Page 15 of Tainted Essence
“Glad to see you in one piece.” I turn and shake Royal’s hand and nod to Sin.
“Yeah well, that’s all thanks to your cousin over there.” Royal’s face pinches.
“Destiny?” he questions, clearly shocked by my admission. Sin’s face mimics his shock.
I shrug my shoulders. “I guess she isn’t just a badass in the ring.” I spy her looking at me from the corner of my eye. I give her my attention and smirk when she sneers. “Clearly the constant resting bitch face runs in your family.” Royal snorts a laugh while Sin promises to gut me if I ever say that shit again. Worst part, I actually believe that Chanel would do it, she isn’t exactly known for making idle threats. Kimber moves to stand next to me. Rather than letting everyone know there is a divide between me and her, I shift so she is included in the conversation. Once Gage’s men finish their sweep of the house, we are all ushered outside. I climb into the car we stole so we can dump it on the way. Kimber joins me, but as I start the car and put it in reverse I have to slam on the brakes when I see Destiny standing behind the car in the rearview mirror. She stands there for a second longer before she climbs into the backseat.
Before I can ask her what the fuck she is doing she speaks. “Drive now before my dad realizes I’m not with Royal.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Because you owe me an explanation about why I’m not ratting the bitch out that got me kidnapped.” I grit my teeth, doing as she says knowing if I don’t, it’s Kimber’s life on the line. The three of us remain silent for a couple of miles until Kimber finally breaks it.
“Why would you help me?” she asks Destiny.
She keeps her gaze focused out the window as she answers. “I never said it was you I was helping,” she claps back.
Kimber growls. “Why the fuck are you helping at all then?”
Destiny pulls her gaze from the window to glare at Kimber. “Because your bodyguard is blackmailing me and if I am to go with this, I want to know why you are being protected.” I roll my lips over my teeth, she’s a lot smarter than I gave her credit for.
I answer instead of Kimber. “Where we come from we don’t turn our backs on people we care about because they made a mistake.”
Destiny scoffs. “I’d like to go to that place.” Her answer brings a frown to my face. “If I agree to help you lie to my family and hide her treachery, what assurances do I have that the bitch won’t sell me out again?”
Kimber slouches in her seat, making the smart choice to keep her mouth shut and leaving me to deal with this errant demon. I mull over her question for a while trying to come up with a good answer but the one conclusion I keep coming back to doesn’t exactly work in my favor, but when I see Gage flashing his headlights behind me, indicating to pull over and dump the car, I know I’m out of time.
“I’ll train you for your title fight. I know you need a trainer and believe it or not, I’m fucking good at what I do.” Her face scrunches at my reply.
“I’d rather forfeit than have the likes of you training me,” she snarls.
“I’m your best option. I give you my word that you will win that title with me as your trainer as long as you keep your end of the deal.” I pull over and put the car in park but don’t move to get out, waiting for Destiny to answer me.
“Prove to me you’re worthy of the chance to train me and I’ll consider it but make no mistake, Tay Tay, I won’t be fucking you again.” I smirk as I meet her gaze in the rearview mirror.
“Find em, feel em, fuck em and forget em is my motto, Slayer.” Her cheeks redden at my reply, clearly pissed off that I brushed her off without a second of hesitation.
“I guess you won the bet,” Kimber breathes out before she exits the car. I keep the anger from splaying across my face. Destiny looks confused for a second before I tear my gaze from hers and climb out of the car, shooting Kimber a scathing look over the roof.
“You’ll pay for that,” I vow. The little bitch just shrugs.
“She’s outta your league and you and I both know it. Best to set the boundaries now.” If we didn’t have an audience, I would have my hand wrapped around Kimber’s throat right now. The bet was made as a joke… kind of but I know Destiny won’t see it that way.
That bet is going to bite me in the ass, I can just feel it.
The ride to the Murdoch compound is filled with tension, my mind is reeling over what is going to happen. I need to speak to Knox first before talking to Bishop, he needs to know about what happened and the deal I made with Destiny to keep Kimber breathing. If the Murdochs found out she ratted out one of their own they would kill her on the spot. It’s going to be hard enough explaining to them why she was there to begin with.
As we make our way through the gates that are manned with armed guards, I spot the six houses that line either side of the road. It’s true, they all really do live in their own community. Gage drives past the houses and comes to a stop in front of the largest house at the end that is separate from the six. I can see a small guest house just off to the side of it. What draws my attention is the sight of Knox leaning against his car in front of us with Wave, Xander and Trey beside him.
Thank fuck!
As soon as I climb out, I reach back inside the car and grab Kimber’s arm, dragging her after me. Wave shoots me a look of warning not to hurt her friend but I choose to ignore it. We are in this shit because of Kimber not trusting us enough to come clean and ask for our help. If she had done that we would have helped her and got her daughter back but instead, we’re all here trying to keep the peace and work out a way to keep the Murdochs in the dark.
“You good?” Knox asks when I come to stop in front of them.
“Yeah. She needs to get out of here now,” I say. Wave nods and motions for Kimber to get in her car. Kimber shifts to face me but I refuse to look at her, keeping my gaze on Knox.
“For what it’s worth, I am sorry, Taylan, but my daughter means more to me than anything in this world.” I slowly turn to face her, the look on my face has her backing up a step and Wave creeping in closer ready to put me down if I make the wrong move.