Page 34 of Graves

Chapter Sixteen

ZAYDEN

The cool blade slides between my fingers as I roll the knife over my knuckles. Doc watches me uneasily as he stitches up the parting wound Dominic left me with. Doc says I have a concussion, big surprise there. He says that I need to take it easy and have someone monitor me for the next twenty-four hours, but I have someplace to be, so as soon as he finishes the last stitch, I am on my feet and escorting him out of there.

I think his name is Henry, maybe Michael. I don’t really care. All I do care about is that he takes cash,keeps his mouth shut, and always comes running when we call. He likes the under-the-table work. Or maybe he comes because, when he first started working for us, I rattled off his childrens’ first names and schools.

Looking into the mirror on the wall, I notice the reddening on both my upper cheeks. No doubt it’ll be bruised by morning. Dominic fucked up. If he wanted me to stay away from my angel, he should have just killed me, because that’s what it would take to keep me from her. Then again, death might not be enough.

I’d had the idea of how to get out of prison for weeks, it was the orchestration that took a little time. I had exhausted my resources inside the walls, and since Dominic was unreachable, I contacted the only person I could. It’s someone we cut ties with long ago, and I’m sure I’ll regret taking his help, but it had been almost three months since I’d set eyes on her. I was about to suffocate. I had to get out of there. I had to see her.

Imagine my surprise when I showed up to her apartment to find it completely empty, not a scrap of her in sight. I began to spiral as vivid images of worst-case scenarios danced in my mind. I jumped on my bike and drove to Dominic’s house, ready to tear him limb from limb for allowing something to happen to her.

When I opened his bedroom door and found another figure sleeping in his bed, it caught me off guard. Dominic doesn’t allow people in his apartment, ever. But a single second more in that room, one smell of her scent and all the pieces clicked together.

My twin tried to steal my angel, and for that, he wouldhave to die, eventually.

I could have ended him right there, claimed her for myself, and we would live happily ever after. But I needed something more than revenge at that moment. I needed her. The way her pussy wrapped me up so tight, her buttery smooth skin, the sweet little moans that left her mouth with every thrust.

Christ.

I adjust my cock, trying to ease my growing hard-on at just the thought of her.

Before I realize it, I find myself outside the bar, watching her move from table to table in my usual spot. Goddamn, I missed her. I fucked my fist every day to the memory of her, but nothing compares to her.

A car turns around the corner, and I already know who it is. I take a sidestep down the alley, ducking into the abandoned Chinese restaurant. I’ll let Dominic think that he has won, that he’s somehow scared me into submission. And then when he’s least expecting it, I’ll take what’s mine. For good.

Three days go by.Seventy-two hours without my angel, and I’m starting to lose it. My leg is bouncing, my skin is crawling, and I feel as though my lungs are about to eviscerate.

I can’t. Fucking. Breathe.

I just got back into town from a job for my “bailor,” a term of our new agreement. When he calls, I go. No questions asked. The fact that I just landed back in the States is the only reason Ihaven’t dug out my own beating heart by now.

My bailor is satisfied for now, and Dominic is no doubt naïve enough to think I’m backing down, which gives me the perfect opening.

I debated packing our stuff and having it ready by the time my angel’s shift was over, but then it occurred to me: why should I run? I have nothing to run from, certainly not a snakelike brother. This is my angel’s home, and she wants to stay here, I know it. So, he can be the one to leave. In a body bag or a car, it makes no difference to me.

I know that my brother usually sits in the bar and watches her work, at least he’s doing part of what he was told. But tonight, I staged a little distraction on the other side of town so I could have some alone time with her. He was called away for a security issue and had no choice but to leave her side.

There are only two customers in the bar, and the owner has left for the night, which means it’s finally time.

I come through the back entrance, pausing in a shadowed corner until she comes into the back. She’s oblivious to me at first, her eyes scanning the bottles of liquor in front of her before they settle on a red wax-dipped lid. Before she can reach it, I wrap my hand around her mouth and press my lips against her ear.

Her body locks up instantly before I begin to speak.

“Shhh. It’s me. I missed you,” I whisper lowly.

She relaxes instantly, pride waving through my chest that I bring her so much ease as I release her mouth.

“Dom.” She smiles before attempting to turn around.

My hands go to her waist, forcing her forward as anger tears through me.Dom?How does she not know it’s me? How can she notfeelit’s me?

The hot trails of fury run through my veins as my breathing becomes erratic.

“Dom?” she questions softly. “Are you okay?”

Looking to her left, I kick the supply closet door in before pushing her inside. She goes in with a stumble, and I follow after, slamming the door closed.

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