that shoots out of it. “Maybe you’ve forgotten that I watched you slice a fucking knife across those bastards necks. You’re a fucking monster, Nic. You’re not the guy I knew. It’s like your father died and you went right along with him. You don’t have to be a monster to lead, you know. You don’t have to be him.”
Nic grabs the pearls around my neck and yanks me in close. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
I raise my chin, refusing to give in. “You need to leave. All of you do. I told you on Saturday night—I’m done with you. You’re fucking no-good gang members who have lied to me since the beginning of fucking time and I’m not sitting around and letting it happen again. Now, leave.”
Nic’s jaw tightens and I see the refusal on his lips when a deep rumble comes from behind me and instantly calms my racing heart. “Get your fucking hands off her.”
Nic’s gaze snaps up to Colton’s and it’s darker than I’ve ever seen before, darker than when he was staring down his father’s murderers. “I’ll put my hands wherever the fuck I want,” Nic growls low, his tone a nasty warning that Colton should back off. “She’s mine. Always has been. You’re a fucking phase.”
“Phase or not, she asked you to release her, so I’d suggest you do it now before I make you.”
Nic throws me behind him and I slam into Kai’s chest as he gets in Colton’s face. “The fuck did you just say to me? Do you have any idea who I am? The kind of influence I could have over you?”
Colton’s hazel stare flashes back at me and takes in the red mark across my chest and my scratched up knees. He scoffs as he looks back at Nic. “I know exactly who you are,” he taunts, making every one of my nerves stand on edge. “You’re a fucking loser who just put his hands on my fucking girl because he’s pissed that she chose me, chose a life away from you, and chose to have something better for herself. Do you honestly think she’ll ever go back to a man who throws her around like a fucking ragdoll, who drags her down the stairs, and constantly leaves her bruised? No fucking chance. I don’t care if she doesn’t want me, but I will make sure that she never goes back to you.”
Without warning, Nic’s hand curls into a fist and it cracks across Colton’s face. I run out of Kai’s arms, ready to check on him when a low laugh sounds through the silence. Colton rubs a hand over his jaw before spitting a mouthful of blood down onto the concrete. He holds his arms out wide while grinning back at Nic. “Is that all you’ve got, fucker?” And with the speed of light, Colton throws a punch that has Nic falling back a step.
I stare in shock. No one has ever landed a punch on Nic, it’s simply something that I’ve always believed to be impossible and the way that Colton stands before him in victory speaks to the devilish goddess living inside me. I’ve never been so fucking turned on.
Nic runs back at him and just like that, it turns into a fucking brawl. I’ve always known Nic to be larger than life, the toughest guy on earth who could take anyone down with a single blow, but against Colton, it’s a fair fight. He’s holding his own and it’s the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t be surprised if Colton had been trained in martial arts, it seems like the kind of thing that Charles would force him into at a young age.
No matter the reasons for why he knows how to fight, what matters is that he’s taking the upper hand, proving to Nic that he underestimated him.
Not wanting their leader to lose, Kai, Sebastian, and Eli dive for their guns, ready to end this, but I’m not about to let that happen. They’ll never hurt him. A punch-up is like child’s play to them and now that I’ve seen exactly what these guys are capable of, I'm not about to let them get involved.
I turn on the boys, staring each of them in the eyes as I listen to the sound of flesh being pummeled behind me. “You’re going to have to shoot me to get to him,” I warn them, watching the hesitation in each of