Page 97 of Save Me

“And you—” I turn to Tanner, who doesn’t even try to plead his case. I look him up and down slowly, the anger in his eyes never leaving.

“Anything you want to say?”

The room is quiet except for the sound of Rhett’s panicked breathing. He looks from me to Jax, and I follow his gaze. Jax is standing a dozen feet behind me, which tells me he knows I can handle this on my own.

“I wouldn’t want to lose a tongue.” Tanner’s voice breaks the silence of the room.

I look back to Tanner. “Jax, don’t cut his tongue out,” I command quietly over my shoulder.

“Okay, love,” he says, his voice cold and calculated.

“So Tanner, what’s it going to be? Pleading your case like Rhett here? Or perhaps apologizing for everything you did to me?”

Tanner spits, and I can’t hide my disgust as I wipe the saliva from my face. For a second my mask falls, the false bravado I summoned to interrogate them, to play tough, and I’m reminded exactly how quickly they were able to make me feel incompetent, weak, worthless.

I shake my head, banishing the thoughts with it, forcing myself to remain calm and collected in front of them.

“Okay then,” I say, turning away from him. I take one step before I turn back to him, striding towards him until I’m right in front of him and can feel his breath against my skin.

“Why?” I yell, the anger palpable in my voice, as I press the blade to his skin, red blooming brightly against his flesh immediately. “Why did you do this to me? I never did anything to you,fuck, I didn’t evenknowyou. And what? You hurt me because I scratched your eye while you tried tokidnap me?!”

He laughs, actuallylaughs, at me. “You know why Evi, we’ve talked about this, or are you too stupid to remember?”

Jax lets out a sound that resembles a growl, but I don’t look at him, not when I already know the darkness that I’ll see in hisfeatures, the anger I can already feel rippling from his body and filling the space around us.

“I did it because I wanted to, and I always get what I want.” Tanner laughs. “You were practically throwing yourself at me after Heat—youwantedme. So stop lying to yourself.”

I feel the bile rise in my throat at his words, as the knife I’m holding shakes in my hand.

“I didn’twantyou, asshole!”

“You loved everything I did to you.” He winks before looking at Jax as he continues to speak. “The way you moaned when I was inside of you, the way your pussy clenched when you came. I fucked you because youwantedit.” He laughs as he looks back at me. “Admit it, even when you were with Rhett, you’d open your legs for anyone who gave you a second glance, and it’s no different now.”

I can’t help but recoil at the disgust I see etched into his features, the shock of what he said in front of Jax rolling over me.

His laugh startles me. “I know how this goes, you stupid bitch,” he says cockily. “You and your boyfriend try to scare us, try to get money out of us for what we put you through. We’ll do this little song and dance for a while, and you’ll eventually let us go once you get us to agree to give you cash and you think you’ve scared us enough. But our lawyers will deal with the fucking shitshow you started. And before you know it, the story will be spun around. Suddenly you’re the girl who asked us time and time again to fuck you—you wanted our attention and our money. But, not wanting to come off as the whore you are, you decided to play the victim to try and get sympathy for being a slut.”

I’m trembling, barely able to control myself as wave after wave of anger rolls through me.

“You can’t scare me, Evi. You’re not important enough to impact me at all,” he says smugly. “You were an easy lay and that’s it. So go pretend to have a normal life with your boyfriend. And while you might forget about us eventually, I’ll always be thinking about you. And the second you drop your guard, the second you don’t have your man watching your back, I’ll find you, and I’ll make you pay for everything you’ve put me through. And you’ll experience pain you never knew existed, you fucking whor—”

I jump as blood splatters across my face and a loud bang echoes throughout the room.

Tanner’s body is now limp in front of me. I wipe my face with my hand, which is immediately coated in blood as Rhett sobs and Jax walks towards me, the sound of his footsteps loud against the concrete floor. I try to control the shock that rolls through me, try to steady the nausea that threatens to overwhelm me.

I turn to Jax, who holds a gun loosely by his side.

“You killed him,” I say in shock.

“I did.”

“I—” I’m speechless, actually speechless.

“I’m sorry for overstepping, I know you could have handled yourself,” he says apologetically. “But to hear him speak about you like that. To hear him say all his vile thoughts to your face… no one speaks to my girl like that and lives.”

I nod, the anger in me slowly dissipating as I realize Tanner is dead.

“I think I’m done here,” I say quietly, dropping the knife before turning and walking from the room slowly.

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