“I feel it too,” she replies while tapping her glass with mine.
“Get me another, boy,” a familiar voice calls out from behind me, and my entire body goes rigid. Sweat forms on my forehead.
No, this cannot be happening here.Not right now.I want to give Cammi romance. She deserves fucking romance with a normal boyfriend. Not with someone who’s so fucked up they can’t go out to dinner without hearing voices in their head.
And then I hear it again. “Just leave the whole bottle.”
I never saw their faces. But I did hear the voices—all of their voices—and I’ll never forget that accent. That thick, Russian accent.
“Vin, what’s wrong?” Cammi asks, drawing me from my thoughts.
“I can’t…” I shake my head. “We need to go.” I cannot sit here. I cannot be in the same room as this man. I will not. My hand clenches around the steak knife on the table. I have a better idea. “I’ll be right back.”
I push up from my seat, with the knife still clutched in my hand, and quickly turn around. The fucker is talking, which makes him easy to identify. I walk up behind him, pressing the serrated edge to his throat.
“You are going to stand up and walk through that kitchen to the back alley without saying a fucking word,” I hiss into his ear.
The second man at the table looks at me, jumps up from his seat, and leaves. Good. No one is coming to save this asshole.
“Get the fuck up now,” I grunt in his ear. My stomach churns, bile threatening to come up, and my hands are shaking. Being near him makes me physically ill. I have to fight to stay in the present, to not get dragged back into the past. He can’t fucking hurt me now.
Without a word, the fucker pushes his chair back and stands. “Through the kitchen and out the fucking back door,” I growl. I’ve felt a thirst for blood before. But what I feel right now is more than that. I want his blood, but I also want to rip his depraved fucking soul from his body and return it to the devil himself.
The Russian starts walking and I follow close behind him, adrenaline pumping through my veins and increasing with each step I take. I’ve thought about this moment often, what I’d do if I ever found any of them. I guess I’m about to find out.
The fat fucker slams the back door open so the heavy metal hits the brick wall. Then he spins around, his hands raised like he’s ready to take me on. I close the distance with a laugh. It’s fucking funny that he thinks he’s any match for me now. Mybooted foot lifts off the ground, landing in the middle of his chest. He stumbles backwards three steps before he regains his balance.
“You know who I am, and you know why you’re about to die by my hands,” I tell him.
“Fuck you, boy,” he sneers.
The little composure I had snaps, and I find myself slamming my boot against his gut before landing it on the backs of his ankles. This time, he can’t stay upright and hits the ground. I jump on top of his body, bringing the steak knife to his throat. I make a swift slice, right across the front. Blood sprays out everywhere as the fucker struggles to grab at the wound. It’s pointless, though. There’s no stopping the blood flow.
None of it is as satisfying as I imagined it would be. It’s too quick. Too merciful a death. So I grasp the knife in my fist and bring it down, slamming the tip into his chest before pulling it back up again. I repeat the process over and over. It’s still not enough.
“Vin?” I look up and see Cammi standing right in front of me. Watching me. Her eyes wide and her face pale.
I open my mouth to say something but I can’t get any words out. I stand and kick at the now lifeless body before taking a step forward. Towards Cammi. The knife drops to the ground. I hear it clank. But I don’t remember letting it go.
Cammi closes the gap between us. “I’m going to hug you. Is that okay?” she asks. I nod my head. She wraps her arms around my waist and presses her face against my chest. “It’s going to be okay.”
I hold her tight, even though I know it’s not going to be okay. She just saw me kill a man.
Cammi lifts her face to look up at me. “It’s going to be okay,” she repeats.
My arms drop from around her waist, and I take two steps backwards while shaking my head. “No, fuck. Cammi, I’m so sorry,” I tell her.
She’s covered in gore, her white dress now stained with the blood of a monster. I did that to her. I didthisto her. It’s all my fault.
Chapter Eighteen
“Vin, I think you should call one of your brothers.” I can see him unravelling. I don’t know what happened, why he did what he just did.
When I saw Vin disappear into the kitchen with that man, I got up and followed them. I knew something was wrong at the table. He was sweating and his hands were shaking. I’ve watchedit happen before, and it’s always been when his mind gets taken back to that time…
“You need to leave, Cammi,” Vin says. “You can’t be here. You can’t…” He shakes his head.
“Yeah, too bad. I’m not leaving. Give me your phone.” I hold out my hand and have to admit I’m surprised when Vin pulls his phone from his pocket and passes it to me.