Page 72 of The Pretty Savage

"And you didn't think it would've been a good idea to tell me when all this happened?" she yelled, throwing her arms in the air. "What the fuck? If there's a maniac that's out to get me, I deserve to know."

"We had no idea if it was just a joke or?—"

"Because it was one incident," she finished for me. "But now…" She slowly turned, her eyes on the girl. "Now it isn't only one incident, is it?"

"No." I shook my head. "It is not. And Dean Jansen will probably want to talk to you now. The last time we managed to keep him away but?—"

"I want to see it," she said, before she started walking hurriedly toward Jax.

"Vega!" I rushed after her, catching up just before she stopped, taking the note from Jax who looked just about ready to get the fuck out of here. I couldn't blame him.

We'd seen some fucked-up shit in our time. We'd done some things that would make Satan himself blush, but this… This was barbaric. This was insane.

I looked up at the girl, her eyes open, void of life, filled with remnants of the fear she must have felt when the bastard took her life, and for a second, instead of the girl I saw Vega up there. Vega and her beautiful eyes, empty of life, completely void of any emotion, covered in blood.

I couldn't help myself even if I wanted to. I couldn't stop my reaction, and instead of talking to her. Instead of voicing out my worries, I picked Vega up again, this time throwing her over my shoulder, and started marching toward my cabin.

"Adrian!" she shrieked. "What the fuck! Put me down."

"No," I refused. "You'll be staying with me."

"Are you out of your mind?" She kept on yelling. "I cannot stay with you. I won't be staying with you. Put me the fuck down. Now!"

But she didn't understand, couldn't understand. I could barely understand this urge to run away with her, to protect her, to get as far away as possible from here. She didn't understand and I couldn't explain, so instead of talking it through, I kept on walking toward my cabin, grunting here and there as she kept on hitting my back with her fists, complaining the entire time.

I knew Jax and Dante were going to call the security team along with Andries, and I knew we would need to talk with him, but my instincts were to get her out of there, and fast.

Even if it meant having her hate me even more than she already did.

26

VEGA

He was out of his fucking mind. I had no idea what crawled up Adrian's ass, but my resolution not to kill him was waning with each new step he took, carrying me to God knows where.

My head was swimming with a million and one thoughts, trying to figure out what prompted him to have such a reaction, but I was drawing a blank. Yeah, we fucked—once—but he didn't exactly strike me as the type that would go berserk because someone was obviously trying to get to me.

And that was yet another thing I didn't want to think about, fighting off the shuddering in my body, because I knew the more I thought about it, the more I would want to get the fuck out of this place.

There was a lunatic walking all over these grounds, and what bothered me more than the fact that he or she was after me, was the fact that innocent people were dying. And I didn't miss the fact that the newest victim was also one of the girls I fought against in The Pit.

"Adrian," I growled for the hundredth time, hoping beyond hope he would start listening to me. "Put me down. Now!"

"No."

"Why the fuck not?" I was bristling, angry, and I hated this helpless feeling more than anything. I’d had my fair share of idiots over the last couple of years. I had guys that were obviously crushing on me, but all of them were harmless. I didn't mind walking straight into dangerous situations, because nine out of ten times I knew what I was getting myself into.

This, right here, I had no idea what was happening. I had no idea who would be after me and why. I had no idea if this was just some fucked-up game Heinrich had orchestrated to keep me in line, or to have me running back to them, or if it was a real fucking threat.

I was in the dark, and that scared me more than I wanted to admit.

I wiggled in Adrian's hold, trying to get myself out of his ironclad grip, but that only earned me a slap on my left butt cheek and a whole lot of grumbling from the man holding me. If we were any other people, maybe, just maybe, this whole display of possessiveness and worry would've been hot, but we weren't those other imaginary people. As a matter of fact, I was pretty sure he would kill me himself if he got a chance.

And not because I was part of The Schatten, which I was pretty sure he had no idea about, but because I was pissing him off, and I had no idea why.

"Adrian." I groaned as my ribs pressed against his shoulder, sending another jolt of pain through my body. "I'm gonna be sick." Which wasn't a total lie.

Okay, it was a little lie, but I couldn't imagine he would want to have my vomit all over his back.

---