Rearing back, I reach into my back pocket and pull out a switchblade. The guy almost topples as I release him and reach for his hand, but I pin it overhead before he can. Flipping the blade around in my hand, I grip the handle and shove the blade through the center of the guy’s palm. Digging it in until the tip scratches the brick on the other side.
All the air leaves his chest with his scream, and it feels so good. I want to hear that sound until his throat is raw from making it.
Twisting the blade in his palm, he cries out again, and only then do I pull the blade free and press the bloody knife against his throat. Once more pinning his body against the wall.
“You think you have a right to touch her?”
The sick perversion in his eyes when I walked up is replaced with fear. His pupils blow wide as I hold the blade tighter against his throat. His blood pumps with his breaths, and I want to watch it spill down his neck for what he tried to do. I want to slice him open, so he understands what happens to people who try to take things from me.
“Jude.” Fel’s delicate hand wraps around my wrist, and I snap my attention in her direction so fast it makes her jump. “Please, don’t.”
She’s still out of breath, but desperate as her eyes move from me to the man I’m ready to slice into.
She’s scared when she shouldn’t be.
This is all for her.
Fel raises every bad part of me to the surface. She makes me this man who has no limits. While she thinks she’s seen my worst, she’s only had a glimpse. Anything I’ve done up until now is a fraction of what I’m capable of.
I meant what I told her—there’s no good left in me.
My blade tickles his artery and my body itches with the urge to rip it open. To find out if peace only exists when I’m chasing it for her. But for some reason, her eyes beg me not to. Blue pools asking for mercy. And as much as it goes against every urge, she’s the reason I back off.
“Fuck.” I shove off the guy and fold the blade back in on itself.
Rearing back once more, I hit him square in the temple, and he falls to the ground. He’s knocked out cold but breathing.
If it weren’t for Fel begging me not to, I would have ended him.I should end him. No one has a right to touch something that’s not theirs. Especially when it’s her.
I turn to Fel, and she’s standing staring at the guy on the ground. So small she almost shrinks in on herself. Every ounce of her fierce defiance fades in this moment.
She stares at the crumpled body for a long moment. Catching her breath and waging a war in her mind. When she finally looks up at me, her eyes are glassy. Against better judgment, I dare to stare directly into them.
I wait for her to run like she did when we were kids. I wait for her to tell me I’m still the same piece of shit with no morals when it comes to her.
She’d be right.
Instead, she surprises me by stepping in. Reaching for my hand and for some reason I let her take it. Blood squishes between our palms and it shouldn’t feel so familiar.
It shouldn’t feel so comforting.
“Come on.” I tug her hand, trying not to think too much about it as I pull her from the alley and down the street.
A few people look at us as we walk past the parlor. They’re probably wondering why I’ve got blood on my hands and shirt, but in this part of LA, no one says anything. I’ve seen a guy get his fingernails ripped off in the middle of the street and no one so much as stopped or blinked.
“Why were you at the shop this late?”
“I didn’t realize you guys closed early on Wednesdays. I came by to pick up my cash for the week because rent’s due on Friday.” She squeezes my hand at the admission even if I don’t think she realizes she’s doing it.
And fuck if it doesn’t make me feel instantly protective.
I stop us outside the gate beside Twisted Roses and unlock it, waiting for her to climb the staircase first, so I can lock it behind us again.
“Where are we going?” Fel looks at me, and even though it’s dark, her blue eyes cut through the night.
“My place.” I nod to a doorway at the top of the staircase. “Come on.”
I guide her upstairs and breathe a sigh of relief when the apartment is dark and empty. “Sage must still be out.”