Page 50 of I Was Born Ruined (Death by Daybreak MC 1)
“Shoot me then, and get it over with,” Grey growls after a minute, curling his bloodied fingertips under. He looks away from me and closes his eyes, preparing for the worst. He knows better than to plead, and he’s already said what he needed to say. I must look like the least receptive person in the world, sweating and shaking and filled with hatred. In that moment however … most of it is for Cat.
How dare he? How fucking dare he do this to me?!
My finger is on the trigger, my heart is in my throat, and I feel like the seconds are ticking away to my doom. Either I kill this boy … or I dig my grave right next to his.
What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?
“He's just a boy,” I say, breathless and desperate.
Cat grunts.
“Law says he's grown at eighteen. He ain't no kid.” He stands up from his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. That's how I know I'm running out of time. My eyes flick up to find Crown’s, and there’s a sadness and an acceptance there that I don’t find on any other face. Doesn’t change things. He’s not going to help me. Beast with his cool indifference isn’t going to help me. Sin won’t even look at me. And Grainger? He’s the worst one of them all. He’s scowling like he’s fucking put out by having to be here.
“Don't feel bad,” Grey says after a moment, his eyes like stars in his sweaty, bloody face. He turns back to look at me. “My dad's the same way.” Grey swallows and lifts his chin in defiance. “You can kill me, and feel no regrets. It's okay.” He looks at me like I'm the one who needs the help. “Hell, I doubt my dad'll even leave the casino when he finds out I'm missing.”
My finger tenses on the trigger, but I don't think I can do it. I think … that even if it means I'll die, I can't shoot Grey in the face.
Grey Wolfe.
That last name, that association … he's the son of the Don of the Grey Wolfe Mafia.
By all rights, I should want him dead. But he wasn't there that day; he didn't kill my sisters. This isn't justice.
“Casino?” Cat asks, exchanging a look with René. And then the miraculous happens. He reaches down and pushes the gun away from Grey’s face. “What casino?”
“Triangle Lake Resort,” Grey replies, nostrils flaring. “He has an entirely new operation running out of there. It's why he wants your club gone.” Grey looks at me with a bit of relief in his face, but not because he thinks he's saved his ass.
He hasn't.
No, the club is a double-edged sword. Either Grey dies for not talking … or he dies because he's a rat. The club hates rats. Either way, he's screwed. But I think he believes he's saved me.
I know Cat far too well to believe that.
My father grunts and gives me a look. When our eyes meet, I realize I still have a loaded handgun clutched in my fingers. I could point it at him and shoot. I'd die afterward, but … I'm going to die anyway. Because Cat will bring me back here, and he'll ask me to do this again. And next time, there won't be a magic out.
“Looks like this is your lucky day, Gidge,” he says, reaching out to curl his fingers around my upper arm. I can't look away from him, from the dark shadows in his eyes that I don't remember being there before Queenie and Posey died. “But luck don't last forever. Get your ass home for the night.”
Cat grabs the pistol back from me and then takes a seat, leaning in and waiting for Grey to continue his story.
I back up slowly, trying to avoid attention, and end up bumping into Crown's chest.
He steers me around and out the door.
I have never been so fucking happy to smell the cool, fall air, like pumpkins and frost and maple syrup. I end up rooted to the spot, watching the trees billow in the breeze. Their leaves aren't quite the brilliant orange-red of autumn, not yet.
“I'll take you home,” Crown says, and I turn back to look at him. He's a beautiful man, but I don't feel anything when I stare into his green eyes. Lie. Lie, lie, lie. I try to focus on his mouth instead, but that doesn’t help. It’s too full to think about anything other than kissing him. Hot lips and tongue tentatively tasting mine, testing, searching, claiming. Memories flood my head, and I shake them away.
“I brought her here; I'll take her home,” Grainger interjects, stepping outside the cabin and making sure the door is locked behind him. He turns to Crown and I feel this shiver of tension between the two of them.
