The Fortunates (Unfortunate #2) - Skyla Madi Page 0,16

way her eyes glistened, begging him to do whatever she wanted him to do. He remembered the way she flinched when he told her he couldn’t love her. That hit home the most. That was his biggest regret.

“Did she put up a fight?”

Kade clenched his bottle. “No.”

Jim turned to face Kade, his shoes sinking ever so slightly into the semi-firm mud beneath his feet. Under the light of the moon, dark shadows circled his eyes and covered his lips.

“I don’t want to die. Not tonight.”

That didn’t matter to Kade. Jim was a dead man the second he touched Nine. He should have known that.

Kade tilted his head. “Did you know she belonged to me?”

“No.”

Lie. Kade smirked because he knew it. He dropped his beer on the ground and pushed himself to his feet. “I’ll give you once last chance to answer the question truthfully. Did you know she belonged to me?”

Jim stuttered and spluttered, his grasp making the beer in his hand tremble. “I…I mean…It…It might have been mentioned in passing, but I thought you were finished with her once they locked her up. I swear I meant no harm.”

Kade launched forward, grabbing the beer from Jim’s hand and smashing it upside his head before his body even registered he was angry.

Jim crashed to the ground, groaning and clenching the side of his face. Beer and glass coated and cut Kade’s left hand, but as the moment dragged on, and his chest bubbled with anger, he didn’t give a shit.

Kade bent and snatched the black fabric of Jim’s uniform in his hand and pulled him close to his face. Jim lowered his hand from his face and, under the light of the moon, Kade saw the blood and glass contorting his skin.

“You meant no harm?” Kade pulled back his arm, clenched his fist, and let it loose. It connected with Jim’s mouth, splitting his lip and staining his teeth with blood. “You attack a woman smaller and weaker than you and you meant no harm?”

Kade hit him again.

And again.

And again.

Until he was sure his fist would bruise. When he stopped slamming his fist into the pathetic excuse for a moderator, Jim choked on his teeth and spat up blood. It ran over his chin and down his throat. Blood from his nose spilled over his cheeks and got lost in his ears. Still Kade wasn’t satisfied.

“She makes you soft,” Jim spat, more blood trickling from the sides of his lips.

Kade smirked. “Oh. She makes me many things, but soft isn’t one of them.”

From his waistband, Kade pulled out his gun and pressed the eager barrel between Jim’s dark eyes.

Regret flooded Jim’s face. His eyes widened, his lips trembled, and sobs forced their way up his throat.

“Please…”

Kade slightly twisted the gun against his skull. “You know, if she was here, she’d be begging me not to kill you.”

“Please!”

He lessened the pressure of his gun on Jim’s forehead.

“I know she’d forgive you…”

The beginnings of relief crept over his face, starting in the curve of his eyebrows.

“But I can’t.”

With a squeeze, Kade pulled the trigger and BANG!

The shot rang out.

Chapter Seven

Nine

My eyes flutter open as blinding light spills over me. Sitting up, I rub at my eyes, an attempt to clear away the blur that obscures my vision. I squint at the yellow light leaking from the gap in the bathroom door. The sound of gushing water crashing against a porcelain basin is enough for me to assume Kade is washing his face, or his hands. But why? What time is it? Is it morning already? If Kade’s drapes weren’t so dense, natural light would be able to seep through and I would have some kind of semblance of the time.

Nausea and hunger dance in my stomach. They twirl each other—toss each other—until they stir up my stomach acid, making my throat burn.

I push back the blankets and slip from the bed. As my sore feet touch the floor, I stumble and grip the loose sheets as my shaky legs struggle to hold my weight. Seconds pass until my burning, cramping muscles can bear the weight of the rest of my body. When they’re able to, I bend low and pluck Kade’s shirt off the floor before pulling it on over my head, ignoring the kink in my neck and the ache in my arms as I do so.

Water continues to splash into the basin in the bathroom, even as I reach the end of the bed. Conveniently, it stops as I make