Page 19 of Burned & Bound

He managed to break their hold long enough to grab a chair.Oh, fuck.West smashed the chair across someone’s back before lunging at the other guy.

Screaming, shouting, and utter chaos. It consumed the bar as they kept going after West.

“Get your asses up!” Mickey barked. “It ain’t the boss you need to be scared of. Help stop the fight—occupy the idiots. Andno onetouches West, you hear me?”

They were on their feet and rushing to do as he said. Meanwhile, the stare Mickey leveled on me was cold as hell.

“Get your ass up, boy,” he growled. “Your daddy would berealdisappointed in the man you’re turnin’ into over this whole damn thing. Get your ass up and help me help him.”

He wasn’t asking, and I knew better than to fuck with Mickey when he got started.

CHAPTER 12

west

The alcohol floating throughmy system was almost enough to make her touch feel like something other than fucking razors on my skin.Almost.I just kept drinking because once Marley was in my space, she wasn’t leaving. And I didn’t know how to get mean with her.

I knew what she wanted—what she expected. I wasn’t a fucking moron. Pretty girl like her could have any guy in the place. She should’ve stuck with that. Instead, she picked the one guy with a broken dick. It hadn’t worked in years, and that wasn’t changing. Not for her. Not for anyone.

All I could hope was that, at some point, she’d realize all her efforts weren’t working. All her ass-grinding didn’t do a damn thing to me. When that happened, I had to think she’d move on.Either that, or she’d try even harder to convince me.

Fuck, I hoped to hell she didn’t. There wasn’t enough alcohol in the world to fix my dick. I’d tried. And I didn’t know how to explain that to her—nor did I want to.

When a hand grabbed my elbow, the panic spike was instant. My chest tightened fast and hard, hurting something fierce and sparking somethinganimalistic in me. Marley yelped as I whirled on my heel and threw a punch. I didn’t know who I was hitting. I didn’t care. I couldn’t see past the increasing fear lighting up my entire fucking body.

I grabbed a shirt and kept hitting. Hit after hit, I went after him.

Hands slapped and smacked me, shoving at my chest and shoulders. My hold tightened and my fist flew harder.

Shadows pressed in on my vision.

I was a livewire, violently charged with no direction.

More hands grabbed at me, hauling me off my feet. I screamed and fought back. Screams filled my head—memories I tried to fucking bury climbed their way to the surface.The fucking pain.I felt it in every part of my body.

I hit.

I broke things.

I fought like hell.

I belonged to no one, and there was no way in hell I was going back there.

No way, no how.

I’d rather be dead.

Swaying on my feet, I gasped for air.

I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t…

Voices filled my head—voices I desperately wanted to forget.

Voices that taunted me.

“Hey!” Fingers snapped in front of my hazy vision. “Look at me, boy.”

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