Barbie Btch (Rejects Paradise #3) - Sheridan Anne Page 0,3
knowing it will finally be over. “Any last words?”
His blood soaks into the top of his shirt and just as he goes to say whatever the fuck he needs to say, a loud bang in the adjoining wine cellar has my eyes snapping up to the heavy metal door.
I hold my breath, my eyes widening with fear.
“JADE? WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?”
Fuck.
Colton.
“Jade? Are you in here?” His voice grows closer and I know it's only a matter of seconds before he finds me. I hear his footfalls. He's moving fast and something tells me he knows exactly where I am. “Ocean?”
My hand shakes against the glass at Jude's throat. Should I do it? Do I just slit his throat and have it over with? What would he think of me if he walks in here and sees me? I'm a fucking monster—just like Jude, just like Nic.
There's a loud creak, and the small sliver of light around the door grows wider. As light floods the room I see Colton standing in the doorway, looking horrified by the stranger he sees before him.
“Ocean,” he says slowly, not making any sudden movements as his hazel eyes flick between me and Jude. “What are you doing, baby?”
“I ... I …” As I meet his eyes, I feel my own filling with tears. The emotions are overwhelming. “I have to end this.”
He shakes his head. “No, Jade. You don't.”
My brows furrow as I watch him while Jude remains absolutely motionless, hardly even breathing as my shard of glass presses against his throat. “What do you mean?” I cry. “Of course, I do. He raped me. I have to end this. Don't you want that too?”
“Trust me, I do, Jade. I want that more than anybody, but not like this. Not at the risk of you losing yourself. I can't have this on your shoulders. The guilt …”
“I …”
“Look at yourself, Ocean. I mean really look at yourself. Look at what you're doing, who you're becoming.”
My eyes drop to the shard of glass still clutched tightly between my fingers. Blood covers me from head to toe, drenching my clothes. My heart races like never before, feeling the burn of the cuts and scrapes along my knees and hands for the first time.
I'm a stranger. I don't even recognize myself right now.
Am I seriously about to kill a man? I was terrified after watching Nic do just the same only a week ago. His ruthlessness was enough to make me run and vow to never go back there again. How can I stand here prepared to do the exact same thing? What is wrong with me?
I glance back up and meet Colton's loving gaze, so full of concern. A gasp travels up my throat and the tears continue to stream down my face. My hand shakes and I pull it away from Jude's neck, releasing him into a clump of pain on the floor.
I did that. I tortured him. I cut, stabbed, kicked, and hit him. Who am I? This isn't how I deal with things, this isn't me. I'm not a cold-blooded murderer.
The glass drops from my hand and clatters against the ground, the sound louder than anything I've ever heard.
I run.
I run and I don't look back.
I barge past Colton in the doorway and run through the wine cellar. I all but throw myself back up the stairs in a race for distance. I don't dare stop until I'm as far away from the horrors of Charles' wine cellar as I can possibly get.
Chapter 2
I crash through one of the many bathrooms of the Carrington mansion, hearing the door slam shut behind me with a loud thud. I race to the sink and fall into it, my hands coming down on either side of the white porcelain and leaving bloodied smears on either side.
Tears stream down my face. What have I done?
I look up and meet my reflection in the room-length mirror and see nothing but fear. My eyes are wide and frantic, not the eyes I've gotten so used to over the past seventeen years. I'm a stranger to myself.
If Colton hadn't walked in ... I can't even think about that. What I would have done ... I would have been just like Nic. I would have slit his throat and walked out of there as though nothing had ever happened. I would have cleaned my hands of Jude and wiped him from my memory. I would have been a cold-blooded murderer. I