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“I was never an alcoholic,” I shot back, “that was you and your twisted ways of slipping drugs into my drinks.”
“Oh, was it?” he laughed softly. “Point still stands. I can’t imagine they’d be too happy.”
“They’d… they’d understand.” Like a child, my voice wavered, betraying my doubt and I glanced down at the table, mapping out a few of the scratches and scuffs from use. I lifted my bag and set it on the table to distract myself. “You don’t know them.”
“Oh my God,” Felix snorted, and my eyes darted back up.
“What?”
“You have feelings for one of them, don’t you?”
“What? No!”
“You liar. I know you, Summer. It’s written all over your fucking face. You’re in love with one of them. All of them?”
“You knownothingFelix.”
“I know you’re engaged.”
My heart stopped. Felix wore the smarmiest, cockiest look I had ever seen on his thin face, and he smiled wider as he took a sip of his drink.
“What?” I hadn’t forgotten about it, but I hadn’t expected the news to reach anyone outside our bubble. Then again, Marina had been telling anyone that would listen so it wasn’t unexpected for the news to spread as gossip.
“You’re engaged, right? To John? I just wondered if you would be honest with me.”
“John?” Oh, right. Jax.
I pressed my lips together, debating quickly. I could tell him the truth; after all, there was nothing Felix could do that would impact Jax’s custody battle. Then again, if he thought I had someone in my corner, someone who loved me and cared for me, then maybe he would back off and leave me alone.
“Yes. I’m engaged to Jax,” I lied. “So nothing you say to him or any of them will matter. They’ll believe me over you in a heartbeat.” My heart continued to pound so loudly that I was certain Felix could hear the lie in every beat.
He set his glass down and smirked. “You think the pictures I sent to that hotel are the only ones I kept?”
My breath caught in my chest and I swallowed hard. “What?”
“You think in all the years I spent thinking about how I was going to make you suffer, that lewd pictures when you were high were theonlythings I kept, Summer?” He laughed dryly. “You can’t run from your past, and I’m going to make sure your precious fiancé and his buddies know exactly what kinds of fucked up person is looking after their kids.”
“It won’t matter,” I shot back desperately, unsure if I was trying to persuade Felix or myself. “They trust me. I’m a different person; they won’t care—”
“They will!” Felix snapped and slammed his hand down on the table, making me and the glass vase jump. “I’m going to show them everything. Can you picture how Luke will be crushed knowing the person who sent him to the hospital for so many months has been caring for his daughter in his home? Or how that same person also got John attacked? They’ll see you for what you are, Summer. A twisted liar with no loyalty, a fucking whore who doesn’t know her place, and I’m going to show them.” Felix heaved a breath and his eyes turned wild, anger bleeding into them.
“I’m going to split you open so they can see everything, so those kids know to be scared of you, and I’m not going to stop until you come crawling back to me like the dog you are.” He spoke so ferociously that spit rained down on his fist. “And then I’m going to kill you, Summer. Slowly, for everymonthI spent rotting in that jail cell because you couldn’t keep your fucking mouth shut!”
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. His words were vicious poison and yet delivered with such intensity that I had no choice but to believe them. Given his violent history, it wasn’t hard to believe that he would make good on his threats. Bonnie, Ava, and Kane flooded my mind, their beautiful shining faces staring up at me filled with love that quickly morphed into fear. Luke’s face filled with horror when he learned I was in the car, Jax learning I was the cause of his attack.
Reality was crashing into my dream with the force of the Titanic.
“No…” I managed, and Felix laughed.
“Yes, Summer. Or…”
Or?The prospect of a deal shouldn’t have given me hope but I found myself grasping at it, anything to stop this tidal wave of terror he was aiming at the people I had come to care for. The people I loved.
“Or, you tell them yourself.”
“What?”
“Tell them yourself,” Felix sighed, slouching back in his chair as if his outburst of anger hadn’t just happened. “Tell them yourself and no one gets hurt. Not physically at least.”
