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I felt a rumble of pride and refused to look at Bun. “Does she now?” Hunger curled my lips.
The elevator shuddered, and we rose, the hiss of the smoke machines drowning out the screams. Luc, Steve, and Bevel should be up there now. They liked to eke out the tension with my appearance, get the crowd really worked up.
“She said you’re disgusting, and she never wants to see you again. She completely hates you.”
I burst out laughing, wrapping my arm around Bun’s waist and giving her a squeeze.
“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”
When the top of the cage broke through the smoke and the stage lights burst through the darkness, I was grinning at Bun, excited that Cat still hated me. If she hated me, she was still passionate about me and fired up and maybe even wanted revenge. I’d love it if she pushed me down again, making me cry out for her, all while claiming it was to punish me. It meant she still loved me. Seeing her so small and still fucking ruined me. It was terrifying to see my woman so broken, especially when I caused it.
I was so wrapped up in thoughts of Cat and so blinded by the lights that I barely caught Bunny’s simple smile, and by the time she grabbed my face and pulled my lips to hers, it was too late.
Another cannon fired, and the walls of our cage fell open in all four directions, slamming to the ground and billowing the pink smoke around us. The stage cameras pointed straight at us, linked directly to the giant screens hugging both sides of the skeleton, revealing our kiss to all eighty thousand fans.
And I knew, I fucking knew out of every single photo and video posted from tonight, this was one Cat would see.
Cat
It had been over two weeks since Harris had kicked me out of the office, and I was ready to blow. I needed to hit something or shout at someone or take something down. Sending flying kicks into my punching bag wasn’t doing it for me anymore. I needed flesh. I needed a victim. I needed Max.
I wanted to know I was still formidable, and Lucy and Dom were too used to me to be scared anymore.
Every day they’d braved the small horde of reporters camped outside my building, bringing me food and keeping me company. Harry had supplied me with cases from the law department of the Fischer Foundation, so I was keeping busy, but it didn’t hold the same appeal as watching the light fade from someone’s eyes as they realised they had no chance of beating me, either inside the courtroom or out of it.
Sadly, all I wanted to do was storm down to Wembley and kick Max Rider until he was curled up on the floor. After seeing the photos of him and Bunny kissing, I decided he didn’t deserve a long, drawn-out revenge plan. I was simply going to find him and lay into him until he couldn’t move. I’d been mentally building my lawful defence, so if I got dragged into court for aggravated assault, I’d at least have some standing. Unfortunately, I was more interested in hearing him moan as I sank my fist into him than actually hurting him. Usually, the daydreams of pushing his face into the ground included his ass up in the air, his wrists bound together, and him screaming my name as he came.
I kept telling myself the reasons for saying goodbye were solid and good and completely reasonable. I couldn’t trust him, he was engaged, and he made me feel vulnerable. He shattered my soul into a million pieces, and I was too tired of feeling like this to try again. My heart had other things to say about that.
I’d religiously checked Clutch’s social media and saw live uploads of all his songs, as well as the video he posted stating that the engagement between him and Bunny was over. That, on top of hearing snippets of their new music and the fact that I was very aware that tonight was Clutch’s last night in London before they started their tour, had weakened me. I was even thinking blasphemous thoughts, like maybe I wanted to see him again before he left.
I was disgusted. With him. Myself. With this whole situation. My body and my heart were betraying me, and I needed to stand strong against this mutiny. If I gave in again, it would lead to more heartbreak, even though my heart was the one leading the revolt.
The door phone buzzed just as I was fixing myself a sandwich. I knew it couldn’t be Dom or Lucy, as it was barely midday, and they only visited after work. I leapt across the kitchen to grab the phone off the hook and answered with a breathless “Hello?” praying someone had come to release me from this boredom.
It was the head security guard.
“Ms Fischer, there’s a courier here for you. He says he has to hand the package to you directly.”
I wouldn’t put it past the reporters to pull something like this, but I needed entertainment. Besides, I wasn’t trusting Jeff with anything after Bunny gave away the fan’s name who’d ratted on Max. I would have reported him, but I knew how much he needed this job, and he knitted those jumpers for kids at a local orphanage.
“Okay, Jeff, send him up.”
Jeff had hired extra security just in case they tried to sneak in, but I was happy for the reporters to give it a go. If they ambushed me in my home, I had an even better reason to ‘defend’ myself.
I grabbed a green cardigan from the hooks next to the door and was practically hopping by the time the doorbell rang. I whipped it open to find a sweaty ginger man in tight neon bicycle gear and a helmet.
“Ms Fischer?”
He was holding an envelope, no camera or sinister smile. He looked disappointingly innocent.
I took it from him, frowning. I was really hoping he was planning a sneak attack, but he carried on standing there, watching me expectedly.
“Yes? Do you need something?”
“Sorry, yeah, I, um… I’ve been paid extra to wait here while you open it. I have to make sure you read it.”
It was mildly annoying, but I accepted it. I’d had worse. When I slipped my thumb under the seal and opened it, I saw the top of the messy scrawl I hadn’t seen for years. Anger sliced through me, and I kept my breath low and steady as I pulled out a single piece of paper with just five words.
