Page 108 of Beautiful Forever
“You shouldn’t…have come…I’m not…worth it.”
Getting a “Hail Mary,” I notice the chair is made of wood, not metal. Standing up, I glower down at him. Stupid, noble, clueless man.
“Don’t you ever say anything like that to me again. You are wortheverything.”
I stomp down on the chair leg and am elated when the wood splinters. I’m able to wiggle the broken piece out from underthe zip tie wrapped around his ankle. Holding it, I examine the jagged, wooden spikes at the end. Time to play.
“Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
“Literally…not going…anywhere.”
Silently moving toward the door, I crack it open. The hallway is quiet except for two guards stationed right outside.
The one on the left looks over his shoulder. “About fucking time. I want my turn?—”
Blood gurgles out of his mouth when I shove the makeshift stake into his neck, and he collapses to the floor like a Slinkie.
“What the fu?—”
Using the heel of my palm, I strike the second guard in the nose, sending cartilage and bone fragments into his brain. With surgical precision, I deliver a forward finger jab to the soft spot right under his clavicle that instantly stops his heart from beating. His eyes bulge out of their sockets, and like a stone statue, he topples over.
I glance down the hallway to make sure no unwelcome visitors are coming.All right, Aoife, have your fun.
Arterial spray geysers out like a firehose when I yank the wooden stake from the other guy’s neck before plunging it back in again.
Blood and gore and beautiful chaos.
Forty-Six
Like an avenging angel from hell,Syn takes out the two guards with ease. It’s fascinating to watch. I got a glimpse of what she could do that weekend at the Society compound but seeing her now…she’s fucking magnificent.
But she shouldn’t have come. Not for me. The risks are too high. She has too much to live for and too much to lose.
Where is Tristan? Hendrix and Constantine? They wouldn’t let her face Viktor alone, but as the minutes tick by and they are nowhere in sight, my worries intensify. If Syn is anything, it’s stubborn as hell. Once she sets her mind on something, nothing can stop her.
“Syn…go.”
Leaving the broken piece of the chair leg sticking out of the guard’s stomach, she rises from the carnage she created like a vengeful Titian goddess and smooths back her wavy hair with blood-soaked hands. “Not without you.”
“Go.”
I almost smile when she shushes me, but my mouth is too swollen.
“Stop talking. Did you know Serena is here?” Crouching beside me, she grunts with effort when she flips the chair forty-five degrees until I’m on my back and staring up at the lone lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.
“She…and Viktor…”
“You can tell me later.” Bracing her knee on the other leg, it snaps at the joint with acrack. She systematically frees me, one limb at a time. When she’s done, her beautiful face is filled with trepidation. “Ready to get the hell out of here?”
“Fuck yes.”
“This is probably going to hurt like hell.” She grabs under my shoulders, and I refuse to make a sound, even though every part of me is screaming in agony as she carefully lifts me off the floor. I’m twice her size and probably outweigh her by a hundred pounds.
“Hold on to me,” she says when I sag against her, my legs refusing to keep me upright, my body nothing but dead weight, my muscles uncooperative.
Every breath is excruciating. Every step is a painful torture.
Having no other choice, we walk through the mess at the door, leaving a trail of bloody footprints in our wake as she literally drags me down the hallway. It’s probably forty feet of distance, but it feels like for-fucking-ever to get from one end to the other.
