Page 191 of His Pretty Little Duet

"While I'm still alive," I implore, wanting to reach the fifteen or so metres between us and pull his tongue out through a slice I make in his throat. "It'll end with me."

"No, it won't," he deadpans, and I hear feet shuffling. The rolling of rocks below uneven steps.

My smooth outward armour slips right off when I see Xander hauled towards me by a leather-clad biker. I recognise the thug as the Sergeant at Arms, Crow. OrColin Maronefor when he's a civilian filling in his papers at the City Building.

I know them all.

"Clay." Xander searches the area around me, blood rushing from his face as he takes in the scene. Me, alone. No sign of an ambush. "Clay…"

Dustin grins and raises his gun, and when he presses the nose to Xander's temple, a desperate sound rumbles from my throat. A second. That is all it will take. A second and my baby brother will have his brain misting the thick, pungent smoke. "My daughter?" Dustin insists, and as I stare at my brother, blue-eyed and bruised, a stab of affection, of protectiveness so intense slides into my chest. I realise I chose Fawn over him. I can't not… choose my little deer.

We lock eyes."He always was the invisible Butcher, wasn't he? The forgettable one."No. He's the right one. The perfect one. The good one. I'll die in this park for him, with the hope he'll live and one day understands why I chose her. Hope he accepts with sad melancholy that it does not lessen my absolute loyalty to him and my family.

"Here." My body stiffens. Max's voice seeps into my blood, setting it to boil, my muscles pulsing to claim what he took from me—her.

With my fingers curled to the point of searing pain, I turn slowly in the direction his voice comes from.

Squinting through the thick grey haze, I watch Max appear like a ghost, shielding my little deer with his body. They came on foot. They. Came. On. Foot!

"Hello," Fawn says softly, speaking to her father for the first time in her life. My muscles convulse with need—a need to wrap my arms around her. Protect her from the smoke. The heat.Him.Everything.

She must be so overwhelmed. Confused. I need to get to her, but then she steps forward, provoking words to claw through my clenched teeth, through my waring resolve. "Step back, Fawn!"

She gasps at the sound of my voice, squinting through the dense atmosphere, stilling her gaze on me as smoke parts between us. Her mouth moves as she breathes my name. "Clay." The haze brings the word to me. NotSir.Not today.

Dustin laughs, and I know I've lost the war of wills. Shown him everything I should have meticulously guarded. I revealed my affections, my moves.Lost.I fucking lost.

Unable to wait, unable to signal Bronson and the others, I edge towards him through the smoke as Fawn has captured his attention.

Still with his gun to Xander's temple, he says, "Let me get a good look at you." Eyeing her, he takes in her appearance—skin pinkened and slick from the heat. He regards her like a prize colt he might purchase and race, wear to the ground, and then put a bullet in once it has served its purpose.

"Well, aren't you lovely," he finally says, and I hear my growl rumble between my ears. "I understand why Clay Butcher finally thawed. Don't you want to give your daddy a kiss hello? It's polite, after all."

He waits, but she tilts her head, looking at him as though she is trying to recognise herself in him. When she doesn't respond, he says, "No? Well, we can work on that."

I still my creeping forward when he looks back at me. He frowns, his stare shooting to the trees behind me. "Order Bronson and the others to move where I can see them. He wouldn't have missed this. I know he's in there. I canfeelhim. I can always feel a Butcher."

Fawn takes another hesitant step toward her father. My little deer, seemingly unafraid. Intrigued, instead.

"I wanted to meet you," she almost whispers, and my heart aches from hearing her sweet, honest cadence. He never deserved her. "I came all the way here to find you. But I found Clay instead. Do you actually want to trade Xander for me? Do you want to know me at all?"

Xander suddenly drops his head back into Crow's face, provoking a grunt from him. Quickly, he twists to grip his shirt, whirls around using the thick dazed biker as a shield, and ducks behind it just as Dustin's gun goes off.

A bullet meant for Xander appears like a red portal in the centre of the Sergeant of Arm's cheek.

Chaos breaks loose.

Rounds suddenly echo through the hot, coasting fog. The thick smoke lights up with small flares from the firing weapons ahead.

Dustin growls, turning his gun towards us, firing through the haze. Shooting at everything. Anything.Anyone.

Only ten or so metres away, Max shields Fawn. Suddenly, his arm jolts backwards as he takes a bullet for her. It must have hit his bone, or it would have broken through his flesh and landed in her face.

He grunts and cups his shoulder as blood spills through the webbing between his fingers.

Fuck!

"Max!" I roar, rushing to them. Reaching for my little deer, I grip her close, drop with her to ashy debris, and cover her body while unseen bullets soar around us.

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