Page 28 of Kings of Decay
Pearce pulled his hand free, licking my glistening wetness from his fingers. "Oh, we're not done yet."
Just as he spoke, a terrible ringing sound filled the room. A door opened, sending black smoke into the crowded living room. I started coughing. The smoke stung my eyes and throat.
Everyone in the room scrambled to escape, pushing and shoving their way towards the door.
Pearce and Ainsley grabbed onto me, pulling me closer. The smoke enveloped us, but the Winston brothers seemed unfazed, their grips on me tightening.
"Hold your breath. Don't fight it." Pearce's voice was calm and commanding. I nodded, squeezing my eyes shut as I tried to hold my breath.
The air grew thicker and hotter.
Between the vodka and the smoke, I was useless. Everything around me was a blur. Someone shouting, someone calling 911, and people running for their trucks.
Pearce pulled me into his arms and ran to the door.
The frigid Alaskan air filled my lungs as I took in a desperate breath. Panic gripped me and paralyzed me.
"I got you." Pearce's voice was surprisingly gentle as I faded into darkness.
Chapter twenty
Willow
"What the hell is wrong with you, Willow?"Dad shouted. His face was burning red with anger. "What were you doing at that party? I thought you were at work. Were you lying to me?"
I winced. The chair was cold beneath my almost-bare ass. I'd been saved from the fire while dressed as a slutty cat, and of course, they called my dad to come pick me up. What could I say? That the Winston Brothers had essentially kidnapped me from work and forced me to drink and put on the costume?
Like he'd believe that, he wouldn't, especially considering he could smell the vodka on my breath.
"Dad," I tried.
"I don't want to hear it. You're drunk in a cabin filled with weird boys."
"I'm twenty years old!" I bristled. "I can take care of myself."
My father stared at me for a moment, a look of pain washing over his face. Then, he slammed his fist into the armrest.
"You have no idea what being taken care of means, Willow," he said, his voice heavy with bitterness. "You had a mother that loved you. Cherished you. She never once gave up on you, even when you pushed her away, and now she's gone. I’m not her. I never will be. But I'm doing my fucking best, and I feel like you're slipping away from me."
Those words should have broken me, but they just made me madder. "I'm slipping away?" I shrieked as I stood to look him in the eye. "You're the one who's leaving me alone while you're at work all day! You're the one who has a secret girlfriend, and you're probably too busy with her to care about me!"
Hot tears started rolling down my cheeks as the fury consumed me, and all the words I'd wanted to say for weeks came pouring out.
"A girlfriend?" My father scoffed.
"I met her at the general store. Rose's daughter. I can't believe you didn't even have the balls to tell me that you were over Mom!" My throat blistered with pain as I screamed. "I hate you!" I shouted. "I don't ever want to see you again!"
My father stood for a moment, stunned.
"Willow..."
"Don't bother to talk to me if it's just going to be lies and excuses!" I spat back.
Dad was silent for a few moments, his jaw working up and down as he tried to figure out what to say. Finally, he spoke. "Yes, it's true I'm seeing Amka," explained. "But no one is more important than you."
His revelation didn't matter to me. "How can you be dating? What about mom?"
"Your mother is dead, Willow. Nothing will bring her back. We have to try to be happy. It's what she would have wanted."
