back and forth across the tile.