Quinn II (Undaunted Men #2) (10 page)

Vince lets go of my skin, and I turn around just as a fat tear streams down my cheek, thankful Quinn won't notice. I wrap my arms around Vince’s neck to give him the kind of unhindered kiss he wanted from me to begin with. It's the only thing I can think of to seal the deal and have Quinn believe me, because I can't continue the toe-to-toe façade any longer.
 

Initially, I think I’ve shocked Vince, because it takes him a second to register what I'm doing before he kisses me back. He makes a low, guttural sound from the back of his throat, telling me he approves. Vince threads his fingers through the back of my hair, pulling me in to deepen the kiss as his tongue delves deep, claiming me as his.
 

“What the fuck is this bullshit?!” Quinn bellows from behind. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

Vince is so into the kiss he doesn't stop or flinch from Quinn's outburst. He slowly nips at my lower lip, tugging it gently between his teeth, and then reluctantly drags his lips away from mine. He's breathing heavily, his eyes gleaming with some sort of self-adulation. Without moving his head, he flicks his eyes toward Quinn, addressing him with an arrogant smirk.

“Who the fuck do I think I am?”
Vince asks in a pompous-assed manner, arching a questioning brow. “I’m about to be your worst nightmare.”

“Bring it on motherfucker. Let’s go one on one, you and me. Real men don’t need to hide behind other men with guns,”
Quinn says, his voice dripping with rage. “Since you do, that must make you a big-assed pussy.” Vince tenses, his nostrils flaring slightly, and then he pulls me tighter against his body.
 

“I’d be careful with your words right now, or did you forget you’re outnumbered by big-assed pussies? That one is going to cost you,” Vince forewarns.
 

“What the fuck is this all about?”
   

“You took something from me,” Vince pauses to rethink his statement. “Actually, you took a lot of things from me, setting me back a few paces. I don’t like people who get in my way.”

“So enlighten me,” Quinn bites back.
 

“Oh, you’ll be enlightened soon enough; make no doubt about that. We’ll have plenty of time to get your due justice,” Vince threatens, and then he turns his attention back to me. “Let’s go, Sweetheart. I don’t want you to have to see the unpleasantries that are about to go down.”

Vince wraps his arm around my neck, holding me tightly against his side, and turns us around. The gravel underneath my feet is blurry, and the tears begin to fall to the ground in droves as he starts walking me toward his SUV.
 

I don't look back. I can't. I don't want to see the look on Quinn’s face, and if he sees my own distraught features, he will surely wind up dead.
I hear Kimber release a deep, guttural growl of hostility, which promises to deliver a deadly attack, and my gut clenches.
 

When she growls again it’s different this time, and my instincts tell me it’s not good. I have to turn around, but Vince must’ve been expecting me to try and break free, because he has me in a vice grip. I struggle and push against him with all my might, managing to spin around just in time to see the violent outbreak of war.
 

I stand frozen in time as I watch Quinn yell commands at Kimber, but his words go unheard. Having a mind of her own, Kimber has gone rogue while Quinn is being held at gunpoint.
 

Kimber is baring her teeth as she runs and leaps forward, flying through the air toward one of the men. She’s too fast for him to react, and before anyone can stop her, she has her teeth sunk into her target’s neck with a vengeance. He lets out a loud howl, dropping his gun as Kimber tackles him to the ground. He fights in vain to get Kimber off him, but she’s dead set on not letting go. She's out for blood, and I believe she’s actually going to kill the man.
 

The shouting and yelling fades away as one single sound forever changes everything. I hear a resounding pop, cutting through the chaos, and then a horrid wail. It's not a man's cry, far from it. It's a soul shattering sound of a howling dog, crying out in untold agony.
 

It's as if the bullet had enough force to launch Kimber three feet into the air, and I watch in horror as she falls to the ground, yelping in high-pitched screams. The type of animalistic screech she releases splits my soul in two as I scream out at the top of my lungs, “Noooo!” My trembling hands cover my mouth in horror. My legs buckle, and I start to go down, but Vince doesn’t let me. He has me by the waist, holding me upright against his body.
 

When I realize he’s trying to drag me away, I begin kicking and screaming uncontrollably. “Let me go! Kimber!” I cry out, but Vince continues to take me in the opposite direction. My chest heaves for air as I watch my girl struggle between life and death, pawing at the ground, willing herself to get on her feet. Oh, God, the color crimson begins to soak her once beautiful mahogany fur, and I go insane. Vince can barely hold onto me as I fight to get away.

My eyes dart to Quinn as he roars out a battle cry, or maybe I'm just now hearing him. I guess Kimber had created the perfect distraction for Quinn to take action, giving him the opportunity to strike back. I watch in awe as he kicks a gun out of one man’s hand while shooting another.

He then propels himself forward like some martial arts expert. Each one of his maneuvers is measured and concise as he uses moves I've only seen in movies. I've quit screaming; I know this because my mouth is agape in shock as I watch him beat the shit out of three men at the same time.
 

I watch each horrific event unfold, one right after the other. One particular man, to my disappointment, finally gets the upper hand and pistol-whips Quinn in the back of the head. I scream again, clawing, elbowing, and kicking to get free, but I can’t. I watch helplessly as Quinn’s large frame drops like a sack of potatoes to the ground.

My eyes flick back to Kimber, and my heart flips inside out as I watch her struggling and pawing at the ground, desperately trying to get to her master. My heart is being torn to shreds as Vince continues to drag me away. The farther from Quinn I get, the louder I scream.

I feel as wild and out of control as Quinn was just a few minutes ago. I’m ruthlessly shoved into the back of Vince’s black SUV. I fall on my back as the door is being slammed shut.

Regaining my equilibrium, I quickly sit up to open the car door, but it’s locked. “Damn it!” I bang on the window, screaming out Kimber’s name. Tears streak down my cheeks, and I wipe at my eyes to clear my blurry vision. “Let me out!” I yell. The vehicle starts, and I scream louder. They’re just leaving her there to die all alone with a gunshot wound! “She needs help!” I howl in a high-pitched frenzy. “Let me the fuck out!” I’ve banged so hard against the car window it should’ve broken by now, but knowing Vince, it’s probably bulletproof.
 

The car lurches forward in a quick getaway, the gravel shooting out from underneath the tires, and I shout, “You bastards!” Before I know it, Vince has me lying on my back, his body weighing heavy on mine, smothering me. He constrains my wrists above my head in a painful death grip.
 

“That’s enough!” Vince bellows in my face, but I’m unfazed.
Bring it on motherfucker.
I squirm and buck my hips to get away from him, to get away from this hellish nightmare.
 

“Quinn!” I scream his name at the top of my lungs. I know I'm calling for him in vain, he can't even help himself right now.

“Connor, I’m going to need you to sedate her,” Vince calls out over his shoulder, breathing heavily from all the exertion. My eyes bolt open wide from hearing his name, and I still for a brief second.
Connor?
 

Vince looks down on me with a smirk. “You did great, Alexis.”
 

I blink my eyes spasmodically in shock. “I did what?” I hiss, outraged with disbelief. The motherfuckers, both of them, they set me up. Not only did I almost die out there on those trails because of them, but they played me. I spit in his face. “Fuck you.”

He lifts his shoulder to his face, using the fabric on his sleeve to wipe his cheek as he keeps me pinned down. When he's done, he calmly schools his features then arches a brow at my blatant, never-before-given disrespect. “I can see a couple weeks out on the trail has you thinking you're invincible, maybe even a little delusional. You don't want to do that again. You must’ve forgotten how I hold your future over your head.”

“Fuck you and your future. If anything happens to Quinn, I will gut you myself,” I snarl, struggling against him again. I need to break free. I roar out in frustration when I can’t get loose.

Vince has never seen me fight like this before. He’s not used to it; I can tell. He appears to be a tad taken back. I’m not sure what his breaking point is, but at this point I don't care if I breech his threshold.

His chest heaves with anger as he bares his teeth at me. He narrows his eyes, looking straight at me as he grits out, “Connor, put her the fuck down, now.”
 

“I’m all over it,” Connor calmly calls out from the front passenger seat. He turns around with a needled syringe pointed upward as he adjusts his position.

“Don’t you dare fucking touch me,” I hiss wide-eyed at Connor. He leans over the console of the front seat, and I buck my hips to try to throw Vince off me. “Back off, Connor. I swear to God I will kill you myself.” My nostrils flare with untold rage, and I mean every word I’m saying with total clarity.

Connor pauses for a moment in concern, giving Vince a quick glance, but then it's gone. He looks back to me, wearing a shit-eating grin on his face as he tells Vince, “You’re right. Two weeks in the bush and she thinks she’s Tarzan’s Jane.” Vince chuckles as he uses his free hand to unbutton my jeans. My pulse accelerates, and my arms begin to go numb.

“No!” I yell out, squirming out of control, but Vince is too strong and quick. He’s managed to get my jeans down mid-thigh, and then he rolls my body into his, exposing my hip to Connor.
 

I feel the quick swipe of a cool alcohol wipe across my hip area, and less than a second later, the jab of a needle is next. I know better than to move at this point. God knows I don’t want a needle to break off in my flesh. “You bunch of gutless fuckers,” I utter angrily.

When Connor is done, Vince rolls me onto my back and rests his full body weight over mine to suppress my movements. I’m breathing heavily, hyperventilating with each inhale. I can smell nothing but Vince and his expensive cologne.

“You’re squishing me,” I wheeze.

“You’re lucky that’s all I’m doing to you right now,” he growls. Still having my wrists held captive, he uses his free hand to grip a handful of my hair, restraining my head. I'm trapped as he leans down to brush his lips over mine, but backs off just before I can bite his lip. “I think I like this new Alexis. Your spunk is sexy as hell.”

With every emotion running through me, I close my eyes then silently begin to cry. “Aww, Lexi, don’t cry,” Vince coos, changing his tone to a false sweetness. “Things will work out; you’ll see.” There are too many tears. I can’t even turn my head away from him to cry with dignity. I choke on my own mucus, gasping for a breath as I relive both Kimber and Quinn going down. The scenes play over and over again in my mind. “Shh, Sweetheart,” Vince whispers, gently kissing away my tears one-by-one.
 

“Why?” I croak out between sobs, “Why are you doing this to me?”

“I promise, baby. We’ll make it up to you.” How can he order a kill one second, and then turn around sounding so mournful the next? “Once you understand the whys and wherefores, you’ll wish Quinn dead too, but we knew you’d never agree to helping us like this, even if you knew the whole truth.” His lips on my skin make me sick as he kisses away another tear. “I’m sorry, Baby, but we had to play dirty.”

I could never wish Quinn dead. How can he say that? Confusion and grief consume me, but most of all, my head feels heavy as the drug begins to work its way through my system. My limbs begin to relax, and the tension that was rampaging through my veins starts to dissolve. Connor must've given me enough sedative for a two-ton man.
 

“Bastards,” I whimper. A wave of calming drowsiness washes over me like a soft ocean wave. I become aware of the rocky road underneath the vehicle as the tires thump, and roll over the rough terrain, creating a vibrating hum in my ears.

My heart has been officially shattered, and despite Vince’s claims, I could never hate Quinn. I got to know him so intimately, and I know whatever happened, Quinn used his best judgment. I have to believe that.
 

My heart squeezes again with the knowledge that Kimber was left out there in the wilderness to die all alone. My eyes flutter closed as I shed another tear for her, and Vince kisses it away. “Hush now, Sweetheart. I promise to make it up to you,” he whispers. “I love you, Baby.”
 

I shake my head. Only Quinn knows what true love is, not Vince. I believe Vince used to know what the meaning was at one time, but he allowed himself to be consumed by greed and power, becoming a lover of himself.

The effects of the drug grow stronger with each breath, and I don’t have a choice as it begins to pull me under into a black abyss. I don’t want to be cognizant anyway if it means living without Quinn and Kimber. I know after today my life will never be the same.