Page 39 of Wicked Riddles & Bitter Heartbeats

“Lilah, is that you?” The voice pulls my attention. There’s something in it that grates on my nerves.

A man old enough to be my father stops in front of us, looking at Lilah with an odd smile. I don’t like the way he’s looking ather, or the way his hair is gelled back. He smells like an ashtray and his teeth are too yellow. I don’t fucking like him.

“Can I help you?” I say, trying to keep calm. Lilah is upset. This guy is a douche. Something isn’t right. I put my arm around her, shielding her with my body.

The guy looks at me and scoffs. “No, thanks,” he says harshly. “I’m just trying to say hello to my niece.”

All I can see from this angle is the top of Lilah’s head, but she isn’t moving a muscle outside of shaking.

“Doesn’t seem like she wants to say hello to you,” I respond.

“Well, I don’t give a fuck what she wants. Lilah, say hello to your uncle.”

Her shaking gets worse, and I step forward, moving her behind me completely. The closer I get to this douche, the worse the smell gets.

“I suggest you leave,” I say calmly.

The man laughs. “Who the fuck do you think you are talking to me like that? She’s family.”

“And you smell like shit.”

He huffs out a disbelieving laugh, pointing a finger in my face. “You’re going to regret that.”

He takes a step forward, looks around me to see Lilah, but I move in his way, holding his gaze.

Try me, asshole. I fucking dare you.

Smirking, he holds my gaze for a long moment before walking away, shaking his head and muttering to himself.

“Are you okay?” I ask Lilah as I turn to face her, resting my hands on her arms.

“I can’t be here,” she whispers. “I have to go.”

She shoves past me and moves down the hallway.

“Kitten!” I call after her. When she doesn’t stop, I go after her, jogging around the corner and slamming right into something hard.

“Fuck!” we shout at the same time. My hand goes to my forehead, because it slammed into something that felt like steel. When my eyes open, I see he’s doing the same.

He… as in James.

My body reacts by freezing, while he groans.

“Watch where the hell you’re going, dipshit,” he mutters, then shoves past me and goes into his room. The door slams, something loud bands inside, then it’s quiet other than my racing heart.

I snap out of it and glance down the hall. Empty. Lilah is gone. I need to get her. James can wait.

By the time I catch up to her, she’s storming through the parking lot. I open my mouth to call after her, but don’t want to make a scene. We shouldn’t do anything to be noticed around here, in case something happens to my asshole brother—or her even more of an asshole uncle.

Let’s be serious: something is going to happen to both of them. But Lilah comes first.

I hurry after her until I can reach her. I grab her around the waist and pull her to me.

“It’s okay, Kitten. I’ve got you.” I hold her tightly to me, her body still shaking. Until it stops. She goes still and for a split second, I panic. But then the sobs leave her and she’s shaking all over.

I keep her against my body, holding her as tightly as I can without crushing or suffocating her. I did this to Violet once. She was panicking and told me to hold her. She said it helped. If someone were holding me like this when I was panicking, I’dexplode. But Lilah isn’t telling me to let her go, and her fingers are clawing at me like she’s trying to get closer.

I have no idea how long we stand in the lot like this, but I spend every spare second thinking about her uncle and all the ways I’m going to kill him. He did something to my kitten. Something that fucked her up so badly she’s a trembling mess. This isn’t my girl. My girl is strong. I saw her moments before she was about to die, and even then she wasn’t such a mess. I’ve seen her while I beheaded her boyfriend. I’ve seen her while I gutted a pedophile. She didn’t even flinch. Death doesn’t phase my kitten. Meaning… this man did much worse to her. And so that means I’m going to do much worse to him.

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