Page 12 of Revenge

It still made me uneasy, that level of sexual awareness I now felt as an adult. When I was thirteen, it didn’t exist, but I suppose I’d been so young. Kai had been a man and I had looked up to him; until I’d approached that awkward age of sixteen (which had been anythingbutsweet). At which point my feelingsburstinto a full-on girlish crush.

For me, the age gap had closed further the day I ran away. I wondered if hestillsaw me as a child. The last time we had been face to face, I’d been seventeen to his twenty-five. At almost twenty, I feltmorethan ready to take him on.Wantingto was another matter entirely.

His next question shook me out of my pointless musings about his sex appeal and age. It’s not like it made any difference, nothing would ever come of our relationship. I told myself we hated each other and I wasn’t the type of person to involve myself with someone who had so many social issues. I’d had a couple of hookups over the last year, but purely to scratch that essential itch; nothing serious. My attraction to Kai was now unwanted and unnecessary.

“Why are you living in such a shit heap?” Kai questioned with distaste, dragging me back down to earth with a thud. I almost laughed out loud, compared to some places I’d crashed, Anton’s apartment was a palace.

Narrowing my eyes, I answered him like I thought his question moronic, “I’m laying low. Word on the street is that there is a crazed lunatic trying to kill me.”

“Crazed lunatic?” Kai replied with a twist of his lips,tastingthe words. “I’m not a lunatic.” I noticed he didn’t correct me on the trying to kill me section. A shiver swept over me at the thought. Would hereallybe able to do that, take my life away from me? We hadn’t always been enemies.Couldmy stepbrother kill me in cold blood?

“Compared to most men in my profession, I think I’m pretty sane,” Kai tacked on.

I released a nervous chuckle. “Are you kidding, mental health professionals would sell their souls to study you.”

“Indeed,” he said with a slight smile, that deep voice of his deceptively calm.

I knew it was madness but I stepped forward and raised the gun slightly higher, aiming directly at his head. “Whilst I like a catch-up as much as the next girl, I think we’re done now. So, I suggest you leave before I redecorate the apartment with your brains,” I explained in a firm voice which brooked no argument.

He didn’t pay any attention to my threat. Of course not. The man listened to no one apart from his second, Nico. I wondered fleetingly where he was at. He too had been my friend once, or so I had thought. Men of the mob variety were untrustworthy fuckers,allof them.

Kai unfolded hismassiveframe from the chair and then started slowly towards me. Like he was purposefully drawing his approach out. Fearfloodedmy insides; he wasn’t holding a gun himself but I knew he’d be armed.

“Six months ago, I was prepared to be patient with you.”

My huffed response felt like it was squeezed from me, “And now?”

Kai’s gazesearedinto me, “And now. Time’s up.”

As he got closer, I aimed slightly left into his shoulder and pulled the trigger and it clicked. I ignored his look of shock as I glanced down at the weapon. I attempted it a second time; but nothing. I should haveknownit would have been a futile attempt. It appeared Kai had all his nine lives and wasstillthe luckiest man on the planet.

Panic rushed through me as I watched as he quickened his step, my mouth open, eyes as wide as saucers. Kai moved with a lethal show of grace that made my temples pound and my mouth dry, danger was written deep intoeveryproud inch of him.

Shit! My inner monologue shut down, flustered as Kaiprowledacross the space.

There was now an ominous scowl on his face, his smile no longer in place. Kai looked like he was one breakdown away from murdering me. His broad shoulders bristled aggressively, and that dangerous vibe pouring off him;doubledin thickness.

I raised my hand, showing him my palm in a ‘stop’ gesture. It was severely pathetic but it worked.

Kai halted around a foot in front of me, almost within touching distance. Probably to stop himself from choking the life out of me. His hands were fisted and his entire stance oozed how pissed off he was. And a pissed-off Kai was not a good Kai. I’d once witnessed him make a grown man cry. Not nice.

His nostrils flared as he stared down his nose at me, “You really are a bloodthirsty little bitch. I can’t believe that you were going to shoot me—again,” Kai growled taking a large step forward, grabbing the Glock andyankingit roughly from my hand.

I gasped as the motion twisted my fingers. And he was wrong, I wasn’t bloodthirsty, I’d purposefully aimed to the side, ensuring minimal damage; a flesh wound only. Part of me hated Kai, but I didn’t want him dead.

“I’m sorry,” I panted, stepping back as heglaredat me from his imposing height. He’d filled out over the last two years; his broad shoulders and arms were stacked with even more muscle, and I noticed new ink on his knuckles. The man looked as aggressive as fuck and an unwelcome wave of lustrushedthrough my pelvis. What could I say, I dug a bad boy. The man stole all the air from the room and I felt hot and bothered. That masculine scent of his almost smothered me.

Get a grip, Ava! You can’t still be attracted to someone so deranged; it just isn’t normal. You hate him, remember?

“Sorry just doesn’t cut it, Ava. You could havekilledme, again!” Fuck, he was cross.

“I—It—wasn’t loaded,” I croaked in my defence, rubbing my bruised trigger finger. I was lying, I couldn’t have been sure if it had been loaded. My panic clouded my thoughts and I’d gone with my gut.

“You didn’t know that.” The horrified tone of his voice suggested that he felt I’d just done him a disservice; yeah, like I owed himanythingafter what his father had done to me and mine.

“Of—course I did—You think I don’t know the weight of my own gun? The differences between it being loaded and unloaded?” I was babbling now as I had always been a shit liar. And then it hit me like a train. OMG, what had I become, Ihadpulled the trigger on instinct. If ithadbeen loaded, Kai would be bleeding. My stomach churned as I didn’t deal well with the red stuff. At least I’d had the sense to redirect my aim from his skull. A wave of dizziness swam into my head. I couldn’t even watch slasher movies on TV.

Kai must have seen my weakness and he stepped into my personal space,loomingover me like a monster. “I have nofuckingclue, but if youeverpull a gun on me again, there will be consequences. Severe ones youwon’tenjoy.” The warning came with a shake of his finger into my face causing me to blink rapidly.

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