Wicked Love - Michelle Dare Page 0,83

says, but he’s looking at Creed when he says this, “I’ll be taking her away now.”

“Oh,” Creed responds, the moment his body is flush at my back. His warmth is a stark contrast to Devon’s cold. “That wasn’t the deal,” Creed informs the man whose eyes blaze with fury.

“You told me where she is, and I confirmed I would be here to collect. There is no way I’m leaving without her.” Devon’s confident in his words. And I know him very well. When he has something on his mind, when he has an end goal in sight, there’s no way he’s allowing a different conclusion to the one in his mind.

“You?” I twist to face Creed, finding darkness swirling in his eyes. A promise of violence seems to flicker like a flame in those endlessly dark orbs.

“I offered you the deal,” Creed tells Devon, ignoring me. “If you can’t accept it, I think it’s best you take a walk.” Even though I’m raging, anger surging through my veins, I can’t look away from Creed’s cool and calm exterior.

“I don’t run when little boys threaten me,” Devon sneers. I’m ripped from Creed’s warmth, suddenly being held by a heavy, muscled arm wrapped around my neck. His free hand, however, has a white-knuckled grip on the familiar Glock that has always been Devon’s signature weapon. The large, ornate D carved into the handle is there. Even in the dark where I can’t see it, I know it like I know the back of my hand.

Creed’s mouth curls into an amused sneer. But he looks like he’s about to gut Devon. I didn’t notice it at first, but the glint from his left hand captures my attention.

“I don’t make threats I never intend on fulfilling,” he tells Devon. I expect him to close the distance, to take me away, but he doesn’t. “When I make a vow, a promise, I mean it.” This time, his eyes flick toward me, but only for a split second, then they’re back on the man holding onto me. I know there’s no point in fighting Devon because he’ll only ignore my pleas.

“Oh?” A chuckle vibrates through Devon’s chest and into my back. “And what sort of promise did you make? You told me you have my girl,” he tells Creed. “And now that I have her in hand, you’re welcome to step back, or I will put a bullet in your head, little boy.”

Nothing Devon says seems to get to Creed. He looks like he’s chatting with friends about the party, still well and truly echoing through the trees. Creed tips his head to the side, his mouth pursing to one corner, as if he’s considering Devon’s words.

I will him to look at me, but he doesn’t. It’s as if I don’t exist. Like I’m nothing more than a bargaining chip between two men. Just like I always have been. Between my father and Devon.

The men in my life have always thought they know what’s best for me. But deep down, they don’t realize just how independent I really am. But right now, I feel helpless. I have two men glaring at each other, and I’m in the middle, caught in a silent war.

“I would be careful with her if I were you,” Creed says, breaking eye contact with Devon for a second before he steps closer.

“If you take one more step—”

“What? You’re going to shoot me?” The challenge is clear in Creed’s face. But then he glances at me with a grin so mischievous it sends both heat and fear racing through me. Then he nudges his chin toward my foot. His eyes glinting with malice. “I think Micaela has something she’d like to say to you,” he says, and I realize what he’s trying to tell me with those haunting dark eyes. I lift my foot, piercing my short heel into Devon’s foot, before a shot rings out through the darkness and a grunt of agony bounces around me in surround sound.

I’m suddenly splattered with thick metallic fluid, and a scream of shock is ripped from my chest when I turn to see the sleek, silver blade, now coated in blood, sticking out of Devon’s neck.

“It’s a shame,” Creed says, wiping his hands on the familiar handkerchief. “He and I could’ve been friends.” Once his fingers are clean, he offers me his hand, which I don’t take. Instead, I’m glaring up at him from the ground, where the material of my dress has been covered