Page 113 of Dirty Saint

His head swung to the side, and blood exploded from his mouth when I hit him. Once I saw his blood, I couldn’t stop. I wanted more. I pounced, not even waiting for him to try to fight back. I didn’t give a fuck. I wanted to kill him—bare hands—no weapons. He needed to feel what he had put my girl through every time my fist slammed against his flesh.

He began to fight back, getting in an uppercut that made my top and bottom teeth slam together and giving me exactly what I wanted. If he fought back, it would feel even better to kill him with my bare hands.

Tori screamed at my side, begging me to stop, but everything around me was an echoed nightmare as I released my wrath on the man who had stolen her innocence. My knuckles split, the front of my shirt covered in blood splatter, and soon Joker and Crow were at my side.

“Why are you kicking the fuck out of Donny B?” Joker yelled, moving closer to my side.

I paused, my fist elevated over Donny’s face. “Does it matter why?”

Joker shrugged and tossed the blunt he was smoking. “Fuck no.”

Then, ever the loyal best friend, he hauled off and threw a vicious punch at Donny’s face. He stepped back and watched as I continued to beat the life from Donny B., and when his crew tried to move in to stop me, Joker and Crow held them back.

Fights broke out around us, chaos and destruction forming around me, but I didn’t stop. Every time I tried, a vision of a young Tori being held down rushed through my mind, and I had to hit him again.

“Stop! That’s enough, Koah. You’re going to kill him!” Tori’s voice finally broke through my fury.

That was the goal. I wanted to kill him. I had a gun, but beating the life out of the man who had hurt my girl felt better. I kept going until he could barely fight back, but when I felt Tori jump onto my back, I paused, trying to move her out of the way so she didn’t get hurt. That was when I saw the tears on her cheeks, and everything stopped.

I stood, pulled her into my arms, and held her, rubbing her back soothingly and kissing her forehead. She shook against me, fear and emotion wrecking her small frame.

“It’s okay, baby. Calm down. I didn’t mean to scare you,” I breathed, exhausted and unfulfilled since Donny B. was still breathing on the ground.

I rested my chin on top of her forehead, taking another deep breath to calm myself. That was when my eyes clashed with Joker’s. His expression shifted as everything going around him fell into place. His eyes widened, and his signature grin slipped from his lips. Hellfire filled his icy eyes, and his shoulders grew stiff.

Fuck.

“This is about her?” he asked, enraged and pointing at Tori.

Donny’s blood was on his knuckles, and I had a feeling mine was about to be there, too. Joker and I had bumped fists before, but always fucking around. We had never purposely tried to hurt each other, but if I was going to make this right, we had to fight it out. It was the only way.

His demonic smile lifted, but the anger in his eyes blazed back at me. I had seen this side of Joker many times, but it was never directed at me. He was crazed, unfurling the demon inside him right before my eyes.

“I was going to tell you, man, but…” Before I could get another word out, Tori screamed Joker’s name and pushed out of my arms.

Things moved so quickly from that moment. One second, I held her, on the verge of a severe situation with Joker, and the next, she rushed into Joker’s arms, and the echo of gunshots filled my ears.

She went slack in his arms, but he held her up, his diabolical grin gone and his face pale as realization set it.

Tori had taken the bullets meant for Joker.

Then the rush stopped, and the world began moving slowly. I saw Donny B. pointing his gun at Joker and Tori, pulling the trigger. The weapon clicked with each pull. He was out of bullets. I moved; my gun was cold in my palm when I pulled it, directed it at Donny B, and emptied the clip in his chest. His eyes widened, and blood splattered from his lips as he choked on a final breath and fell back.

Sound didn’t exist. I didn’t even hear the shots coming from my gun, but the second Donny dropped, everything came rushing back to me.

Tori.

In a rush to get to her, I swung around to find that she and Joker were gone. When I finally spotted them in the chaotic crowd, Joker had Tori in his arms and was running toward Stryker’s truck with Crow at his side.

35

Tori

Oncethefightsbrokeout, all I could think about was getting Gracie out of danger. She ran to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and crying.

“I’m so sorry, Tori. I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know,” she cried.

I held her close, not sure what pieces she had put together by the shit going on around us, but happy she was back on my side. We would talk everything over and get back on track the second I got her home safely.

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