AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I wasn’t begging,” I snapped. “Where am I?”
His smirk was mocking. “Where do you think? You think finding out Rynn’s secret wasn’t going to have consequences?”
Things clicked into place, and anger spilled into my veins. “The Underground? They’re the ones who did this? To what? Make sure I wasn’t going to tell anyone?”
“No. They did this because they planned on killing you.”
“And you came to stop them?” I asked, not believing for a second he was here to help me.
A dangerous gleam hit his eye. “I didn’t do this for you.”
I moved to stand, and he was on me in a second. A snarl burned my throat when he fisted my hair, yanking my head back. He let the cigarette fall to the floor, blocking my weak hit with his free hand. After being a punching bag for hours, I wasn’t sure I could even stand on my own.
“I doubt you could take me on a good day,” he taunted, his grip tightening in my hair. “You don’t have a chance right now. So just sit there and shut the fuck up.”
I clenched my jaw, rage bubbling in my chest. I detested that he was right. He kept my head tilted up as he glanced down for a moment before he raised his free hand, revealing a small pocketknife.
“What? You wanted to kill me yourself?” I bit out, curling my fingers over the edges of the seat.
His chuckle was humorless. “Believe me, I wouldn’t think twice about doing it.”
I fell completely still when he put the blade to my throat, slowly moving it, and it took me a second to realize he was tracing my rose tattoo.
“I need to know that you’re not going to run off and blab about what you learned last night,” he murmured as he continued to run the knife along my ink. “About Rynn.”
“Did it look like I was going to say anything?” I hissed.
“Why didn’t you?”
“Why didn’t I say anything about her being the girl who screwed me that summer? Honestly, I have no fucking idea.” I nearly flinched back when he nicked my skin. “I’m not going to say anything.”
As angry as I was with Rynn about what she’d done in the past, I still didn’t want to see her hurt. Fuck, I wanted to see her as mine. Not that I was going to tell him that.
“Not even to help Chris? Or the Disciples?”
“No.”
The blade stopped moving, but he kept it against my throat. “I don’t know if I believe you.”
“Kill me or don’t. But hurry the fuck up. I’m tired of sitting in this damn chair.”
There was a tense silence before he finally spoke again. “I’m sparing you because, for some godforsaken reason, she doesn’t want you dead.”
Shock engulfed me. “Rynn?”
“Remember that the next time you’re thinking of betraying her.” He purposefully dragged the blade harder across my throat until there was a sting of pain when he broke skin. “She was going to risk her place here foryou. And I fucking swear if you tell anyone about her, I will put you in the ground. But not before you’re begging for death.”
“I won’t say anything.”
“Not to Kian. Or Pratt. No one,” he growled, finally releasing my hair and stepping back.
I shook my head, feeling blood dripping down my throat as I watched him pull out his phone and text something. He gave me a look when I shifted, silently warning me to stay sitting. I glared at him, not sure what he was waiting for.
“Am I a prisoner now?” I asked, breaking the silence after a few minutes. “Because Chris will come looking. The Jackals didn’t fare well after doing this.”
Gage scoffed. “The Jackals aren’t even close to our league. If I kept you here, Chris would never find you. And he wouldn’t win against us. Not by himself.”
Everything I’d heard about the Underground made me believe he was right. Their organization was huge. And they played by different rules than the gangs in this state. Half their members were in the political world, and while we knew a few of their names, many were anonymous. Their boss was a faceless person, running everything from the shadows. But they were cutthroat and not an organization to cross. If they wanted Little Haven, it was going to be a bloody fucking war.
