Page 76 of The Gentleness of Rage

Damien shook his head. “Lucy is at home.”

“Nope, Lucy’s dead in a morgue,” I stated and held Damien’s eyes. “You’re not lying… you didn’t know.”

“If it’s not Damien…” Slate rasped; he shuddered, and his eyes closed. Was he unconscious?

“Then it was you!” I gasped, turning to Wade, who grinned.

“Not such a bimbo, Jaelynn. Yeah, it was me. Damien was so busy bullying everyone into ignoring what he was doing. I flew under the radar. They weren’t my first killings, babe. I have got at least twenty under my belt. It was quite funny when Damien and I were put on them. Of course, any evidence leading to me, I made disappear,” Wade crowed.

“Tell me you’re joking. That I’ve not been working with a serial killer,” Damien demanded in disbelief.

“Dude, you were the perfect cover. Everyone was more concerned about covering your ass than what I was doing,” Wade explained.

“Shit, what have you done?” Damien spat.

“Me? Nothing. See, what’s going to occur is you’re gonna attack me, and I’ll kill you in self-defence. But you’d have already killed Jaelynn there and this asshole. I’m then going to shoot myself with your weapon, and I’ll be a hero,” Wade said cockily.

“One problem. Your fingers got squashed in the panic room door,” I added.

“Yeah, bitch. But honey, I was there to get you safe from Damien. You simply panicked and locked me out. Everyone knows what Damien did. Jaelynn, you’re not exactly stable, you got scared and slammed the door on me. By the way, bitch, that cost me two fingers and fucking hurt. I was planning to make your death painful, starting with losing your own fingers.

“In light of the circumstances, I need someone to blame. And that’s you partner. Just think of it like this: we’ve saved each other’s asses a few times now, and this is your final hoorah. Your death is about to save me one last time. Of course, I’ll have to move states and change my killing methods. But there’s shit planted at your house which will identify you as the murderer. Trophies and so on.” Wade grinned.

“Not gonna happen. I’m not going down for your crimes! Asshole, I’m no serial killer!” Damien cried.

“Dude, everyone knows you beat the fuck out of Jaelynn. It’s not a huge leap for you to be a serial killer,” Wade said, laughing.

I gaped as Damien yanked a gun from his waist and raised it. There were two shots, and slowly, Damien turned to me and hit the floor. His head bore a bullet wound.

“You killed him!” I exclaimed as Wade cursed.

“The fucker shot me!” Wade snarled. “Actually, that goes in my favour. Well done, bro. I underestimated you. Stay where you are, Jaelynn.”

“Let us leave. We won’t say a word,” I swore.

“You should have come to me, Jaelynn. I’d have looked after you. Damien never appreciated what he had,” Wade announced wildly.

Damn, if Wade wasn’t bat-shit crazy.

“I’ll come with you, Wade. Let’s go right now. Leave Slate here, and we’ll flee,” I suggested.

“Sorry, babe, but that won’t fit into my storyline, will it? Nah, you got to die. Say goodbye, Jaelynn. You should have made better choices.”

Wade raised the gun, and I squeezed my eyes shut. There was a bang, and I jumped and waited for the pain. Seconds ticked past, and a strangled gasp left my lips. Had Wade shot Slate? I opened them and saw two huge men standing over Wade’s body.

“You should have shot him earlier,” the long-haired one snapped.

“You wanted his damn confession on tape,” the older man retorted. “Hey, baby girl. I’m Magic.”

“Slate…” I gasped.

“Yeah, let’s get him off this meat hook,” the first replied. He wore a cut that said President and Inglorious under it. On his back was a patch stating he was an Unwanted Bastard.

“Rage are on their way,” Magic spoke to me.

“Is he alive?” I whispered, crawling over to Slate. His chest rose up and down, and I tucked myself into his body. Slate was cold to the touch, and I looked for his clothes.

Magic handed me a long-sleeved tee, which I recognised as Slate’s, and I draped it over him. Then Inglorious gently placed Slate’s cut over him to help a little, too.

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