Page 130 of Intense
The pub is wrecked.
Glass everywhere. Bodies groaning and twitching on the floor.
Only a few men still stand, and they’re smart enough to stay frozen in place.
Theo grins as he steps over a body, cracking his neck. His hands are bloodied, but he’s smiling like it’s Christmas morning.
“Well,” he says, breathless, “that was cathartic.”
Reggie grabs a half-conscious man by the collar and throws him out the front door.
Rowan wipes blood off his jaw and raises a brow. “That all of them?”
One of Bowen’s men tries to crawl for the exit. I walk over, crouch beside him, and whisper low.
“You tell Arthur that war’s already begun. And next time, I won’t stop at your friends.”
I let him go, and he scurries like a rat into the night.
Theo claps his hands together once. “Drinks?”
I let out a breath and roll my tense shoulders.
“Only if you’ve got whiskey that doesn’t smell like petrol.”
He laughs, stepping behind the bar like he owns the place, which he does now, I suppose.
I glance at the wreckage around us. Broken chairs. Blood smeared on the floor. My brass knuckles stained deep red.
And for the first time in days… I feel something close to peace.
Because the violence silences the noise in my head.
The ache in my chest.
The name I keep biting back.
Stephanie.
And tomorrow, I go home.
And she’s going to feel everything I’ve been holding back.
Chapter 44
STEPHANIE
Song- In Your Fantasy, ATEEZ
Another day, another life saved. Balance. I took a man’s life last night, and today I saved a woman.
I thought killing James would relieve some of the tension building inside of me. That it would get my mind off Finn. That I’d get that euphoric release that I usually do.
But I didn’t.
Because this is different. Finn is so deep in my skin; it doesn’t matter what I do, I can’t stop thinking about him. I can’t stop feeling him on me. I can’t stop wanting more.
“Good work today, Josh,” I tell him as he appears next to me to scrub out.
