A Beauty Dark & Deadly (A Dark & Deadly Series Book 1) (27 page)

Suddenly, hands were gripping her waist. No, not hands. Claws. They were pressing down on her, keeping her still. Something about Emmy being a murderer's whore, something about wanting a taste since she gave it away so freely.

Then, it clicked. She could focus again. She understood.

Emmy refused to let him take advantage of her. She started screaming. Cody took his hand and covered her mouth with it. Emmy tried to bite it but couldn't. She struggled underneath him. She needed to move. She needed to keep moving. If he gave her an inch, if he gave her a centimeter, she needed to be ready to pounce on it. She needed to be ready to take it.

It didn't seem like he would. He was too heavy, like a bowling ball on her stomach, dragging her body down to the bottom of the ocean, keeping her there so air was not an option. He didn't care if he hurt her. He didn't care that he was ruining her dress, that this constituted as rape because she was screaming at him, screaming against his hand, that she did not want this, that he needed to get off of her, that he would be sorry. He didn't listen. She didn't think he would. He was lost in the lust of power he created for himself and by struggling against him, she was feeding into what he wanted. He started laughing. Like this was a goddamn joke. Like this was funny.

Where was Jason? She hoped he heard her. She hoped he was calling the cops. Because if not, there was no way she'd be able to get him off, to stop him from doing what he was doing.

She kept moving even though she didn't think it would do anything save for tiring her out. But she wouldn't let him take anything from her without a fight. Even if it did no good. Even if it exhausted her. She would not give him the satisfaction of succumbing to his strength, his sex.

Then, without warning, he was lifted from her body. She could breathe again. She was okay.  But she didn't know what happened. Where did Cody go? Why did he stop? Maybe she shouldn't question it. Maybe God was taking care of her in His own way.

But no. She needed to get out of the situation. She needed to find Jason. Her dress was ruined. She would need another one. There was no way she could go to the ball looking the way she did. They would probably also need to call the cops. It would make sense to do that. She was assaulted, after all. She wouldn't let Cody get away with trying to rape her, for hurting her. For coming here and insulting both she and Jason. For assuming he could walk right up to her and think he could sweep her off her feet. She would not let it stand. Would not let it happen.

A crunching sound caused her to pause her thoughts. She turned and winced. She'd have to move her whole body, not just crane her neck. So she did. And her mouth dropped.

There was Jason, straddling Cody, punching Cody over and over and over again.

--

When Jason heard her scream, he dashed out the door. He didn't even stop to think about it. He nearly slid on the wooden floor - damn shoes, new and slick; he wasn't used to the black loafers yet - but he righted himself before he did and barely missed a step. He threw the door open and his blood froze. He was paralyzed. But only for a beat.

Cody was on top of Emmy - beautiful Emmy, his Emmy - tearing at her dress, trying to lift up the skirt. He saw red. He had never seen red before. Not even when he found Stacey in bed with her lover. But he saw red now.

Emmy was fighting back. He was proud. But he was furious she had to fight at all.

Jason couldn't stop himself. Didn't really care about the repercussions. Didn't even stop to think about them. All he saw was Cody on top of the women he loved, trying to take advantage of her. Hurting her. He would not let that stand.

He didn't know how it happened. One second, he was standing on the porch, taking it all in, the next, he tackled Cody off of Emmy and straddling his waist before pummeling into him with his fists. He didn't think. His body was simply responding. He didn't even look to see if Emmy was okay. He was simply focused on the task at hand. 

He was on top of Cody and beating the shit out of his face. Cody managed to roll him over.  Got a few punches in.  Good ones, too.  Jason didn’t hear Emmy screaming.  She tried lunging at Cody, but he pushed her down without even looking at her.  Jason could put up a fight but he wasn’t as young as he had been before.

And then, a loud thwack rang out.  It echoed in Jason’s ears.

He could hear again.

Cody collapsed and Jason rolled him off of him, but Emmy kept hitting Cody with the bat.  Jason could hear the bones crunch but he didn’t stop her.  She kept going and going and going -

There was no sound. Only Emmy's heavy breathing. Only his ragged breathing. His eyes dropped to Cody's face - what was left of Cody's face. It was so bloody, so purple, no one would be able to tell who he was. He was unrecognizable. No one would know who this was unless someone did a DNA test.

"Is he" - Emmy took a breath. "Is he dead?"

The bat slid out of her hand and clattered to the dirt.

It was then that Jason realized she was standing off to the side, looking at him with an indecipherable look on her face. She wasn't disgusted. She wasn't angry. She wasn't terrified of him, even though he was covered in blood and he was only now coming down from the adrenaline rush his body had just been immersed in. His right hand started throbbing and he could hear his heart start to beat in his head.

Her dress was ruined.  Blood was everywhere.  He couldn’t tell if she cared about what she had done.  She must still be in shock.

What had she done? There was no way Cody was still alive. Emmy had beat him to death. He looked over to her, suddenly scared she would scream, leave, fall out of love with him. He didn't even care that she might call the cops, that he might actually go to prison this time. None of that mattered if Emmy didn't love him anymore.

"Jason?" Emmy said, snapping him out of his thoughts. His knuckles hurt badly. He couldn't even move his hand. There was a good chance he broke a couple of bones. He looked at her. He still couldn't read her face, didn't know if anything thing had changed between them. "Is he dead?"

Jason nodded once.

He watched as she clenched her teeth together and looked away. More than anything, he wanted to know what she was thinking. More than anything, he didn't want to know at all. He didn't know how to feel. He didn't know what to do except slowly stand up and step away from the body.

"We need to figure out what to do with the body," she said finally, turning her gaze back to him.

Jason squinted up at her, not sure what to make of her reaction. She looked at him, not blinking, not judging him.

"Listen," she told him when he still didn't respond, "I don't care about your past. I don't care what you did and didn't do. In fact, I don't need to know either way. We need to think about now. We need to think about us and our present and our future. I was defending you.  And me.  He would have…”  Tears filled her eyes.  She had to look away. Finally, “What should we do with the body?"

Jason looked at her. "It doesn't matter," he said. "I already got away twice. The cops will do anything to make sure I'm convicted this time.  And you – you’re tainted.  Being with me does that."

"I know," she said, surprising him. "I know me being a witness and a victim doesn't help. Me having defensive wounds, torn clothes, I get it. I highly doubt Cody told anyone he was coming here. He's an idiot but he doesn't talk that much."

"You don't know that for sure," Jason stated.

Emmy shook her head. "No," she replied.

Jason nodded and stood up. "Are you all right?" he asked her. He went to touch her but stopped himself, not wanting to push her if she wasn't comfortable with being touched just yet. "When I saw him on top of you, I..." He shook his head and locked eyes with her. "I lost it."

Emmy nodded. "I'm okay now," she said but Jason could see she was still shaking.

Jason wrapped his arms around her, waiting to feel any indication that she wasn't ready, any sign that she would push him away. However, he felt her melt into him, clinging onto him for dear life, and his heart broke that she suffered already, that he hadn't been able to protect her. He tucked his chin on her head and held her even closer.

"I'm never going to let anything happen to you," he promised her. It was a promise he vowed to keep, no matter the cost.

"I feel the same way," she whispered back. "But." She cleared her throat so her voice came out stronger. "We have to get rid of Cody and we have to get rid of his car. We can't let anyone know he was here."

Jason nodded against her, keeping her wrapped up in his arms. "Okay," he said. "Okay. I'll take care of it. You get cleaned up."

"Do you need any help?" Emmy asked. Her voice was muffled against his chest, her breath tickling the exposed skin of his collarbone.

He shook his head. "I've done this before."

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Acknowledgments

I’ve been working on this book for years.  I set it aside and didn’t come back to it until early 2016.  This is one of my favorite stories and I’m so glad I got to share it with you.  So thanks for taking a chance on a dark, twisted love story.

Thank you to my family, especially my mom, for your support and your faith in my ability.

Thank you to my readers for your amazing encouragement.  I’m astounded each and every time I talk to you!

Thank you to my beta readers – Diana L., Karen H., Heather B., Judes, Linda-Leah P., Leona, and Heather F.  You guys are amazing and pick up what I couldn’t.  THANK YOU for helping me with my craft.

Thank you to my kickass launch team and everyone who wanted an ARC.  Your feedback is so helpful and instrumental to my career.

Thank you to Desiree DeOrto for my wonderful beautiful wickedly dark cover!

Thank you to JD, always my muse.

Thank you to Josh, Jacob, and Kylee for pushing me to be a better parent and motivating myself to take myself seriously as an author.

Finally, to Frank, as always you’re my reason for everything.  Thank you for inspiring me.

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