Page 26 of Above All Else
“Just what, dollface?” I nudged her legs apart with my knee and pressed myself between her thighs.
She growled a deep and menacing growl that would set a dog on edge.
Her head whipped back, and stars burst through my vision as she slammed into my nose. Blood gushed down in twin falls, coating my lips and chin, intermingling with the dried blood on my throat.
“I said don’t call me that.”
Falling back on my haunches, I held my nose in my hands, my fingers checking for moving pieces. I groaned, and she bucked, sending me tilting to the side.
Her round ass came into view with a small birthmark on the underside. The urge to lick it eviscerated the pain in my face.
I swiped the blood with my forearm as she scrambled across the forest floor and lunged for her. “That was a mistake.”
Snagging her ankle, I stood and dragged her as she kicked at me with her free leg, her torso twisting, her fingers digging into the ground with shrieking screams. Her body and hands cleared a path behind her, making no mistake. Someone had been there.
June bent at the waist and picked up debris, throwing it at myhead.
I turned my head to the side—the debris brushing my cheek. “You’re gonna need to do better than that.”
In a blink, she twisted onto her belly, her free leg hitting the back of my knee, sending me flying to the ground. I dropped my hold on her and caught myself before my face smacked into a raised tree branch, then launched upward just as fast.
“Why do you have to be so difficult?”
I dropped on top of her as she flailed her arms, her fist striking my ribcage and solar plexus. Air rushed from my lungs as I snagged her wrists and pinned them to her chest, the position reminiscent of the cowboy room inside the cabin.
“Because I don’t want to die, you asshole.”
“Don’t you think Amber thought the same thing when you stabbed her twelve times?”
“How many times do I have to tell you—“
“Why do you insist on lying?”
She paused with a deep scowl, and her upper arms scraped from our wrestling, a trickle of blood skimming down her upper arm. “I’m not lying. You said you have proof.” She bared her teeth. “Show me.”
“I don’t have to prove anything to you.”
Her head dropped to the ground as she laughed. “Because you’re a twisted fuck who needs to use his trauma as an excuse to do bad things to women?”
My hand wrapped around her chin, digging my fingertips deep into her cheeks, causing her to grunt and shake her headin a futile effort to free herself.
“I’ve never harmed a single person in my life until now. You should have been first, but that’s neither here nor there. I’m going to take great joy in killing you.”
“Then get it over with. What are you waiting for?”
What was the point of waiting?
Paul and his ridiculous request.
“I have plans for you.”
“Show me the proof, Carter.”
I shook my head and sat back.
“Show me the fucking proof, Carter.”
Her chest shuddered as she sobbed, tears streaming down her face—the anger dissipating. A hardness in my chest cracked as she cried.