Page 76 of Red Obsession

Izel reluctantly nods her head, twirling her fingers together. I don’t comment as I shift into drive and take off down the road. It’s not long before I'm pulling off once more by the driveway, taking my gun from the middle console. I check the magazine before placing it in my thigh holster.

“Izel.”

“Hmm?” Her eyes are trained outside the window.

“Look at me.”

Finally, she does as I ask.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you…” I don’t know why I feel the need to tell her this. But the fear in her eyes makes me regret this entirely. I shouldn’t have brought her. I know this. “How about you just stay here? I’ll make this quick and then we can go okay?”

Izel nods, not uttering a word. Grabbing her hand, I kiss her knuckles, climbing out of the truck. Locking the doors, I take off towards the house. I refuse to think about Izel and what’s freaking her out so much. I have a job to do and a job that could go wrong at any given minute.

Crossing the lawn, I keep out of any window eyesight as I creep onto the back porch. Grabbing the back door, I twist hoping he left it unlocked. You’d be surprised how many people leave their doors unlocked, thinking bad things will never happen to them.

Sliding the door open, I look around, finding myself in the kitchen. Easing the door closed once more, I take a calming breath, shake the nerves of leaving Izel out there and make my way into the living room.

What I don’t expect is a man almost my size holding a baseball bat that smashes into my groin. I go down, my hands barely catching my fall.

“Fuck.” I growl, the bat connecting with my back before he’s wrapping his arms around my neck and wrestling me into a chokehold.

“Who are you?” he grunts, the air being knocked from my lungs as he holds a tight grip around my neck. My feet kick out, knocking into a table causing something to crash to the ground. Twisting and turning, I try to break his hold but nothing I do works, and that’s new for me.Along with the pain in my nuts, I swear I’ve lost a ball.

Movement catches my eyes. Izel crawls around the couch, blocking me from being able to tell her to run. If I’m about to die, she doesn’t need to see this nor can she fight him off. I’m struggling and she’s so much smaller than me.

I can’t yell at her to go because then he’ll see her. I hold my breath, willing her to run, to just get away when suddenly his grip loosens.

“Fuck,” I grit out, twisting my body ready to fight the fucker when I’m so shocked that I can’t move. Izel stands above him, the knife lodged into the side of his neck. Before I can tell her to just leave the knife, she drags it out spraying blood everywhere.

“Shit.” Stumbling over the man’s body, I grab Izel dragging her back. “It’s okay, it’s okay, I got you.” I breathe her in, not believing that Izel just stabbed someone.

“I’m fine, Zion,” she mumbles into my chest. Though I don’t believe it, it’s harder to kill someone than you think. “Zion, really, I’m okay.” Pushing me back, I glance down. Expecting to see her crying, only there’s not a single tear in sight.

“We’ll talk about this in the truck,” I scold. Grabbing her hand, I drag her behind me to the truck. Now that he’s dead and I’ve had time to get over the fact she risked her life, I’m fuming. I’m barely holding onto the anger that’s wrecking my body. And my nuts.

The moment we’re near the truck, I drop her hand spinning her around until her back is against the passenger door.

“Do you have some sort of fucking death wish?” I growl, hands fisted at my side.

“No, but he was going to kill you!” she screams.

Gripping her chin, I force her to look at me. I can’t even imagine what would have happened if he’d finished me off and she was left out in my truck. Or if she was left in thathouse.

“I promised you I’d protect you,” I grit out. “You’re not supposed to be saving me. So next time don’t fucking move. Don’t risk your FUCKING LIFE FOR MINE!”

“Zion,” she whispers, her hands gripping my hand that slips around her throat.

“No. Don’t argue with me.”

“I’m sorry.”

I don’t want her to be sorry. I don’t want her to go into dangerous situations.

“Don’t do it again.”

“Okay,” she whispers, her tongue darting out to lick her lips. Her eyes widen as I’m ripped away from her. My back hits the ground with a grunt, the barrel of a gun pressed against my temple. Everything blurs together, happening too fast.

“Ah, ah, ah, there’s my girl,” a man says behind me, I twist my head to see who it is when the gun presses harder against my head.

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