Page 95 of What I Should Have Known

Everything that had just happened, everything happening now flooded me as if a dam had burst.

It was as if Duncan himself wrapped his fingers around the hands of my enemy and loosened the choke just enough so my vision sharpened.

With a single cock of my fist, I splintered my knuckles against the jaw of the man attempting to kill me. His head snapped backward. I shoved my entire weight against his legs and threw him to the side.

The world turned as red as the blood that seeped from the split lip of my enemy. His eyes widened as I pushed myself upright and thrust the heel of my boot against his jaw. With a deafening crack, his neck snapped, and he collapsed to the ground.

“Where’s Kat?!” I shouted, spinning away from the body.

My focus shifted to Ford who had his elbow hooked around the throat of one scrawny gang member while holding another away from him by a fistful of his wet hair.

“Wyatt took her!” Ford shouted, tightening his headlock.

“Where?” I asked, sprinting across the meadow toward a man with bodies strewn about him. The muck swirled a deep burgundy, and whether those cartel members were dead or unconscious, I had no idea, and I didn’t care to ask. All I felt was the need to find Kat, to redeem myself, not just for her, but for Duncan. And I couldn’t do that without saving her—without making sure she was okay.

By taking down the man responsible for all of this.

“No fucking clue,” Ford grumbled as he tightened his choke even more and the enemy’s face turned purple.

“Let’s find out,” I snarled, shifting my gaze to glare at the gangly kid attempting to rip his hair from Ford’s hold.

I stalked up to the wiry, blond-haired boy who I’d seen once before and tapped his cheek. His frenzied eyes snapped to mine, pupils dilated so large that the colors of his irises were absent.

“Hey there, buddy,” I taunted with a grin, sending a sting with the next couple of taps against his face. He shook his head, still attempting to wriggle out of Ford’s hold, and sneered at me.

I let the smile fall from my lips and clamped my hand around his jaw, ripping him away from Ford. A few strands of hair remained in the fingers of my best friend.

“Where’d Wyatt take Kat?” I snarled. With a jerk, I yanked his face within an inch of mine and tightened my hand around his cheeks. The skin turned white around each of my fingertips, and his eyes widened as he clawed at my wrist. Yet, I felt nothing.

“Piss off,” he slurred through the pressure.

“Don’t make me ask again,” I hissed, clamped my free hand around one of his fingers, and bent. A sharp crack snapped through the pattering of rain. He shrieked and released his palm from around my wrist.

“Where did Wyatt take Kat?” I asked again and snapped his next finger.

“STOP!” he screamed, attempting to rip his broken fingers from my hand. “The hospital. He took her to the hospital to save his own ass. Please don’t—”

And I cracked a third knuckle.

His wail sheared through the dark sky as sharply as a knife through butter.

“That was for not answering the first fucking time I asked,” I snarled, released my grip from his face, and slammed a fist square into his nose. He collapsed to the ground, joining his buddy that Ford had choked out, and stopped moving just as a roar of two ATV engines echoed through the meadow.

I shared a knowing glance with Ford as Emma came racing through the tree line with Levi holding tightly to her waist and Beau behind her on the four-wheeler Ford had previously been on.

Emma slammed onto the brakes and then shoved Levi’s face against her back. “Close your eyes,” she commanded the little boy. Her glare sent a shiver down my spine. “What the hell?” she hissed.

“Wyatt took Kat to the hospital, let’s go.” I raced forward toward Beau whose gaze remained wide as his face paled.

“And what about…” Emma waved a hand over the grove that had become a shade of gray and red. “What about all of this?”

I shrugged as Ford’s footsteps sounded behind me. “The cartel will take care of it. They’re not about to leave any evidence or mess that could be traced back to them,” Ford said as we reached the ATV Beau sat upon.

“Besides, with how muddy and wet the field is, other than the bodies, not much evidence could be found anyway,” I finished explaining and gently placed a palm over Beau’s eyes. His lashes fluttered against my skin as I helped guide his stiff body down from the vehicle.

“Hey, Beau,” I gently said. His hands began to tremble as I tucked his face against my shoulder. “Your sister got shot, and these guys were trying to make it worse. Ford and I couldn’t let that happen. You understand, right?”

His head bobbed against me as I waded through the muck to Emma’s vehicle.

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