Page 88 of Intrepid

I cleaned up my blade and dressed quickly, swiping up my helmet on the way out of my apartment. My bike sat parked at the curb, and I popped the disc lock off and stored it away, before taking off toward Selden.

Neighborhoods passed in the gray streaks of my periphery, as I drove along side streets, avoiding the main roads. The chances of someone finding Fox over the next week were slim. I’d studied that construction site for weeks before it’d gotten shut down, and based on the location of it, not much traffic passed. Still, didn’t hurt to remain cautious and lay low for a bit.

Another reason I needed to see Sera. Somehow, she quieted all the noise inside my head.

I arrived on Selden block and parked the bike away from the other cars, in a wooded area toward the back of the packed lot. Lifting my phone from my pocket, I checked for a text one more time. Still nothing. Another glance at the app showed she hadn’t yet left the party.

Punk music hammered through the speakers, as I made my way down the block, tugging my hoodie up over my head to conceal my face. I scanned the crowd, catching sight of Sera’s roommate up by the stage, head-banging away. No way my girl would venture there, not with her claustrophobia. She couldn’t stand heights, tight spaces, or crowds.

GPS still said she was a block up, so I kept on, through the crowd.

“Hey, sexy, looking for me?” A redhead interrupted my search, and I glanced down to see her flirtatious brown eyes staring up at me over the rim of her cup.

“Looking for a girl with blonde hair and blue streaks. Seen her?”

“Nah, but if you can’t find her, come look for me.” She tipped her head and winked back at me.

Ignoring her, I stepped past and strode through the crowd, checking my phone every so often to see if I was hot, or cold, to Sera’s location. The music faded a bit, the farther I made my way down the block, until the floodlights dimmed into the occasional faint streetlight.

The fuck?

No way she’d have gone that far out.

A voice came from the right, where a broken, overgrown sidewalk led toward trees, her location on the GPS damn near spot on.

I followed the path into the narrow woods toward the sound, keeping to the trees on spotting a white glow in the darkness. As I approached, I could make out the phone’s light, illuminating the face of a guy who wore a beanie cap. Something lay on the ground in front of him, and when he tilted the phone back down, I caught sight of slender, jean-clad legs. The closer I got, the more of her I could see—her shirt hitched up, exposing stark white breasts with small pink nipples, and when the light landed on her blue-streaked, blonde hair, my kill switch flipped.

Nostrils flaring, I let the rage guide my feet toward the cocksucker who was about to get laid the fuck out.

At the crunch of leaves beneath my boot, he spun around, but not fast enough.

I grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up off the ground, and pinned him to the tree behind him.

“What the fuck!” He struggled and wrenched my arm away, coughing as he fell back to his feet.

I nailed his cheek with my fist, and his phone dropped to the ground as he stumbled to the side. Another punch to his face sent him crashing to the forest bed. The seconds in between gave me the opportunity to grab his phone, on which a picture of Sera’s breasts had been zoomed in on, her bra peeled back.

The sight took me back to that dark pantry, when Fox had held up a picture of Eli’s naked body and flames had surged through my veins.

I snarled and lurched toward him again.

The asshole kicked back, trying to get away from me, but I caught his ankle and dragged him across the brush. No way I’d let him get away from me.

“You’re fucking dead!” The rage exploded to the surface, and I pounced on him, hammering my fist down again and again and again. Blood coated his face, the resounding crack of my punches sending a thrill down my spine.

When he finally stilled beneath me, I pushed off him and backed myself away, still breathing hard from the scuffle. Dropping to my knees beside Sera, I lowered my ear to her mouth. Her liquor stained breath scattered across my cheek, and I tugged down her shirt to cover her up.

Above her head sat a boulder about the size of a bowling ball. I jumped to my feet and lifted into my arms before making my way back to where Beanie Cap laid writhing and moaning on the ground.

His swollen eyes widened about as much as they could, and he lifted his hands to shield his eyes. “Please,” he lisped through his fat, split lip. “I didn’t mean …. I’m sorry. I’m so fuckin’ sorry, man.” He sounded like he’d gotten a tooth extraction and had a mouth full of cotton. “I just took pictures, is all.” His throat bobbed with a harsh swallow. “Nothing else, just pictures.”

Fury pulsed through my veins as I tossed the phone down beside his head and let the boulder drop, crushing the plastic beneath in an explosion of broken fragments.

Crouching alongside him once more, I gripped tight to his jaw, inciting a yelp, as I pinched the bruises I’d put there. “You almost died tonight. Had your dick come anywhere near her, I’d have severed it from your body and made you choke on it before I slit your throat. Remember that next time you decide to touch what belongs to another man.”

“I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry, man. I won’t do it again, I swear.”

I pushed to my feet and returned to Sera’s side, scooping her up into my arms. Without opening her eyes, she curled into my chest, wrapping her arms around my neck. Bodies scooted out of my way, parting like the Red Sea, as I made my way back through the crowd.