Page 6 of Whips and Chains
I didn’t know why he was here or how, but this had to have something to do with Violet. Whip was already a step ahead of me, snapped out of gruesome curiosity with the sick realization something very, very bad had gone down here tonight.
“Violet,” I managed to gasp out, sprinting after Whip and X, who were already running for the warehouse door. I caught upquickly, fueled by a rising panic, and it was me who got to the door handle first.
It was me who yanked it hard, the door creaking open beneath my solid pull.
It was me who stopped dead at the sight of Violet sitting in a pool of blood, Toby’s lifeless body cradled in her arms.
She didn’t look our way. She didn’t say a word. Just sat there, stroking his hair with bloodied fingers, her eyes unseeing.
For once in his life, even X didn’t have a joke or a witty remark.
“Fuck. Violet!” Whip lunged forward.
Violet’s scream was a warning of anger more than one of fear. It stopped Whip in his tracks instantly. His expression filled with desperation, and his body went rigid as he tried to hold himself back.
I took in every detail of her blank expression and repeated movements. “She’s in shock.”
“There’s another body over by the window.” Whip’s gaze bounced around the room, searching for any possible danger that might still linger, even though he flicked constant little glances at Violet. “Probably headless and probably Dickson’s, I’m guessing.” He swore under his breath. “What the fuck happened?”
I had no idea, and I almost didn’t care. All I could see was Violet.
X’s expression, centered solely on Violet, was so full of heartbreak I could barely look at him. I could tell every inch of his body was demanding he make sure she was okay.
Because mine was doing the same.
But X had a hold on himself that was so rigid it seemed painful. He swallowed hard and stared at me. “Please…”
I instantly understood. He couldn’t go to her. After what he’d done, he was terrified of scaring her again. But it was killing him.
“Help Whip check the room. Make sure there’s nobody else here,” I told him.
But my gut already said there wasn’t. I could feel it in the air. The only person who’d been left breathing here tonight was Violet.
I moved toward her at half the pace Whip had. She didn’t glance up, but she didn’t scream either. The only sign she even noticed me at all was the quicker pace she stroked Toby’s hair with.
There was no point checking his pulse. I crouched to touch his skin, and it was still warm, but he was very much dead. Clearly not for long, but there was no living through an injury like the one he’d sustained.
“Vi,” I said so softly it was barely audible.
She didn’t say a word, but her fingers stilled. So I tried again, my voice cracking. Her pain was written all over her beautiful face, and it was killing me. Every second she wasn’t in my arms was a burning agony I couldn’t even explain because I’d never cared about another person the way I cared about her.
“Vi.”
I was so fucking in love with her I could barely breathe, and all I wanted to do was tell her that while I wrapped her in my arms and protected her from whatever horrors had lurked within these walls.
But I forced myself to go slowly, putting what she needed above what I did.
“It’s me, Vi. It’s Levi. You’re safe now, okay? X and Whip are here too.”
I could feel their gazes from across the room. Their fear for Violet as thick in the air as the smell of Toby’s blood.
I ignored the pool of blood beneath me, because all I could do was focus on her.
She stared at the wall, barely blinking.
I couldn’t help myself. The desire to touch her was too strong. I cupped the side of her face.
She jerked, another scream ripping from her mouth. “Don’t touch me!”
