Page 88 of Ruining Him
“You know him?”
I shake my head. “Not personally,” I mutter and take in the blood covering the floor.
This is gonna be a bitch to clean up.
“We need to get him out of here before the guys get home,” I murmur, and knowing what he’s about to say next, I add, “Dare’s out of town, so I guess we’re gonna have to take care of it ourselves.”
It’s not a lie, but it’s also not the truth.
He has been out of town for the last couple of days, but he should be arriving back on campus any minute, I just don’t want him to know about this. Because he’ll know what I’m planning, and he’ll try and stop me.
I don’t have time to argue with him.
Cole and I cleaned up the mess and buried The Shadow out in the woods behind the cottage.
He stayed mostly silent, as though he knew I had a lot on my mind, and I just needed the quiet.
He’s good at that—knowing what I need and when I need it.
“You’re planning something,” he states once we make it back to his room. The guys trickled in around an hour ago, and we stayed to catch up with them in an attempt to show that everything is normal and that I did not, in fact, kill someone in their home just a few hours ago.
I bite my lip, wondering how much I should tell him.
He wants me to trust him, but I’ve never done this before, and this being open thing is hard to get used to.
“They’re not gonna stop, Cole.”
He nods and sits on the edge of the bed, his eyes never leaving mine.
“So, you plan on stoppingthem.”
He knows me too well. I don’t like it.
“I do,” I whisper.
And that is my plan, except I don’t plan on coming back from it.
I know the Richardson family. I’ve studied them for years, and I know there’s no way in hell I’ll make it out alive after taking the fight to them, but at least I can take down as many as I can before they inevitably get the drop on me.
He leans forward, his eyes pleading with me. “Then let me come with you. Wait for Dare to get back. We can put a plan in place and deal with it together.”
From the tightness in his shoulders to the way his jaw is set, I can see how determined he is—he’s not going to let this go.
And I honestly don’t have the energy to fight him on it.
I sigh, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.
“Okay,” I agree, and he lets out a relieved sigh.
“Thank you, little menace.”
He won’t be thanking me tomorrow.
FORTY-SEVEN
COLE
Iwake slowly, my eyes burning and my head feeling like it weighs a ton.
