I could feel his blood on my knuckles. It felt good. It felt like revenge.
I stepped toward the car and Kyle kicked back. He was resting on the damn windshield, his face covered in tears and blood.
“You stay away,” I said. I reached back and took out my gun. “Or else this is next.”
“Please, stop,” Kyle said. “Please. I’ll do anything.”
I reached for and grabbed his chicken bone ankle and pulled him down the hood of the car. He let out a scream so I swung and hit him with the gun. The thud made me shiver for a second. And it made me smile.
“You’re going to give me your wallet and your cell phone. When you get home you’re going to call the police and say that a man in a black hoodie mugged you. Just like what happened outside the restaurant that Belle works at. I’m going to leave your wallet and cell a mile down the road. You can get it later. I’m memorizing where you live and I’ll find out everything. You think you’re a computer geek, you don’t know what I’m capable of. I’ll burn your life down piece by fucking piece, asshole. And if you ever raise a hand to a woman again, I’ll be there to cut that fucking hand off. And if you ever so much as think about Belle again, I’ll put a bullet in your head. Do you understand me now?”
“Yes,” Kyle said. “Jesus Christ, yes. Please…”
“Good.”
I put the gun away and I stood Kyle up. I walked him to the driver’s side of the car. I was going to end it right there but then the fucking prick looked back at me.
“You’ll never get away with this,” he said. “I have connections.”
“Yeah? Well here’s another connection…”
I pulled Kyle back and then threw him through the back window of the car. His head smashed the glass and he just dangled there in the window. I quickly checked for a pulse and found one.
Thankfully.
I then dug through his car and found what I wanted. I deleted Belle’s number from his phone and made it a point to get her a new cell.
And that was that.
I walked away feeling a little calmer about myself. It was good to feed the rage sometimes. It was good to feel alive on the streets that I had lived on my entire life and worked so hard to protect. It felt good to know Belle was going to be safe again.
But now… I had to go face her and begin to destroy her.
nineteen
(belle)
NOW
I paced the apartment a million times. I fixed the table and chairs were Kyle had tried to do something disgusting to me. Never before had he acted that way. When he left, I collapsed to the floor and started to cry. I actually started to blame myself for what happened, thinking I had done something to lead him on. To make him think he could just do all that to me.
Then something flipped in my head.
Fuck. That.
It was a loud and clear voice.
It was Slam’s voice.
I wasn’t going to be a victim anymore. Not for Kyle. Not for my father. Not for my life either. So that’s when I called Slam. Honestly I wanted to see what he would say and do. What I had done though was ask a bad guy to do something good for me. There was no such thing as that. Whatever Slam planned on doing it was going to be bad. Very bad. I had unleashed a monster onto Kyle.
Seeing how fast Slam went to work, telling me to call Kyle and get him to pull over told me he was a pro at this kind of stuff. It made every wild fantasy about him hotter and made the reality of him being a criminal that much more real. Not that Slam hid that from me. He wore his leather cut which was nothing more than a big middle finger to the entire town and world, saying he was an outlaw and couldn’t be stopped.
I wanted Kyle to pay. And I wanted him to stay away from me.
I was left with no choice but to wait. Either Slam was going to do something or he was going to get caught doing something. I had no idea how it was going to play out, and the truth was that it all excited me. Looking into the eyes of a villain and wanting him so badly. Being the daughter of a cop and flirting with the other side of the law.
Just to be safe, I kept the knife in my hand. If Kyle tried to do anything, I was going to hurt him myself.
The moment then came when I heard the outside door open and shut. I quickly darted to the side of the door, knife in hand. I heard a knock at my door and my heart started to pound in my chest.
“Come in,” I said, gripping the knife tight.
The door slowly opened and when I saw the figure come into my apartment, I jumped forward, knife in the air.
I don’t know what the fuck had gotten into me at that point. I was so caught up in everything I didn’t stop to see who it was.
I brought the knife down just as Slam turned to face me.
I never saw a man move so fast before. He blocked my wrist, twisted it, and stripped me of the knife before I could take a breath. He kicked the knife away and then his hands were at my hips. He lifted me up and carried me to the table. He kicked a chair out of the way and sat me on the table. With just inches between us his hands touched my face, forcing me to look at him.