Page 54 of Whips and Chains
I snaked my hand to the back of her neck, twisting my fingers in the long lengths of her hair.
I waited until her pretty gaze locked on mine. And even though I knew it was going to undo any favor I might have won with her that day, and I would be right back to where I started, with her hating my guts, I knew I had to say it anyway.
“No.”
She jerked herself out of my touch, and I let her go, unwilling to hold her there against her will.
But I wasn’t budging on my answer. And I knew Whip and Levi wouldn’t either.
She didn’t know what true darkness felt like. And she didn’t want to know.
She stormed away, disappearing into the crowd of people in the club.
I looked at the other two. “Do we go after her?”
Levi sighed. “No. Let her go. She has every right to be angry at us. I don’t blame her. But she can’t ever…”
Whip nodded. “I think we’re all agreed on that. I’d rather her hate me and never know what it feels like to kill a man than let her do it and live with the consequences.”
“I’m going to kill every person on that list so she doesn’t have to. I’ll kill every man in this whole damn world if it means she never has to get blood on her hands,” I said quietly.
Levi watched her through the crowd. “One of us should stay and keep an eye on her.”
Violet’s death stares were like daggers, shooting in the air between us.
“Or maybe we should give her some space tonight. Her shift finishes at five, we can come back then and make sure she gets back to Fang’s safely. But she’ll be okay here until then. Nothing is going to happen with her surrounded by people.”
Whip and Levi both seemed a little uneasy by the idea, but it was the best solution. We couldn’t watch her twenty-four sevenand hunt down the targets on the list. When she was with other people, that was our best chance to leave her.
And right now, judging by the expression on her face, we were the last people she wanted to see.
15
VIOLET
All three of them could go to hell.
I watched as they slunk away toward the door, all three looking like misbehaving dogs with their tails between their legs, having just been yelled at by their owner.
And yet I knew they weren’t going to change their minds.
Chauvinistic pigs.
If men could kill, then how fucking hard could it be? Everything inside me blazed with anger and grief and loss. There wasn’t a single muscle in my body that wasn’t currently primed for a fight, for violence, or for blood to spill.
Screw them for thinking I wasn’t up to the challenge.
Screw Bliss for thinking I wasn’t up to working tonight.
Screw everyone. I wasn’t a fucking child who needed coddling. I’d watched my best friend bleed out in my lap last night. I’d fucked three men, and then gone another round in a sex club while people watched. If I wanted to go on a killing spree then I would.
The sensible part of my brain warned that despite everything I’d been through, we both knew I wasn’t going to do that, but I wasn’t in the mood for rational, well-thought-out plans.
I was running on emotion and sadness and anger and I wasn’t in the mood to be told I couldn’t fucking do something.
I grabbed Nyah’s arm as she walked past me with a drink. “Will you come somewhere with me?”
She cocked her head. “Where?”
