Page 7 of Cruel Possession
She’s fast, but not fast enough.
I grab her by the hair and rip her head to the side.
She yelps and rolls, pushing to her feet before I can get on top of her.
Blood still trickles down the side of her mouth from her split lip, but it’s drying.
“Come on, Aid, I thought you were better than that. You’re supposed to be the one in charge of the family, aren’t you? But when it comes down to it, you’re nothing but a normal person.”
I lunge at her, feinting to the right while tucking my foot behind hers.
She tries to spin and when she does, I get a hand around her throat, tossing her to the ground.
Jade’s eyes water, and she rolls.
I kick her hard in the side. Not hard enough to break anything, but she’s going to feel it in the morning.
She struggles to her feet, but I punch her in the gut, knocking the air out of her.
“I thought you could protect yourself? If you want to go out while there are people trying to kill you, then you’re going to need to be able to beat them in a fight. You’re not going to be able to sit back and wait for other people to save you.”
She glowers at me, standing up straight and rolling back her shoulders. “Come at me again.”
“No!” Ellie shouts, shoving her way forward.
Sean loops an arm around her waist and hauls her back, whispering something in her ear even as she tries to fight to get free.
I swing for Jade again, catching her in the jaw.
Her head snaps to the side, more blood trickling down her face as she stumbles.
She comes back at me, claws out and fists swinging.
She manages to get a couple of good shots in, a fist finding my eye and another slamming into my kidney.
However, it’s over when I pull out the gun and aim it at her, flicking off the safety, finger wrapping around the trigger. “Now what are you going to do?”
Jade swallows hard, her chest heaving. “What’s the matter, Aid? Didn’t feel like getting your ass handed to you?”
“This is what happens out there when you don’t have a protective detail. So, what’re you going to do now?”
Skyla steps between us, her face inches from the gun, her back to Jade. “You’re going to stop this right now. We’re family. We’re not supposed to be turning on each other. Not if we want to end the Rinaldos for good this time.”
I study her for a moment.
A brief intrusive thought of pulling the trigger flashes through my mind.
If she knows that, if she can see it in my eyes, she still doesn’t move. It’s like she’s challenging me, waiting for me to pull it. Wanting to see what happens if I do.
But I know what would happen. I’d be next. Each person here would line up to make sure of that. Or I would do it myself.
I’m so tired of living like this. Them against me, me fighting them. To keep them safe. To keep them close. To keep them alive.
I’m so tired of being alone, lonely, in a house full of people.
I gave up my freedom, my youth, to take my siblings in and raise them, to keep us safe and together. But all this time, I’ve been doing a piss-poor job of teaching them what a family is, of making them feel like family. Makingusfeel like a family.
This needs to change. But it won’t be easy. And it won’t be fast.
