Page 27 of Fury

I shouldn’t drink.

If Ethan comes home and I’m not there ...

What do I care? One day, he’s going to kill me anyway. Might as well be today.

Taking my hand without another word, Fury leads me out of the garage and over to a quiet area of the yard, picking up two beers as he goes. Finding an old fallen log, we sit down, and as he turns to face me, I know he is looking at my cheek. Fingers stretching out, he reaches up and runs the tips down my cheek. His flesh is rough, but I don’t shy away. I know I should be anywhere but here, yet it’s the only place in this world right now that I feel safe.

“What happened?”

For once, he’s simply asking.

Oh, how I wish I could tell him everything, but there is just no way that can ever be a reality.

“He gets angry sometimes,” I tell him, just enough.

Even in the darkness, I can see as Fury’s gaze flashes, and his jaw grows so tight I’m worried he’s about to burst. Shifting away from him, concern etched in my features, I wonder if I’ve given too much away already.

“Do not pull away from me,” he growls. “I’m no fuckin’ monster.”

“To be fair,” I whisper, “I don’t know you.”

“Know this one thing then, I would never lay a fuckin’ hand on a woman.”

I ponder this, studying his face as I take a soothing sip of beer. “I know I probably have no idea what really goes on in this club, but for some reason, I find it hard to imagine that you haven’t done some pretty bad things to people. Would that be right?”

He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a cigarette, lighting it before he answers. “You’re right, but I don’t ever hurt anyone who isn’t the fuckin’ devil themselves.”

I guess that makes it better, but a tomato is still a tomato, no matter what you do with it. He still hurts people, and while they might be bad people themselves, I’m certain somewhere along the line an innocent life has been tangled up in that.

“What if you got it wrong?” I ask, shivering slightly in the cold.

“It’s happened, but I would never intentionally hurt someone innocent, and I’d never, not fuckin’ ever, lay a hand on my woman.”

Maybe, but other women?

I can’t seem to find fault with his words, I know it’s my messed-up mind, but here we are. There is just something about the way he has taken me on, purely because he can see right through me, that tells me he is passionate about what he’s saying. He might be a bad man, but he wouldn’t hurt the woman he loves, and I admire that. It also makes me feel a lot more secure about Hope’s future.

“Now,” he growls, low, blowing a puff of smoke from between his lips, “stop deflectin’ and tell me why you’re with this man when he does nothin’ but abuse you.”

I stare down at my hands.

Oh, if only it were that easy.

“Because if I leave, he will kill me.”

My voice is soft, and with the wind blowing around us, it’s barely able to be heard. That doesn’t stop Fury from picking up every damned word. I shouldn’t be saying this, I don’t know what has gotten over me, but I can’t seem to help myself. I want to tell him, everything inside me is begging me to just let him know the entire truth. It’s terrifying, because I’ve never found a single person in my life that I’ve wanted to share this with.

“Not if I kill him first.”

Fury’s voice is razor sharp.

I snap my head up. “No.”

“He is an abusive prick, why the fuck would you want him walkin’ on this earth for a single second longer?”

“Because unlike you, I couldn’t live with myself. Death might be something that you can dust off, but it isn’t for me. The guilt would consume me.”

Fury ponders this, then shifts a little closer, reaching for my chin and taking it between his thumb and forefinger, tipping my head up slightly. “There are other ways to bring someone down.”

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