Fury (New Adult Romance) - #1.5 Fierce Series (36 page)

I pull open her robe and let it drape off her shoulders. She’s
completely naked and I love the sight of her. I love her long legs, round hips,
and clean-shaved pussy. I love those pink nipples coaxing me to suck them.

She squints, a sly smile appearing on her face. With one jerk, she
rips off my towel, my cock springing up to meet her. I’m not sorry; I won’t
hide my erection. I like it when she looks at me with that drooling glare of
hers, like she’s hungering for it. For some reason I immediately wonder if
she’s ever sucked cock.

Hmm, yep, me and my random horny thoughts.

I push her inside the stall as she turns on the shower. Now I can
finally put my fantasies to good use. Squirting some gel onto my hand, I rub it
nicely before putting my hands on her. I lather her with the soap, paying extra
attention to the swell of her tits, her nipples, her perky ass and her inner
thighs, working my way up but avoiding her sensitive spot.

I can see her looking down at my cock, and I grin. Her lustful eyes
make my cock thump up and down with enthusiasm. I like it when she’s all hot
and bothered because of me. It takes every ounce of my will not to ask her to
come take a better look and let her lick it. I mean, it’s too soon. Although I
would love that. But it’s not like I’ll have to wait forever, which I won’t,
since I’ll make it happen soon enough.

As I’m done rinsing the soap off her, she looks at me, her eyes
shifting back and forth between me and the floor. Her brows draw together, and
I know that she’s thinking about something, because she’s biting her lip.

“What are you thinking about?” I ask.

“Nothing?” she says, trying to avoid the conversation. I don’t
believe any of it.

“I can tell when you’re lying. You always blush.” I laugh a little. “C’mon,
tell me,” I say, pulling her closer by her waist.

“Do you …. Do you love me?” she asks.

Shit.

Fucking shit.

Why did she have to ask that question now?

“I …” I stammer.

Of course I love her, but I’m still confused about yesterday. What I
feel for her is real, I know that, but I doubt if she feels the same way about
me. Even if she said she did, I still can’t believe her. That’s my problem, and
I know exactly why. I just can’t fix it that easily.

“No. Don’t,” she mutters. “I don’t want you to feel forced to say
it. Then it’s not real.”

I place a finger on her lips before she says another word she’ll
regret. It’s not true, and I don’t want to hear it. “I don’t feel forced. I’m
just baffled. But if I say it now, you’ll think it is.”

“Why are you baffled? It’s not weird, is it?” she asks, her cheeks
flushing again.

“No, of course not.” I plant my lips on her forehead, assuring her
that everything’s okay. “I just can’t imagine someone could.”

She frowns. “But you’re Hunter Bane. Everybody …”

“Everybody what? Loves me? No. They only love my attitude, my looks,
or what I offer. They don’t know me. They don’t like my personality, they don’t
want to know about my problems with school. And they definitely don’t know
anything about my family or my past.”

She doesn’t know how little people have actually said those three
words to me. Not even my own family.

“And I do?”

That’s my biggest wish. I want for her to know the real me. But for
that to work, I need to let her in, and that’s hard. I just hope I can, bit by
bit. “A bit. At least, I hope you do enjoy my company.”

She chuckles. “Of course I like you. I meant about the ‘past’
thing.”

Hmm … her bringing up the past reminds me of a lot of things I’ve
done wrong, things I should’ve done differently, but didn’t. It’s because of me
that she got involved in a lot of mess, like the party, Wes threatening her,
and the guys almost molesting her. I feel guilty for all of it. Especially
about not stopping the guys before they could put a hand on her.

“Right, about that … I still need to tell you something …” I say,
not knowing what exactly I want to tell her, but needing to get this out of my
system. I need to come clean. “Remember those guys at the restaurant?”

“I don’t want to remember them, but I have no choice, really.”

Of course she doesn’t, but I feel like I need to tell her this.
“It’s been bugging me for some time now. I didn’t want to tell you this,
because I was afraid you’d hate me for it. I just can’t live with it anymore.”

Her eyebrows furrow. “What?”

“I was there for a reason.” I swallow away the lump in my throat, my
stomach feeling twisted into knots. “I was supposed to do an exchange with
them.”

Her jaw drops. “You what?”

“They’re customers of Alpha Psi. I was waiting for them to finish
their meal, and I didn’t notice them leaving until I heard your scream.”

Now that it’s out, I have nothing left to feel more ashamed of than
that. I deserve her fury, and I will take any scolding she wants to give me,
but she needs to stay with me. I need her. She can’t turn her back on me now,
even if it’s my fault. I need her so damn much …

“Please don’t be mad,” I say, grasping her shaking body. “I didn’t
know they were going to do that. I would never have let them leave the restaurant
if I had. And I refused to have anything to do with them after it happened.”

“I can’t believe it …”

“Yeah, me neither. They’re probably pissed as hell after what
happened. It wouldn’t surprise me if they got their revenge sometime soon.
Especially when the boss finds out what I did to them.”

I hope she can forgive me for not coming to her aid sooner. If I
could do it over, I would. I’d get my ass kicked again and again if it meant
saving her from having to go through that again.

My finger reaches for her face, and I brush away a strand of hair. I
hope she can see past all this, knowing that I didn’t mean to be in this
situation. That I’d protect her with my life if push comes to shove. She is my
everything. “I will never let anyone hurt you,” I whisper. “Even if it means
getting my ass whooped.”

She giggles, and for a second I feel like I can breathe again. “So,
you’re not mad?”

“Maybe a little …” she says, a smile curving her lips. “I mean, you
should have told me sooner. But I’m glad you did the right thing.”

I let out a sigh of relief. God, that’s good to hear. I was afraid
she didn’t want to have anything to do with me anymore, but I’m glad she can
forgive me. “Good.”

A gut-wrenching scream fills my ears.

I instinctively search the bathroom, but knowing there’s no one here
except us puts me on edge. Someone’s hurt, and I recognize the voice. It’s
Leafy’s friend.

She’s desperate to help her friend, and stumbles out of the stall to
go and help her, but I hold her back. “Put something on first.”

“It’s Evie!”

“I know. I heard it too.” I turn off the shower.

“I have to go to her!” She hands me a towel and dries herself
quickly before putting on a robe and rushing out the door.

I quickly dry myself and run to my room to put on some underwear and
pants. Jaret’s nowhere to be seen, but I don’t care about that right now. I
wonder what happened that made Evie scream. I bolt toward the ladies’ room.
When I get close enough, I hear something that makes me freeze at the door.

“S-Scarlet. H-her room. D-dead.”

I think my heart just stopped.

“W-what? What are you saying? Dead?” Leafy stammers.

“G-go look,” Evie says.

I stare at the two girls sitting near the toilet, and Leafy gazes up
at me, dread filling her eyes. She springs up and runs past me. I go after her,
afraid of what we might find. When we enter Scarlet’s door, horror fills my
heart.

Scarlet’s lying face down in a pool of her own blood and vomit, her
body partially on the bed and on the floor.

“No …” I mutter, walking closer. This can’t be real. Is she really
dead?

I turn her around, careful not to make it worse than it is. I check
to see if she’s really dead, and when I discover no pulse, I assume she is.

Fuck. She’s really dead.

When I see Leafy backing out of the door, I say, “Where are you
going?”

“I need to be there for Evie,” she stammers, and she rushes out the
door.

Well, fuck me. I’ve never dealt with a corpse before. What the hell
am I supposed to do?

How the hell did she die anyway? I can’t believe this.

I hear them talking in the hallway, but I’m much to focused on the
body. There’s something about this that seems wrong on so many levels. I just
can’t figure out what. And then I spot exactly what I was looking for: a
syringe under her bed.

I crouch down and pick it up, inspecting it.

“Fuck …” I say. This looks like heroin, but it’s not from us. This
is not a label I recognize from Alpha Psi. And what’s even more disturbing is
the fact that our gang doesn’t even sell heroin.

“What?” Leafy asks.

“Drugs.” I hold up the syringe.

“She OD’ed?”

“Yes and no,” I say, sighing.

“Which is it? It can’t be both,” she says, frowning.

I want to tell her, but not with her friend still here. She’s way
too upset to hear what I’m about to say, and I don’t want to do that to her. So
I signal for Leafy to get her out of here.

“Evie …” she says. “You should go back to our room.”

“B-but …”

Leafy puts her hand on Evie’s shoulder. “It’s better if you’re
somewhere you feel safe. Make yourself a cup of tea and crawl under the
blanket.”

The girl doesn’t answer.

“It’s okay. Hunter and I will take care of it,” Leafy says, smiling.

She’s always so caring.

“W-we can’t leave her like t-this,” Evie stammers, and her eyes dart
to me.

“We’ve got it covered,” Leafy says.

“You should rest,” I add. The girl really needs to leave. She can’t
know what’s really happening.

Leafy’s friend leaves, and I cover Scarlet’s body with a blanket. No
need for anyone to see this. I know enough. “That wasn’t just an OD. She
couldn’t have gotten this drug from us. We never,
never
sell this.”

She crosses her arms, confusion showing on her face. “What is it?”

“Heroin.”

She gulps when I say that word. Maybe one of your guys made a
mistake.”

“They’re not my guys and they didn’t make a mistake,” I snap. I know
what this is.

“But she wouldn’t do that, would she?”

“No. She only used the drugs as a means to escape. It was a one- or
two-time thing. Nothing big. She wasn’t an addict, and trust me, I know it when
I see one; she wasn’t one of them.”

She shudders. “Was she experimenting or something?”

“I don’t know …” I say. I didn’t know her that well.

“Maybe it was an accident. Maybe she took too much,” she says.

“No, absolutely not. She’d never take too much. She told me she had
too much to live for, I remember her telling me at the party when I asked her
if everything was okay. I needed to check if she wasn’t taking them to … you
know …” I don’t want to say it, but I’m thinking of suicide.

I sigh. “She knew the risks perfectly well. She wouldn’t do that.” I
hold up the syringe and check it again. “Something’s wrong. This isn’t even our
product. We only deal in powders and pills.”

I put down the syringe and check her body to see if I can find
anything else I haven’t spotted yet. I gently tug up her shirt, wincing at the
smell, but I’m pressing on because I need to know if anything happened. And
then I notice the bruises covering her body and neck.

“She has bruises all over her body,” I say.

“I thought you said she OD’ed? Bruises don’t come with that, do
they?”

“They can, but this isn’t drug related. Look at the marks,” I say,
pointing at her neck.

“No thanks, I’d rather stay here if you don’t mind.”

“Nobody would shoot heroin straight into their neck. Plus, these are
really weird marks. They go all the way around her neck, centering on her
esophagus. And they’re on her wrists, too.”

“Stop messing with her, please,” Leafy says, placing her hand over
her mouth. “You’re making me want to throw up.”

“Sorry. But that’s the least of my worries right now. This should be
a concern to everyone.”

It’s fucking scary, that’s what it is. Marks like these don’t just
happen. Heroin doesn’t just happen, not this much.

“Why?” she asks.

“Because this wasn’t accidental. She was drugged with a dose far
beyond normal.”

“Are you saying …” she stops talking. Her face turns white as snow.

I know what she’s thinking, because it’s exactly what I’m thinking.
“Someone forced his hand on her. It killed her.”