Page 38 of Grave Games

“What the hell did you just call me?” Marvel’s mud-brown eyes—how I’d once thought they were beautiful, I’d never know—narrowed, pinning me to the spot. “You might want to try that again, because no one’s going to buy that shit, Shiloh. What the fuck.”

Did this monster actually look offended? Oh yes, he did. “Geez, you don’t even know, do you? You have no clue that all these years, you’ve been nothing but a dirty, common rapist. You actually believe you didn’t force yourself on me over and over again for days while your shitty, unworthy brothers watched and laughed. You genuinely believe that nightmare I had to endure while I was your captive was agood time. How dare you? How dare you walk among normal, good people instead of dragging yourself along this earth like the bottom-feeding, scum-sucking rapist you are.”

The room was deathly quiet after my tirade, save for my jagged, gasping breaths. That was when I realized my voice had risen with each word until I was screaming at him, and the whole restaurant chock full of hungry patrons had turned to stare at me. Self-consciousness squirmed through me, but it was minor compared to the rage still seething inside. If I’d spent years standing there screaming at him, it still wouldn’t put a dent in the fury I’d been carrying around, and that shook me. I didn’t want to lug this rage around the rest of my life. It belonged to Marvel, and anything even remotely touching him was a poison that would devour my soul.

I didn’t want that.

I just didn’t know how to make it be any other way.

At last, the silence was broken by Marvel himself, who shot a furtive look around the room before narrowing his eyes on me. “That’s bullshit, Shiloh,” he announced in a voice so clear the cooks in the kitchen probably heard him. “You wanted to spread your legs for me right from the jump, so crying rape now is pretty goddamn hilarious. In fact, you know what? You should be thankful I gave you what you’d been begging for. You were such an annoying little nothing back then. I had to grit my teeth just so I could get through the task of popping your cherry like you know you wanted me to.”

Humiliation drenched me, feeding the fires of my fury to the point where even basic words evaporated from my brain, and just the need to throttle him was the only thing left. I dropped my order pad to the floor so I could throttle him with my bare hands, but at that moment a long arm snaked between us, pushing me back. Then that same arm went for Marvel, yanking him out of the booth.

What…?

In an instant, Radar tried to launch out of his seat as Marvel was dragged out of the diner. But another man appeared behind Radar, wearing a Gravediggers cut over a heavy jeans jacket and a Gravediggers bandana over his bald head.

“You and I are going to sit this one out like the good boys we are, Radar,” the man said pleasantly, his sunglasses reflecting Radar’s outrage before he glanced up at me. “You’re okay with that, right, Miss?”

“Oh my God,” I whispered, at last snapping out of my rage-induced fugue enough to realize what just went down. Romeo had arrived in time to save me from trying to strangle Marvel to death in front of a crowd of witnesses, and now he was doing heaven only knew what to Marvel. I didn’t give a damn about that bastard; whatever bad fortune fell on him now was just Lady Karma doing her thing.

But I didn’t want Romeo to get in trouble. Not for me. No way.

I started to race for the door, only to hear my name called. Dubya marched toward the reception area, hands clenched, his lips white. It was a lucky thing his eyes couldn’t actually shoot lasers, but it sure looked like he was trying to manifest that power into being.

“Buzzby’s doesn’t need this kind of unexpected melodrama played out in front of its cherished patrons,” he announced, and I couldn’t help but scoff over that wholeunexpectedbit. “Your behavior is completely inappropriate for this family-oriented establishment. I need you to clear out your locker and leave the premises immediately.”

“No problem.” But I didn’t head for the employees’ locker room. Instead I ran out the door and into the night, desperately searching for Romeo.

Chapter Thirteen

You Can’t Make Me Let Go

The sound of my heart drowned out everything as I hurtled outside, the bright lights of the diner fading into the darkness the deeper I went into the parking lot. As my eyes adjusted, I glimpsed the silhouette of a man closing in on another, before both disappeared around the back of the diner. I hightailed it in that direction, not at all surprised to hear the sound of growled curses and flesh impacting flesh. My Marvel-induced berserker rage evaporated with each step, overcome by the need to get to Romeo. I didn’t think about why I had to be with him now, or why I couldn’t bear to think about the possibility of him getting hurt because of me. I just needed to be with him more than I needed to rage-kill Marvel.

When I rounded the corner, the breath in my lungs backed up as I was confronted by a scene that looked like it would be more at home in a gladiator ring than the alleyway that ran along the back of Buzzby’s. Romeo stood in a wrestler’s semi-crouch, his body slightly turned toward Marvel, whose nose appeared to be off to one side and flowing freely with blood. His eyes were also flowing, no doubt from the sheer sting of an obviously broken nose, while his lips curled back to reveal blood-smeared teeth. He snarled like a feral dog before launching at Romeo, who let him close the distance like he couldn’t understand the danger he was in.

“Romeo!” I couldn’t stop myself from crying out a warning even as he unexpectedly dropped into a crouch, avoided Marvel’s kick, then somehow flipped Marvel over his shoulder and plowed him into the ground.

Whoa.

Then Romeo was on him, pummeling Marvel’s face like it was his mission in life to smash it out of existence, and the sound of his powerful fist impacting flesh and bone made my stomach crawl sideways. I swallowed hard and kept my gaze steady while Romeo did what I had always wanted to do but didn’t have the physical strength to pull off—beat the living daylights out of Marvel.

It was a thing of nightmarish beauty, the efficient way Romeo delivered violence to my own personal nightmare. His right hand worked like a piston as he sat on Marvel’s chest, before suddenly switching things up and letting his left fist even things out. But all too soon I realized that Marvel had stopped moving in any significant way, and another sudden fear propelled me forward—the fear that Romeo would actually kill him. I didn’t give a damn about Marvel; having him beaten to death was a favorite fantasy of mine.

But I couldn’t let Romeo risk prison. That would mean losing him.

I couldn’t let that happen.

Not when I’d just found him.

“Stop. Romeo,stop.” I didn’t think. To be honest I’d pretty much stopped thinking from the moment Marvel and his dick of a friend walked into the diner. I was running on pure adrenaline as I stepped right up and grabbed Romeo’s powerful arm before it could plow into Marvel’s bloody face once more. “For God’s sake, stop. You’re killing him.”

Though the alleyway was cloaked in darkness, there was enough light for me to see Romeo’s sea-colored eyes look up and lock onto me. First with no recognition, then with towering rage. “You’re seriously trying to save this fucker, Shy?”

“I’m trying to saveyou.” I don’t know what possessed me. All I knew was that one minute I’m holding on to his arm, and the next I’m kneeling on the ground next to him, kissing his bloody knuckles while pressing my free hand to his bristly cheek. “He’s nothing, a total piece of shit who doesn’t even know that this is what he is, and what he’ll always be.You’rethe one I’m here for.You’rethe one who means something to me, so I’m not going to let go of you, okay? You can’t make me let go.”

“Shy. Jesus fuck, Shy.” Breathing hard, Romeo closed his eyes, and I could feel him struggling to find his way back from the madness that had gripped him. Then he did something that stopped my heart. He leaned into my touch, his cheek gently nuzzling my palm as if my touch was the most precious thing in the world to him. A second later the moment was gone, and as he lifted himself off of Marvel, he took my hands in his so that he could bring me up with him. “You just keep holding on to me, you hear me? Don’t ever let go.”

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