Page 82 of Angelic Acts
I won’t let her fuck him. Not to save me. Not to buy us time. It’ll destroy her. She’ll never recover from giving in to him. She’s already breaking from his touch. I can see it in her eyes. In the way she can’t look at me. She’s already traumatized.
“How about you fight me for her? Man to man,” I demand, deciding if we need a distraction, it can be my blood that buys us that time. I’ll bleed before she ever feels pain. And I can make our fight last as long as needed. “Or are you scared?”
“You stupid bastard. You think you can take me?” Vincent demands, his attention once again directed at me. He steps forward, heading towards me.Yes, I chant. Come to me,I beg him.
But a small hand lands on his arm, stopping him. She knows what she’s doing, and I catch her eye before they turn to him. The sorrow and regret that momentarily fill them slices through me. I feel her anguish in my bones.
“Please, Vince, I need you. Please, fuck me.” Her soft voice is a broken plea. It’s not the breathy, husky tone she has with me when she’s truly aroused. The lilt to her voice is harrowing in its torment.
But the bastard only hears her words. He doesn’t see the haunted look in her eyes, because he can’t pull his from her beautiful body. All he heard was her consent. And now, he’s going to take it.
“I forgot what a slut you are,” Vincent purrs, turning towards her.
He dips her back, then ravages her in a kiss, but this time, he’s gripping her breasts over her shirt and sneaking a hand down her pants. Touching her, claiming her.
There may only be the two of them touching, but there’s three of us in this kiss. He’s pulling me in every time he pulls back from her to grin at me. A low growl exits my throat, causing Lizzy to pull back.
“Can the men turn away, please? I just… I want this to be all for you,” she asks in a small voice, and it crushes me. She wants me to turn away to save me. She doesn’t want me to go through this pain with her. But little does she know, even if it riddles me with bullets, he won’t fucking touch her. He won’t break her.
I’m seconds from lunging at him, of being a fool for my love, when loud booming echoes through multiple points of thehouse, the sound of battering rams breaching the entrances. The sound of our hope returning.
Chapter 45
Lizzy
A flashbang practically shatters my eardrums, leaving a sharp ringing in my ears. I’m too disoriented to make sense of my surroundings. All I know is that the Montclair brothers are here with their army to save us.
Someone wraps themselves protectively around me as gunshots echo through the room. I expect the muscular arms to belong to Bash, but to my surprise, they’re Katerina’s. She ushers me to the corner with the armchair and tucks me behind her.
Gunshots blast through the room, the sounds of grunts, moans, and shattering glass fill the air. Fear courses through me, but relief overpowers it. Because he’s not touching me anymore. His filthy mouth isn’t anywhere near me, nor are his wandering hands. I can still feel his phantom touches on me, searing through my skin, as though we never parted.
As the image of what almost occurred courses through my mind, I turn and puke in the corner. I heave up dinner, which looks vaguely like chicken and vegetables, not having had enough time to digest. I think back to how normal, or close tonormal, everything was at dinner. How Bash and Nik were working together happily.
Nik.
Oh my God, Nik!
I peek out of the chair and see him still slumped against the wall on the floor. The pool of scarlet surrounding him looks too big. But he could still be alive. We have to go to him. I poke Katerina’s back until she turns to me.
“Stay back. My orders are to protect you.”
“Nik,” is all I manage to get out, but that has her full attention. She turns her back to the fight, dropping behind the chair with me.
Clutching my arm, she demands, “Where is he?”
With shaking hands, I point to his slumped form against the wall next to us. He’s still. Too still. I can feel Katerina’s sharp inhale, then she’s rushing out from behind the chair. She has no caution for the bullets flying around us, and it gives me the courage to follow behind. From the corner of my eye, I see Dom jump in front of us, shooting anyone who looks our way. Katerina gets to Nik and runs her hands over him. I stay back, giving her room.
Suddenly the air stills, the fight over. Only to be interrupted by a chilling mix between a sob and a scream. Guttural noises leave Katerina as she hovers over her closest friend. The pain and anguish that fills her features as she throws herself on top of him confirms my worst fears.
Her husband is by her side in an instant, rubbing her back, whispering in her ear. I can’t pull my eyes away from the scene, not even when warmth surrounds me. Because my pain is no match for hers. I don’t even notice the wetness on my cheeks until Bash is brushing my tears away. But it’s no use. As Katerina wails over Nik’s corpse, more flow freely.
The room is still as men bow their heads in respect, and for the first time, I realize they all knew him. He was in their Syndicate. These are his friends and family. As much as I’m in pain, I’ve only known him for a few weeks. Realizing this, I step back, and continue backing up, until I’m on the outside of the room.
“What happened?” Katerina’s whisper is barely audible, until she turns towards a man on his knees in the center of the room, guns trained on him. I didn’t realize until this moment that they left Vincent alive. “WHAT DID YOU DO?”
Her scream ricochets off the walls, causing many to flinch, but not Vincent, ever the fool. He looks at her with interest and desire, as if he hadn’t just confessed his undying love for me. Everyone else in the room shifts back, knowing he’s underestimating a woman whose wrath overwhelms her. She’s about to avenge her friend.
“I killed the fag to get my slut to come to me.” Vincent grins as the crude words spill from his lips.
