Page 60 of Madness & Mayhem

I turn toward her. “My father sent him here, Lakyn. To kill you.”

Her breathing picks up, her brow furrowing as she stares at me. “Why would he do that?”

I grind my teeth together. “Because he’s pissed at me. He wants you dead, Lakyn, and nothing is going to stop him until he gets what he wants.”

I watch as the color drains from her face slowly, as if it’s dripping out the end of her body. “He’s going to kill me.”

I shake my head. “No, Lakyn. He’s not going to kill you.”

She clutches her neck, as if she pleads with herself to get air. “How do we stop him from coming after me? Some weird goon just came in and tried suffocating me in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night!”

She’s growing hysterical.

I step toward her. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to take him out.”

Her eyes flare. “You’re going to kill your father?”

I have no other choice. It’s him or her, and I’ll always choose her.

“Yes, I am.” I walk around her, heading toward the kitchen, and turn on the faucet. My bloody hands go beneath the tap, and I watch as the bottom of the sink turns a light red from the blood. I splash water on my face and wash off every drop I can, but I still feel full of the dead man that’s laying on the living room floor. “I’m going to kill him now.”

“Now?” she shrieks.

I turn to her with a fierce glare, anger lighting my skin on fire. “Yes, now. I’m not waiting for him to send someone else.” I walk toward the front door. “Stay here.”

She leaps in front of me, her bare foot slapping into the puddle of blood. “No, wait! Let me go with you.”

A laugh bursts from my chest. “No, Lakyn. You’re staying here this time.”

Her mouth twists in anger. “Fuck no, Reign. You don’t get to walk out this door and leave me here alone, again. Not this time. We just committed a triple homicide together, so why can’t I come help you?” There’s an edge and rage in her voice that causes her body to tremble. She’s mad at the situation, she’s mad at me. She’s fucking mad at my father.

I’m much worse than she is.

“Because I can’t fucking watch out for you!” I roar in her face.

Her hand raises, and she jabs her finger in my chest. “I don’t need anyone to look out for me, Reign! I can look out for myself!”

I grab her finger, pulling it down slightly. “You think you can take care of yourself?”

Is she capable of looking out for herself? She just murdered two people. She ran from the police. She plummeted beneath the water and found her way back to the cabin. She survived it all, and she doesn’t have a look of fear in her eyes at the prospect of having to do it again.

She wants to, and she wants to stand on her own two feet when she does it.

“Of course I can take care of myself,” she snaps, yanking her finger from my grip. “I want you, Reign, but I’m also my own person. You aren’t the only person who has a darkness inside of them. I do, too, and I can handle myself.”

I know she can, and that’s what fucking scares me.

I take a step back, narrowing my eyes at her. “You think you can come with me? You want to show me you can take care of yourself?”

She gives me one single, short nod.

“Then I’ll bring you with me, and you fucking prove it to me. I’m not going to hold your hand, and I’m not going to baby you. You think you can do it?” I lean forward, getting directly in her face. “Then prove it to me.”

“I will prove it to you,” she says, standing a little taller, her chin tilted back.

I smirk at her. “Then show me what you’ve got, baby Lake.”

“What are you doing?” Lakyn asks as I park along the side of an empty road.