Page 18 of Double Dare

I shake my head vigorously. “Trust me. The best thing to do right now is let me go.”

Adam glances at the men who are now beside him with a smile. “The last thing we’ll be doing is letting you go.” He steps even closer to me, invading my personal space. “Clarks don’t back down from Youngbloods,” he whispers, pulling a knife from his jacket and running it down my cleavage, cutting my dress in the process.

My heartbeat picks up speed at the mention of his name, and dread sinks to the pit of my stomach. Leaving Adrian was stupid, but leaving him and somehow managing to get tangled up with the Clarks? Even stupider.

As much as I hate to admit it, right now I’d rather be with Adrian. He may do terrible shit, but he doesn’t try to be someone he’s not. I knew who he was when I agreed to this dare. He never lured me to him with the pretense of being a good person like Adam.

As the knife trails lower, down my stomach all the way to my belly button, the back door flies open, and Adrian stands in its threshold. It’s like the universe answered my unspoken prayer to be saved, only they didn’t send me a knight in shining armor. Instead, they sent me death himself.

CHAPTER NINE

ADRIAN

Iwasn’tgoing to move.

Iwasn’tgoing to chase her.

Iwasgoing to let her learn a lesson on her own because I knew exactly what she was doing as her eyes looked up to me in the VIP booth when she was dancing with Adam.

Iwasgoing to let her have her fun—let her think she was winning—then punish her later.

But as soon as I saw him lead her out the back, all those intentions left me.

The thought of his grimy hands on her had my skin crawling. The mere picture I conjured up in my mind of his lips on hers made me gag. And the realization that he wanted to rape her—because that’s what Clarks are known for—had my blood fucking boiling.

I couldn’t sit back and do nothing as they stolemytoy.

“Adrian, what’s going on?” My dad finally answers on the third ring and gets straight to the point.

“I need you to get Leaon Ciccone on a red-eye flight. Shit’s about to get messy, and I don’t have time for a cleanup.”

The Ciccone family are the only ones we trust. Eric shares our love for power and stays the fuck out of our city while we do the same, so our alliance works. Every one of his boys is at our disposal too, each of them offering a unique way around the law, but Leaon, he’s the one who cleans up the messes we don’t want broadcasted.

“Who are you going after?” he asks after a brief pause.

“Adam. He took Danica.”

“I’ll be there in three minutes. Wait for me.”

“I don’t have time to wait.” I hang up the phone.

Right now, I don’t want to answer his questions or listen to his warnings. I need backup, and that’s it. The Clarks don’t roll alone, and approaching them by myself is risky, but I can’t sit and wait.

I make it down the stairs and across the dance floor in a matter of seconds. Pushing open the back door, I’m met with Adam standing over her with a knife. Blood trickles down her stomach, soaking the waistband of her panties, and it pisses me off even more. I’m the only one who can mark her. I’m the only one who gets her blood. Not some filthy fucking prick like him.

Swallowing my anger, I grin because I need to be smart. I can’t act on impulse, or else there would be more bodies than I intend to clean up. “Ah. So, this is where the lost and found is? I’ll go ahead and take my plaything back now,” I say, slipping my jacket off and rolling my sleeves.

Cutting Danica a look, I warn her with my eyes to be quiet. If there is ever a time for her to obey me, now is it.

The two men standing behind Adam turn toward me and widen their stance, ready to fight, as Adam turns his head to look at me. “Not going to happen, Adrian.”

“I’ll give you five seconds, Adam. If his hands aren’t off her at that time, a bullet will be between each of your eyes.” I point to every one of the men, pulling my gun from behind me with a shrug. “Your choice.”

“How about we settle this like real men instead? Drop the gun.”

I laugh. “You and I both know it wouldn’t be a fair fight. Let me just put you out of your misery like the sick fucking puppy you are.”

He scoffs. “And you know it won’t be me leaving in a body bag. Look around.” He opens his arms wide and spins. “You’re outnumbered, and daddy Bruce isn’t here to save you.”

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