Page 97 of Voracious

“It wasn’t like that,Gi. Please, I’m fucking begging you not to leave me.”

She gives me one last look and rushes towards theUberwaiting for her, but before my fucking cunt of a brother can run after her, I capture him by the throat and throw him into the house. The door cracks on its hinges as I shove it fully open.

He lands on his back, and I climb on top of him. “Fucking scum.”

He doesn’t get a chance to talk as I start hammering my fist into his face. Pain sears over my knuckles, but I’m blinded by the image of him sucking on Stacey’s throat to pay attention to how hard I’m hitting him. “She was my fucking girlfriend! You’re supposed to be my brother!”

Holding his hands up to protect his face, he barely gets a second to even breathe before I stand up and drive my foot into his side, ignoring the blood dripping from his nose and mouth.

“Kade,” he chokes out. “Stop.”

I grab his shirt collar, picturing Stacey all over him as I smash my fist into his face once more, his eye instantly swelling.

Gianais back now, dragging me away, telling me to stop, but with the roaring in my ears and the rate my heart is going, I’m blank to everything else around me. I shrug away from her and drive my knee into the side of his face when he tries to get up.

“How long?” I grab his hair, seething as I grit my teeth and yell, “How fucking long have you been screwing my girlfriend?”

Blood coats his face, dripping from his chin. “S-Stop.”

“Please stop,Kade. He isn’t worth it. Neither of them are!”

Gianayanks at my sleeve, and when Jason spits blood out on the floor and tries to get up again, raising his hand to block any more blows, he says, “I didn’t know it was her.”

He’s on his knees, head bowed, his shoulders shaking. His face is bloodied as he looks up, eyes onGiana. “Please, baby. Please don’t go. I love you.”

“And did you love me while you were fucking a teenager last night? You’re thirty years old, Jason. Fucking act like it.”

My brother tries to get to his feet to beg some more, butGianamanages to pull me away, shoving me into my car. “Go home.” I’m not looking at her, so she grabs my face. “Go home,Kade. He’s not worth it. She’s not worth it.”

My lip trembles as I stare at her. She’s been crying for a while, by the looks of it. “She used to be worth it.”

“I know, honey. I know. Just… go home. Please. Don’t do anything stupid.”

I nod, glaring back at Jason, who’s sobbing in his driveway, muttering apologies and beggingGianato stay, but she slams the door of theUberand vanishes.

He runs after the car, trips and sobs into the ground. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I start my engine and drive home, leaving him there.

Stacey’s gone. Thank fuck. She’s nowhere to be seen, and the guard at the gates said she left in a car an hour ago.

I feel numb when I reach my room, the dogs licking my bloodied and busted-open hands.

I feel numb when I look at all of our previous messages.

I feel like I’m dying when I watch the clip again,textingthe number and asking for more details. But it bounces back – a sign that the person has blocked me.

Milo and Hopper follow me around the room as I collect all of her shit, pack it into a bag and get back into my car.

Jason tries to call me four times and sends a message begging me to pick up, but I block him.

I haven’t blocked Stacey yet.

I want to hear her side. I need to hear what she has to fucking say for herself – to know if this has been going on for a while or if it was a one-time thing. It won’t change the outcome, but I need to know.

I park down the street from her house, and my lungs completely seize when I walk up with a bag of her things and see the black Jeep sitting outside. I nearly fall to my knees when Stacey emerges from the passenger side and heads for her front door.

I drop her things on the ground and watch Jason’s car drive away.

And there’s my answer. To say I’m heartbroken is an understatement. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way or know how to control it.

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