Page 77 of Seductive Sadist
Tucking my hair under my baseball cap to cool off the back of my neck, I run across the street in the direction of City Diner. Again, my stomach growls in anger at me.
But chocolate chip pancakes with strawberry syrup will just have to wait.
I have enough cash to get me by for a little while if I’m careful with spending it. I also have the diamond ring that I can pawn. And beyond that, my dad’s stash will keep me under the radar for a very long time. It’ll get me out of the country and keep me hidden away in a dark corner of the world where nobody will bother to look for me.
I swallow a sob.
My mother is about to lose her other daughter.
Guilt gnaws at my gut but I don’t let it slow me down.
I did what she begged of me, I walked away from my dreams.
It didn’t seem like she had any regrets about asking me to give up my life in exchange for silence.
So why the fuck should I feel anything but relief about getting far away from this life where I’m nothing more than a prisoner surrounded by smoke and mirrors? Luxury cars, couture, diamonds the size of boulders. I’d give it up in a hot second for freedom.
The blazing sunlight scorches my skin. I pull the t-shirt away from my chest, fanning myself. Sweat drizzles down the sides of my face, a rush of heat invading my cheeks. I round a nearby corner, finding temporary peace on the quiet side street. I walk about a block, heading away from the beach. Suddenly an unsettling sense of dread washes over me, crashing hard like a wave against the surf in a storm.
I clutch a hand to my chest and back against a brick wall of a nearby building, panting, when a familiar, haunting scent hits my nostrils. My stomach roils and I clutch a hand to my midsection.
Lifting my head, my eyes open a crack wider because the sun is too damn bright and I forgot to snatch a pair of sunglasses from the safe house.
Fuck, no. It can’t be…
A quick pinch in my upper arm makes me yelp before I can say a word.
“You didn’t think I was just going to let you run away, did you?”
The deep, husky voice slithers over my skin like the slimiest snake.
My knees buckle, all feeling in my lower body lost in a hair of a second. I slump against the wall with no ability to keep myself from crumbling to the ground.
He doesn’t let me fall, though. With one arm locked around my waist, Tyson pulls me close, his breath hot against my face. My eyelids flutter, numbness commanding every cell. But I can still hear his voice hiss against my ear, still feel his hatred infiltrate me like a toxic poison flooding my veins.
“Your bitch sister Laney made a fool of me and look what happened to her. What I made happen.” He tugs hard on my earlobe with his teeth. “I warned you, Skyla. I told you what would happen if you tried anything stupid. Too bad for you that I’m a one strike, you’re out kind of guy.”
Chapter33
Zak
“Ihave to go.” Val smiles at me before giving me a big hug. “I know you’ll do the right thing.”
I squeeze her tight, catching a whiff of something sweet. Like the Starbucks birthday cake pops she loves so much. It’s familiar and comforting, and right now, I need to feel both.
I need Skyla.
She’s what’s familiar and comforting to me, and I’ll never let her go.
Val walks toward the gate to the street. She puts a baseball cap on to cover her dark hair, and with one final wave to me, she disappears.
My heart sinks just like it did last time I saw her. She’s been tucked into Alek’s secret army for too long, and we all know what happens to most of those guys. They’re vigilantes and assassins who hunt the dredge of the Earth.
They’re expendable and constantly in the line of fire.
Val may have an advantage because she’s a woman and can slip in and out of places without suspicion. But luck only gets you so far in this life. Maybe that’s why she came to me about what she found. Maybe she knows her time is short.
My gut twists. I push open the door to our room, the shower spray muffled by the closed bathroom door. I rake a hand through my hair and strip off my shorts, my cock half-hard when the image of Skyla naked and soapy in the steamy glass enclosure floats in front of my eyes.