AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I laugh at that, wrenching her around the side of the building and throwing her up bodily against the side of it, blocking her in so that there’s no way she can try to wrench free and run. “Oh, Winter, you have no fucking idea what real humiliation is.” I move a little closer to her, close enough that I could touch her if I wanted to, and I look down into her eyes, letting my voice turn dark and smoky. “You have absolutely no idea about the things I would have made you do if you’d been my wife.” My hand tightens on her elbow, and I smile coldly down at her. “The things I would have done to you.”
Winter flushes pink, looking away from me as if she’s embarrassed to even meet my eyes. I chuckle, the dark sound filling the air between us.
“Oh.” I reach out with my other hand, grabbing her chin and turning it sharply back so that she’s forced to look at me. “You thought about what some of those things might be, didn’t you? I can see it in your face. Youfantasizedabout them, about the dirty, filthy things that Dean Blackmoor might demand of his bride. After all, you’re hardly innocent. But I promise, you can’t even imagine. Not even laying in your bed at night, playing with that little pussy that’s probably never been fucked right no matter how many times you’ve tried.”
Winter is flaming red now, her chest and neck and face nearly the color of her hair. “Fuck you!” she spits out.
“Mm, no.” I wipe at my cheek, where some of her spit landed. “You won’t be getting the chance to do that. Not anymore.”
Winter sneers at me. “Because ofher. Because of that little whore your father gave you and the other boys. That biker trash. She was supposed to be yourpet, Dean. You weren’t supposed to fucking fall in love with her. She’s made you into an idiot.” She lifts her chin, glaring back at me. “I guess I should be glad that I didn’t marry you. I wouldn’t want to marry someone stupid enough to fall in love with a sloppy, disgusting cunt like the one you’ve got living in your house right now.”
The rage bubbles up in me, hot and fast and thick, and I react before I can think it all the way through. My hand connects with her cheek before I can stop myself, hard enough to send her head swinging sideways as I lunge forward, pinning her against the wall with my weight, my arm near her throat.
“Talk about Athena that way again. I fucking dare you.”
“Oh, big bad Blackmoor man.” Winter turns to look at me, her cheek already reddening. “Going around hitting girls.”
“You’re not just any girl. You’re a manipulative, calculated, cunning little bitch. And you’re the reason my best friend is in the hospital right now. So I’d think very carefully about what you say next.”
Winter blinks at me, as innocently as someone like her possibly could. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Like fuck you don’t.” I grab her shoulders, shaking her hard and tossing her back against the wall, still blocking her in. “Your snot-nosed little brother didn’t think of destroying Cayde’s knee on the field all on his own. Either you’re trying to get me back because I said I wouldn’t marry you, or there’s something bigger going on here. And you’re going to tell me what it is.”
As much as I viscerally hate her, Winter has balls of steel. She looks right back at me, not giving an inch. “You think you have so much power, Dean, but you only have what you’ve been given. You’re working on borrowed time. You and your little friends and that whore taking up my spot in your bed need to step carefully. Your father is the one who’s really powerful, Dean. He holds all the cards, and he won’t stop at anything to make sure that you fulfill the destiny he set for you. Win the game, marry the girl, inherit the town. You already did one of those. Now get your shit together, Dean, and finish it. You don’t have a choice.”
I hiss through my teeth, grabbing her by her upper arms and shaking her again, hard. I can see the marks my fingers are leaving in her delicate skin, marks that wil probably bruise, but I can’t bring myself to care. “LikefuckI don’t,” I snarl at her. “I have as much of a fucking choice as anyone else. And I’ve made mine.”
Winter just laughs, using every bit of strength she has to wrench herself out of my grasp, even as I see her wince from the pain. “You’re going to pay for that, Dean Blackmoor,” she says, lifting her chin. “You’re going to pay for all of it.”
And then, before I can grab her again, she makes a run for it, straight back into the house, slamming the door behind her.
I could go after her, but there’s no point. I’d have to apply a lot more force to get more out of her, and I feel suddenly exhausted. I hate Winter to my bones, but the idea of beating her black and blue or hurting her to the point of real damage suddenly doesn’t hold the appeal that it might have a few minutes ago, when I was in the grip of my rage.
She’s a vicious little bitch, but I doubt she set this all up herself. Someone else is using her, and in that respect, she’s no different from any of us. We’ve all been used by our families, at some point.
It’s time that we put an end to this.
Less than two weeks, and it will be over, one way or another.
I’m ready.
21
ATHENA
Idon’t feel the thrill of going to my first fight that I’d thought I would. Cayde is back home, but he’s in bed, recovering from the surgery with a pair of crutches to get around on—something that’s going to complicate things when it comes to carrying out our plan for Halloween night, such as it is. I wouldn’t say it’s the best plan, or even a really great one.
But it’s the best we’ve got. And tonight we’re meant to be gathering whatever information we can about any moves that the Sons might be being told to make before then.
No one is going to talk to me. I don’t have a place there, no one knows me, or if they did recognize me it wouldn’t be fondly. Jaxon, on the other hand, can move through the crowd, listen and talk, and maybe pick up something here and there. So tonight, I’ll do the fighting, and he’ll do the talking.
Dean hasn’t said much since he came back last night, a black look on his face as he went straight upstairs to his room. I have a good idea of where he went, but whatever happened, he clearly didn’t want to talk about it. And if it had been productive, he wouldn’t have looked so angry.
I feel anxious and jittery as we ride out to the warehouse for the fights, even the usually soothing speed of the motorcycle and the feeling of my arms wrapped around Jaxon not enough to calm me down. I can feel everything looming, way too close and far too uncertain, and I’m conscious of the clock ticking, chipping away at the time we all have left together second by second.
I never would have thought it would be so precious to me. And now there’s hardly any left.
“Focus,” Jaxon says when we reach the edge of the warehouse, looking down at me. “This isn’t training in the gym with me. They’re going to be rough, and brutal, and they’re not going to pull any punches. If you’re not paying attention, or you drop your guard, you’re going to get hurt. And I don’t want that. I also don’t want to deal with Dean and Cayde if I don’t bring you back in one piece,” he adds wryly. “So remember what we’ve practiced, Athena, You can do it.”
