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I wasn’t done.
I wasn’t finished with this life.
There was more to do. More to see. More to feel.
I thought about the last few weeks with Taylor, and felt her satiny skin against mine and the soft silk of her hair against my cheek as I made love to her.
I heard her laughter and saw her smile.
Felt the warmth of her body as she lay next to me, and the tenderness of her touch as she woke me in the early hours to make love.
And then I thought of Noah.
There was so much for me to show him.
So many more thug moves to teach him.
“I have prayed for this day,” Martel said, an evil glint in his rheumy eyes. “But before I kill you, tell me something…”
“What?”
He pressed his gun deeper into my forehead. “Was it worth it?”
No, it wasn’t worth it.
My eyes slid to Noah. He looked terrified.
I’m so sorry, buddy.
“Don’t do it in front of the boy.”
Glee curled on his ugly lips. “You don’t get it, do you? And that was always the problem. So, let me remind you one last time, you cock-sucking motherfucker. You don’t get to tell me what to do. Do you understand? You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
Any second now, a bullet was going to turn my world to black.
I had no doubt.
Except, in that moment, Taylor appeared in the doorway, her gun raised, her aim pointed at the man who was seconds away from ending my life. A startled Martel swung the gun in her direction and fired. And in that moment, the woman who had my heart, who I was so goddamn in love with, dropped to the floor.
Noah cried out and broke free, and ran over to his sister lying on the floor.
In the confusion, I launched at a distracted Martel and knocked the gun from his hands. I grabbed him and started pounding into him, all the hate and darkness bubbling to the surface and spilling out of me as my fist continued to collide with his face. My revenge took a step backward, letting the fear that he’d just killed the woman I was in love with overpower me, and I lost control.
I was a powder keg of emotion.
Pain and betrayal swirled through me.
Fear and terror that Taylor was dead blinded me with rage.
I was a man possessed. Unable to stop.
I was going to kill him with my bruised and bloody hands.
Until Noah’s small voice somehow made its way through the thick waves of darkness in my head.
“Bull,” he sobbed. “Taylor needs you.”
I looked over at him. And somehow, seeing him kneeling next to his sister made me break through the surface of the black ocean of rage I was drowning in.
If I kept going, Noah’s life would change forever. He could never unsee me take Martel’s life with my bare hands. He could never unsee the ugliness of murder. Of revenge. The dark side of me. It would linger in him for the rest of his life and manifest into nothing good.
In that moment I had to choose. Did I get my revenge on Martel and soak in the satisfaction of his death? Or did I protect Noah from the darkness of watching one man take another man’s life?
My need for revenge ran deep and fast through me, like venom in my veins, and every part of the president in me screamed for me to beat the life out of him.
Three months ago, I would’ve.
Three months ago, I was a different man.
But despite the agony of seeing Taylor wounded on the floor, I broke through the chains of my revenge and pushed it back.
I let Martel go and he fell to the floor.
He would live.
He would wake up broken.
And then he would go to prison.
TAYLOR
Getting shot hurt like a bitch. Even if it was through a bulletproof vest. The Kevlar didn’t stop the bullet completely. It rammed into my chest like a goddamn cannon, ripping all the oxygen out of my lungs and making me see a universe of stars as I fell to the floor.
But I was alive.
If I hadn’t been wearing one of the vests I’d stolen from Alex’s house the night Noah and I had fled, I would be dead. Because the bullet hit me in my breastbone, only inches from my heart.
Paralyzed by pain, I lay on the floor and watched as Bull beat into Martel, his powerful fists pounding into his enemy until he looked like a limp, bloody piece of meat. I tried to call out, but I couldn’t breathe. Pain flared in my chest and rattled my lungs. I could see it on Bull’s face, he thought I was mortally wounded. I wanted to tell him I was okay, but I was too stunned to say anything.
When Noah cried out, Bull stopped and let Martel collapse to the floor. Dropping to his knees beside me, his eyes were crazed with grief, his face marred with despair.
