Page 18 of Tainted Essence
I bite back a squeal when the passenger door opens, startling me. My shock morphs into outrage when Taylan slips into the seat beside me.
“Get out!” I snarl.
“Unless you want to be dragged back inside by your ear, I suggest you plant your foot and get the fuck out of here because Mommy is looking for you.”
Shit!
As if on cue she appears out the front door. Without second guessing myself, I slam the R8 into gear and plant my foot. I smile when the power of the car has me pushed back into the seat. The pull on this thing is fucking epic. I maneuver the car down the drive, not letting off the gas, knowing mom will be calling the guards to lock the gate. My exit is in sight as I see Tiny with his phone clutched to his ear. At the sight of me he waves to the other guards, signaling them to seal the gate so I plant my foot flat. My breath hitches and my adrenaline spikes, wondering if I will make it through those iron bars and when I do, I squeal in delight.
“Take that, motherfucker!” I shout through my manic laughter that dies off the second I remember I’m not alone on my little jailbreak.
“Don’t stop on my account.” I grip the steering wheel in a vice-like hold and grind my teeth.
“Why the fuck are you here? I didn’t peg you for a stage five clinger, Tay Tay.” I can feel him glaring at me and fight to keep my smile at bay, knowing I am working his nerves with my pet name for him.
“If you hadn't snuck off you would have heard that I am your new bodyguard courtesy of your father.” I snap my head toward him and find that he looks just as pissed about this as I am.
“What the fuck, why?”
“Apparently since you and I will be spending a lot of time together training it only seems fair that I be the one to guard you. You know, because if I turn out to be a backstabbing asshole then I’m within their grasp to kill, which makes keeping your ass alive my number one priority.” His tone is laced with bitterness.
“I didn’t ask for any of this. I just want to go home, sleep then train, I don’t want all of this fucking extra shit,” I admit.
“Too late, you and I are now a package deal whether we like it or not, so suck it the fuck up.”
“Kind of like how you sucked the cum out of me?” I retort without missing a beat.
I nearly jump out of my fucking seat when his large hand lands on the top of my thigh. “Or like how you sucked our cum off your finger?” I smack his hand off my thigh and ignore the laughter that comes from him, he’s infuriating.
The remainder of the drive is spent in silence, I refuse to speak to him. Even when I park the car and stash the key on the front tire, knowing Uncle King will come for his baby, neither of us utters a word. Even when I enter my apartment and try to slam the door in his face, he says nothing. I head straight for my bedroom and slam the door, locking it behind me. I march over to my bed, snatch a pillow and then press it against my face so it can muffle my screams of anger.
It takes me a good ten minutes to calm down enough to strip out of my clothes and pull on a pair of booty shorts and a crop top before climbing into bed. We both hate being around each other so I have no idea how the fuck him training me is going to work. I close my eyes and calm myself by thinking about my training and going over my moves in my head, that always helps but instead of seeing my moves, I see the vacant eyes of the men I killed.
I bolt upright gasping for air, scrubbing a hand down my face. I try to push away those images that keep flashing like a movie in my mind. I’m stronger than this, I won’t let a little death scare me and reduce me to a shell of a person. I look around my room and suddenly feel… scared. The shadows seem to form shapes and are closing in on me. Before I can scream for Taylan, scarface appears in front of me, silencing me with a hand around my throat.
Taylan
I’ve barely fallen asleep on her hard-as-rock fucking couch when her ear-splitting scream pierces the air, forcing me to leap to my feet and draw my gun. I rush down the small hallway and kick her door open. I dart my gaze around, searching for the intruder but all I see is her screaming and clawing at her throat as she lays there.
She’s having a nightmare.
I stow my gun in my waistband, eliminate the space between us and try to shake her but she still continues to scream and won’t wake, so I resort to drastic measures and cover her mouth with my hand. It takes her two point five seconds to snap her eyes open. The second they do I remove my hand. She sits upright gasping and darting her gaze around the room.
“Slayer?” She screams and scoots across the queen bed, looking at me with pure fear that has me stumbling back a step and raising my hands. A few seconds pass before she registers that it’s just me and no one is here to harm her. I stand here and watch as she feels her chest and throat. Her breathing is erratic, I can tell from the look in her eyes that the nightmare is still fresh in her mind.
I know exactly how she is feeling and how much it must be weighing on her.
“The nightmares won’t last forever,” I say quietly.
Her gaze cuts to me, a deep groove forms in the center of her brows. “What?” she rasps out.
“I’ll bet good money that you closed your eyes and saw the faces of the men who you killed.” Shock colors her features. “Was it scarface that was choking you?”
Her mouth is ajar as she studies me like I’m a science project. I can tell she doesn't trust easily and in turn, that is shit for me because I need her to open up about this Koda thing so I can find the cunt, kill him and get Kimber’s kid back so I can go home. Gage and Bishop made it clear that I’m the pawn in this and me being here is the only way they are going to trust Knox and believe him not having anything to do with this situation.
“He was here… in my room,” she says barely above a whisper, the hint of fear that laces her tone has me softening slightly. I keep my hands raised as I move to sit on the edge of the bed, she stiffens but doesn’t pull away.
“The nightmares will consume you if you let them.”