Page 120 of Whips and Chains
Bliss’s teeth sank into her bottom lip in worry. “Violet, that sounds really dangerous.”
“I know. But I can’t just keep being the victim either. Never knowing where this guy is going to show up or how. It’s driving me insane. I need to know who it is and why they’re targeting me.” My heart squeezed. “I owe Toby that much.”
My throat got all blocked up at just saying his name.
I missed him so freaking much.
Bliss and Nyah and Rebel were great, but Toby was the one I wanted to be spilling all my secrets to. It was Toby I wanted to sit on the couch with and dissect every detail of whatever I had going on with three men.
And I was never going to get to do that again because some psychopath wanted to play games nobody could win.
I couldn’t just spend my whole life waiting for the next time he’d come out of the woodwork.
I needed to face it.
And the guys had agreed. But now they seemed hell-bent on doing just about anything other than actually talking about how we were going to make it happen. What on earth could they have possibly been doing all day that was so important? There’s noway it took twenty-four hours to bury one body. I’d been around them long enough to know they worked a hell of a lot faster than that. And they’d clearly been keeping something from me just now.
“I’m going to have to do it myself, aren’t I?” I asked Bliss.
I couldn’t blame them for wanting to keep me safe. That was noble of them.
If I had to make a bet, it would have been the three of them were off working out how to find this guy and cut me out altogether.
The idea didn’t fill me with the peace I needed.
They weren’t there.
They hadn’t been the ones to listen to that countdown. To know your life was about to end and there was nothing you could do about it.
They hadn’t been the ones to hold Toby while he’d died.
I didn’t just want the person responsible dead.
I wanted to take their life with my own two hands. To stare them in the eye and make them feel the fear Toby had felt in his last moments.
Bliss let out a long sigh. “You don’t have to do it alone, or with them. We can go to War. Or Fang.”
I shook my head. “They’re just going to go straight to Levi, and then we’ll be back at square one with them kissing me and…doing other things until I forget I was trying to have a conversation with them.”
Bliss nodded. “Vi, I’m not encouraging you to do this. I just know I’ve been in your shoes. And that guys like Levi and Whip and X…” She sighed. “I know men like them. It’s like they’re born with double the dose of protective genes. They aren’t deliberately trying to keep you in bubble wrap, they just can’t help it. The idea of you being in danger short-circuits their brains and makes them dumb.”
I stifled a laugh. “Sounds about right.” But then I sobered. “But I need to do this. They don’t know what it feels like to be the victim. To have all your power stripped away.” I stared at her with big eyes. “I need it back. I can’t stand feeling this scared and sad and pathetic.”
Bliss pulled me in for a hug, and I let her because I needed it. I was terrified of doing this alone, but I’d been terrified in that warehouse with Toby dying on my lap too.
I’d survived, but I’d never gotten to look the person responsible for his death in the eye.
And I needed to.
“I need to draw them out,” I told Bliss. “Somewhere public, but private enough that other people won’t be there in case…”
In case things went badly.
I didn’t want any more innocent people getting hurt.
“The bluffs.” Bliss peered through the window in the direction of the road that would take me up there. “There’s a storm coming in. Nobody will be up there when the weather is shitty. Visibility drops to practically zero as soon as the clouds roll in.”
My stomach churned at the thought of doing this tonight. I wanted to run to the bathroom and be sick, but I also knew if I didn’t do it tonight, I might never do it. “I’ll text the guys right as I’m leaving. Telling them to meet me up there. To hide themselves in the trees.” I swallowed hard. “I won’t be alone. I’m just forcing their hand.”
