Page 165 of The Tempted

“Baby…,” I searched lightly trying to read her eyes, but they were blank. She was closed off, shutting down, completely in shock by what she had done.

“Is he dead?” she whispered. Her eyes looked at me but I wasn’t sure if she saw me, it was almost as if she was in a trance.

“Let’s get you out of here,” I said softly.

“What the fuck happened here?” Vic said, grabbing hold of Adrianna’s shoulders and turning her around so he could get a better look at her. She stared up at her father just as blankly as she had been staring at me. Vic lifted his eyes to mine, and I looked back at Rico, his eyes following my lead.

“She did that?” He asked hoarsely as he lifted his head and looked at his daughter.

“Is he dead?” She repeated.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and brought her against my chest. “Yeah baby he is.” I whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as I stared at Vic.

“Did you know he was no good?”

Vic shook his head. “Get her out of here will you?” He said with his voice sounding defeated.

“I killed my sister’s boyfriend,” Adrianna cried, pulling her head back from my chest and lifting her eyes to meet mine. “He was going to kill you. Why was Nikki’s boyfriend about to kill you?” she asked confused.

“I don’t know,” I admitted before looking back towards Victor, and with one look, I demanded that someone had better be able to give me answers.

“I saved you,” she whispered, and I tore my gaze away from Victor and stared at her. She reached up and touched my cheek. “I saved you,” she repeated before closing her eyes and dropping her head to my chest. I tucked my gun into my back pocket, alongside the other one that was there and tipped my chin to Vic. In one swift move, I gathered Adrianna into my arms and started to follow Vic out of the club. He led us to one of the exits, kicked the door, and held it open as I carried her out of Temptations.

“There’s a car out back, keys on the right front tire. You know what to do right?” he asked me.

“Yeah, I’ve got it,” I said, giving him one last look before getting the hell away from there. I found the car he was talking about, set Adrianna down on her feet, grabbed the keys, and unlocked the door. I gently placed her into the passenger seat of the car and knelt next to her, pulling the seatbelt over her hips.

I secured the buckle and went to pull my hand back when she placed her hand over mine. I lifted her chin with the index finger of my other hand and stared into her scared eyes.

“It’s going to be okay. I promise,” I whispered, hoping that she heard me, that she understood what I was saying. Adrianna thought she saved my life tonight but the truth was she had been saving my life since the moment I met her. I’d make this up to her somehow, some way I would heal her.

I pressed my lips gently to hers before pulling back and rising to my feet. I closed the door and walked around the car, climbing into the driver’s seat as I turned the key in the ignition. I peeled out of the parking lot leaving behind the massacre of Temptations and the blare of the sirens that sounded.

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