Page 38 of Graves

“No! No. You don’t call me baby. You don’t call me anything. I don’t know what the fuck is going on here, but I want nothing to do with any of it.”

I turn on my heel, reaching for my keys and phone on the kitchen island, before a hard body presses me against the wall. I push against it, but it’s completely unyielding as he reaches down and pries the keys out of my hand, tossing them over his head and into the hallway before taking my phone and throwingit to the ground, grinding it under his heel as he speaks in my ear.

“You can’t run from me, angel.”

“Let me go!” I scream.

Zayden is ripped away from me in the next moment as Dominic holds him back, delivering a punch to his brother before he’s receiving a hit of his own. They are literally twins, same size, same build. Same everything. Though Zayden seems to be a bit more agile, he dodges more hits than Dominic and even manages to get him to the ground.

Dom’s eyebrow is split open, blood pouring down his face as Zayden reigns down blow after blow. Slowly, Dominic stops fighting and instead just lays there. Something in me hurts at the sight, and I run toward him.

“Stop!” I scream, jumping in front of Zayden to block any more hits.

Unfortunately for me, either I’m too fast or he’s too slow. Or for all I know, maybe it’s on purpose. Zayden’s meaty fist drives right into the side of my head, sending my vision flashing before I stumble.

“Goddammit!” he roars. “Angel?!”

I feel my feet slip before my body thunks hollowly against the hard floors, a second sharp pain ripping through my head. I can’t open my eyes, can’t even move. I just feel dizzy, light, and something warm begins spreading down my face and into my hair as I drift off into darkness.

Chapter Eighteen

BLAKE

Itry to blink my eyes open, but they won’t budge. I move my head to the side, but an agonizing pain rips through me. Okay, don’t move your head, Blake.

Taking several slow breaths, I lift my eyelids, thankful when light begins to pour in and I can see the world in front of me. I’m in one of the spare bedrooms, and it looks to be the afternoon based on how much sunlight is in the room. I try to slowly turn my head to assess the rest of the room when a voice callsout, “Angel?”

Dominic?

A man in a leather jacket rushes over to me, crouching down by the bed as he takes my hands in his. He looks like Dominic to a T, except for his eyes. Dominic’s are a beautiful deep brown, but these…these are like two crystal-clear pools, so blue you could practically dive into them. They are a stark contrast against his jet-black hair that is currently wild and unruly like he’s run his hands through it a thousand times. His knuckles are bloody and swollen, and the last moments I remember begin flickering to life before my eyes.

I rip my hands out of his as I attempt to scramble away from him before I let out a bloodcurdling scream from the pain.

“Shh, shh, shhh,” he hushes. “Don’t move, angel. You’re hurt.”

Pain is drenched in his eyes, like it hurts him that I’m injured more than the actual pain I feel.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you, and then you fell, and.” He shakes his head before looking up at me with renewed fire in his eyes. “I’ll never forgive myself.”

In the next moment, the door is pushed open, and a swollen-eyed Dominic stumbles in as his eyes scan the room.

“You’re awake. Are you okay? Did he touch you? I heard you scream.”

“What’s happening?” I ask as I flick my eyes back and forth between the two.

Dominic sits down on the opposite side of the bed, resting his hand on my thigh before I move it from his reach. Hurt flashes across his face before he nods.

“Last night, Zayden hit you, and then you hit your head on the floor. You lost a lot of blood.”

“I was aiming for you!” he seethes.

“Well, you did a shit job!” Dominic snaps. “Look at her!”

Something akin to a flinch rips through Zayden’s body before he stands up and storms out of the room, slamming the door so hard the wall shakes.

Once he’s gone, the room is silent for several seconds before I finally speak.

“So, last night, all of that actually happened?”

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