Insatiable (The Edge of Darkness, #1)(54)

He sighs. “Come on, Freckles.”

“No! You don’t get to call me that!” The tension in my head gets worse. “You killed someone!” I cry. “What happened to you?”

“Let me take you to a hotel – you’re covered in blood.”

“What happened to you?” I hold my ground, my vision blurring. “I have no idea who you are. You aren’t the Kade I fell in love with.”

He nods and lowers his head. “I suppose I’m not. ”

I’m certain I’m pale.

Kade looks up, takes a careful step towards me and tries to move strands of hair – now sticky with blood – from my face, but I flinch from his touch.

His hand freezes, then he drops it to his side. “You’re afraid of me.”

I avert my eyes.

“You are aware that you’re the only person in the world I’d never hurt, right?”

“If that was the case, then you wouldn’t have walked out of my life when I needed you the most.” I shake my head. “You already did hurt me.”

“We aren’t doing this,” he says, exhaling and putting his hands in his pockets. “I shouldn’t even be speaking to you.”

I laugh sarcastically. “Oh yeah, that was definitely the case a few hours ago, wasn’t it?”

“You know what I mean.”

“No. I don’t know what you mean. What happened to the guy who despised when his friends took drugs? Now you’re buying fifty grand’s worth, you apparently have whores and you kill people?”

His jaw clenches. “This has nothing to do with you. Stay in your goddamn lane and drop it, alright?”

“I can’t…” I turn my back to him. “I can’t drop it. They knew who you were and asked why you didn’t have your other whore with you. You… You didn’t need to shoot him.”

Kade sniffs, the sound of his lighter flicking before I smell the exhaled cloud from his joint. “I can assure you he won’t be the last person I shoot.”

Understanding his words is difficult. I once fell in love with him. He was the pain-in-the-ass brother of my best friend who liked to tease me, but it was harmless and fun, and I would do anything to go back to that.

Oh how differently I would do things if I could go back. No lies. No secrets. No holding back on telling everyone we were together.

I try to walk away again, but Kade grabs my wrist. “You’re being dramatic. Not here. Get in the fucking car.”

I tug out of his grip and turn, but I only get two steps before he swears under his breath, snatches me off my feet and throws me over his shoulder.

The world turns upside down, and I gasp as I beat my fists into his back and kick my legs. “Put me down, you asshole!”

My thrashing around does nothing given the muscles he has.

“I don’t have time for your bullshit, Stacey.”

“That’s a lovely name,” a voice says, and Kade stops walking.

I try to see who Kade is looking at, but I’m stuck staring at his ass.

“I’ll have to ask your boss how much she costs. When is your time up with her?”

“Step out of the way, Crawley.”

I grip the material of Kade’s top at his back, frozen in fear as two more guys appear at our side.

“Dvigatsya,” Kade says, and I frown at the language I had no idea he spoke. His tone lowers. “Ona ne prodayetsya.”

The man chuckles deeply. “Ona seichas.”

“Stacey,” another one says, chuckling as he leans down to my eye level and grins at me. “I’d pay a pretty penny for you.”

One of Kade’s arms vanishes from around my legs, though he still keeps me secure over his shoulder, and I hear a gun cocking. “ Don’t make me tell you again. Step out of the way.”

The man looking at me stands up, then he’s out of sight.

“Relax,” Crawley says, back to English. “We come in peace. We’re just curious about your little raven here.”

Kade tightens his grip around my legs. “Get out of my way or I’ll put a bullet between your eyes.”

I groan and cover my ears, waiting for the bang. My dress is somehow still hiding my ass – maybe thanks to the way Kade has positioned his arm.

I hear footsteps on the gravel, and Crawley, the old leader, is watching me as Kade makes his way to the car with the gun at his side, finger still on the trigger.

I’m tossed off his shoulder, my back pressing to the cold metal of the car as he opens the passenger-side door.

“Stop looking at them,” he hisses. “Hey…” He tips my chin. “Eyes on me. Calm down. You’re breathing too fast, and I can’t be fucked with you passing out.”

I had no idea I was panicking until now, until the words hit my ears, and I realise my heart is racing to an unsettling pace, my eyes burning.

I don’t remember getting into the car or clipping my seat belt on. I think he did it.

Another door slams, and the engine turns on, rumbling beneath me. He reverses out of the area like he’s being chased, and I need to grab hold of the dashboard, only narrowly avoiding whiplash, as he swerves the car to the left and accelerates down the road.

“Tell me three of your favourite things.”