Page 101 of Diamond in the Rough

His pained howl cued the gunfire, and the island was filled with the sound of pipping, banging, and dull thudding once more. He swiped his forehead, then grabbed his burning leg.

Billy went for him again, a slashing motion Maddox blocked with his hands and arms. A blade through the palm, a deep slash on his forearm. Maddox gritted his teeth and used his strength to force Billy back.

Maddox heard a gunshot, and Billy’s body jolted violently. His mouth opened in shock, and he looked down at the expanding red growing on his shirt.Maddoxclosed his hand around Billy’s wrist and twisted the bone until it snapped. He flung the knife away and pushed Billy off. The smug expression left Billy’s face, and Maddox’s eyes snapped to the hole in his chest. He’d wanted to make Billy hurt, but he didn’t have long to fulfil his fantasy, to fulfil a sense of justice.

He ran his fingers through Billy’s long hair, got a firm hold, then smashed his face repeatedly into the sand. It was brutal, barbaric, and when he felt the bones in Billy’s face give way, he stopped and screwed his face into the sand, burrowing it deep into the loose grains until every painful breath would’ve burned his throat and irritated his lungs.

Maddox couldn’t imagine the pain Carl must’ve been in when he’d succumbed to fire and smoke, but he hoped he gave the pain an equal. Billy struggled, jolted, but Maddox held firm until he drowned, suffocated, vomited to death—Maddox didn’t know how, but when the twitching stopped, he knew it was done.

He crawled away, looked up the beach, expecting to see Amber or Tom, but there was Jake, swaying on his feet. Jake, his guy, who had saved him from Billy.

Jake collapsed on the sand, head landing in the small waves of the low tide.

“Jake!”

Maddox scrambled up the beach, wincing at the raw pain in his leg and the slices to his arms and chest. He got to Jake and hauled him into his lap. There was no response, and Maddox shook him.

“Come on…please.”

He scrunched his face but denied Maddox’s request.

“Please, Jake, just look at me.”

“You can’t be here,” Jake whispered.

“I am here. I’m cut up, bruised. I haven’t shaved in days and my suits torn and crumpled. I smell like blood, and sweat, and smoke, but I am here. I promise.”

“How can you be here?”

“I escaped, like I said I would.”

Maddox looked down Jake’s body and noticed he was keeping his left arm close to his chest, subtly covering his ribs. “You’re hurt…”

“Me?”

Maddox looked back to Jake’s face. His blue eyes were open and scanning Maddox with worry. He fixated on Maddox’s forehead, and when Maddox flexed his face, he felt the prickle.

“Only a cut.”

A wave rippled towards them, and the wound in Maddox’s thigh tingled, reminding him it was still there. Salt whipped off the sea, and each slice and cut stung, but he pushed the pain aside and held Jake to him, rocked him, and kissed his ear.

“I could kill you for this,” he murmured.

“For what?”

“Tearing my heart out.”

“I’m sorry.”

Maddox leaned Jake away from him and pushed their foreheads together. “Don’t be sorry. You’ve put it back again.” Maddox squeezed Jake in his arms. “Just about.”

He rested his chin on top of Jake’s head and hugged him as he looked out to sea.The sting in Maddox’s eyes increased until tears snuck through the barrier of his lashes and ran down his cheeks.

He laughed softly and looked down at Jake. “Sand.”

Jake nodded. “Me too.”

His eyes welled with tears, and Maddox brushed them away. Jake reached and scratched his nails on Maddox’s beard.

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