Page 102 of Toy No More

The images of that guy getting killed in this very room rush through my mind. That and the paralyzing waves of fear and terror.

Fear of dying. Fear of never seeing Skyler or Marci.

A dark voice inside my head booms as loud as my pounding heart, telling me the feds won’t get here in time.They’re not here. No one will save me.

“Suppose I have no one to blame but me,” he mutters and finally moves his foot away. I cry out in relief, even knowing he’s nowhere near done. “It was a mistake, letting someone who lies and sneaks around with what’s fucking mine stay. I see that now. Life’s all about learning, ey?”

I have no one else to blame but me, either. I underestimated Jasper’s paranoia.

“I thought you weren’t a threat.” He bends down to me again, the intensity of his pheromones making my stomach clench. I hardly hold myself on my knees but still raise my head to him.

If I’m about to die…fuck!

ButIf I am, I won’t die a coward.

Even with the injuries racking my body and my senses assaulted by that familiar, overwhelming scent, I look up at him. Undeniable rage smolders inside Jasper. A volcano ready to erupt.

He grabs at my shirt, pulling me up and pushing me backwards against the wall. As he does, the wires hidden underneath hitch and slip out. He must feel them under his grip. Darting his eyes to them in a momentary expression of surprise, it quickly changes to an enraged, bitter chuckle.

“Of course!” he screams, ripping them out, together with the small device. “Of course a fucking omega would go to the cops!” Letting out an animalistic growl, he punches me in the stomach so hard my vision goes black. He doesn’t let me crumble down again. Instead, he holds me up by the neck and uses something to press my head into the wall behind me.

Blinking slowly as I try to push through the pain, I notice it’s his golden gun. His finger releases the safety with a click and then hovers over the trigger, as if he’s barely containing himself from pressing it.

“How long have you been snitching, huh? How long?!” he screams in my face, all of that icy composure completely lost. Those pungent pheromones burn my lungs. They bear down on me almost as firmly as his body and that cold, metal mouth of his gun. “You disgusting, pathetic, bottom-feeding lowlife!” He presses it into my forehead so hard it feels like he’s trying to pop my skull with it.

Some deep, illogical part of me surfaces, forcing me to let out a chuckle.

I have nothing to lose now. It’s over. What’s the fucking point?

“I’d rather be a snitch…than a paranoid psychopath obsessed with power,” I mutter through my clenched teeth. My voice trembles, but I put all my anger into those words, and it’s enough.

Jasper widens his eyes, taken aback by my defiance.

Or so I thought. Because with a blink, that emotion is erased, and a maniacal laughter comes out of Jasper instead. Pulling the gun away from me only to be able to punch me again, he keeps laughing as I fall to the ground.

He might have just dislocated my jaw.

“Andthatis your mistake!” he sounds over me, voice loud as a booming storm. “You could never understand. People like you…you’re not even worthy of being called a human,” he says, snorting over that statement. “You are vermin. A weak little mouse, lost in a maze.”

My vision blurs—hard to say if from pain or the damage he did—but I see him getting ready to kick me again. I prepare myself for more agony, tensing my aching muscles and shutting my eyes, but a knock on the door prevents that hurt from manifesting.For now.

There’s a momentary sense of relief. A quick, naïve thought telling me that maybe someone’s coming to save me. But then I realize that…the feds wouldn’t knock.

Spitting at me as he walks by, Jasper heads for the door. I try to get up on my knees, but everything spins. I feel floaty. The physical pain drags my body down like a ton of bricks, while my head…my thoughts…they won’t stay still enough for me to fully grasp them.

Someone opens. I hear voices, but they’re mumbled.

Fuck…am I going to pass out?No, no, no, stay with it.

Stay with it, Kobe.

Two sets of steps come back into the room. The door closes and the lock clicks. I blink slowly, trying to focus my vision. Focus my vision on the terrified Apollo standing there next to Jasper, who holds him tightly around the waist.

A new kind of terror rising in my chest.

He widens his eyes at me, turning completely white in the face. “Wh—” Jasper’s tightening grip on him silences him.

He knows.He knows I fucked up, that this is all my fault, and that makes my eyes burn with tears of regret instantly. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to be dragged into this!

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