Page 55 of Deadly Little Hearts

Three figures come out from the tree line over the tracks.The closer they get, the harder my heart pumps in my chest.Kai leads, a cigarette hanging from his lips, the flame casting light around his sharp jawline.He stares right through me, like I don’t even exist, and damn, that hurts more than getting burned.

Bear and Zion stand next to him.Bear flicks his knife in and out with his fingers while watching me with a blank expression.He gives me nothing, but that’s not completely new.Bear always holds his feelings close to his chest—hell, if he even has any.All the time I’ve known him, he’s never opened up about anything.Nothing ever fazes him—he’s deadly like that.He’s someone I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of.

Zion looks at Amirah, Mia, then finally he stops at me.The corner of his mouth lifts slightly, but his smile is gone just as quickly.

“What do you want?”Kai asks, putting out his cigarette.

I take a step forward, praying that he’ll look at me.“Kai let me explain—”

He grabs a gun from the front of his jeans, holding it in his grip.

My stomach drops.He would never hurt me.

“You chose them, Freya,” Kai says, his voice full of anger.

“No, I didn’t!”I yell, taking a step over the tracks.

Amirah reaches for me, but I step out of her way.Kai’s grip tightens on his gun, his knuckles turning white.Bear and Zion don’t move.

“I love them, and I won’t apologize for that.I want to be with them, and if you think that means I’ve chosen them, then that’s on you.Not me,” I say, moving closer until I’m halfway over the tracks.

My lungs burn from the smoke lingering in the air.I should be afraid, but I know Kai would never hurt me, even if he hates me.

“We always have a choice.I asked you to choose whose side you’re on, and you did.You made your bed, and now you’ll lie in it,” Kai says, moving forward until he’s only an arm’s length away.

He finally looks at me, though it’s as if he’s a different person.Tears prick behind my eyes.

“You’re not welcome in Daringhood anymore.You’re one of them now.”He points toward Amirah, and she stays frozen to the spot with her phone in her hand.“An enemy to us.”

“Kai, please, it doesn’t have to be this way.You’re like a brother to me.Please, don’t do this.We can work this out,” I beg, stepping closer.

He points his gun at my chest, and I step into it.Fear courses through my body.I’m hyperaware of each breath, each movement—but I have to trust he won’t do this.He won’t hurt me.

“I’m still with you,” I repeat, praying that he won’t actually pull the trigger, but I can’t leave now because I need to know he doesn’t really hate me, that there’s hope for us yet.

Kai is stubborn as shit, and when he’s decided something, like thinking I’ve betrayed him, then that’s it.His mind is made up, and it takes some serious convincing to tell him otherwise.But I won’t stop fighting for him, for our friendship.If he walks away, it’ll be like I’ve lost two brothers these past few months, and I can’t handle that pain.

Kai’s dark-brown eyes glare into mine.I can see the war he’s fighting from within—the voices telling him to do it and not to at the same time.

“My fight isn’t with you—it’s with them—but now you’re caught in the middle.I can’t protect you if you’re with them,” Kai says, his eyes softening slightly, and my shoulders relax.

He won’t hurt me.He’s pissed off but still cares, and I’ll take that.If there’s one thing Kai and my guys have in common, it’s that they want to protect me from themselves and each other.

“Can’t we settle this between us all?We don’t need a war,” I plead.

Kai takes a couple of steps back, placing his gun into the front of his jeans.“It’s too late for that.They had their chance, and they blew it when they blamed us for the town hall.Something we didn’t do,” Kai explains.

“So you just blew up this?”Amirah says, stepping up next to me and looking around at the destruction.

Kai casts his gaze up and down her body.He pulls out a cigarette from his pocket, and the sparks from his lighter fill the dark night.He inhales, then exhales a cloud of smoke.

“Tell your brother we’ve got more than just bombs up our sleeves,” Kai says, and Amirah shuffles next to me.

“Men, you’re all the same.Measuring how big your weapons are.”She huffs before checking her phone again.“Uhhh, Freya, we should go.They are blowing up my phone, wondering where we are.”Amirah shoves her phone back into her pocket.

Bear chuckles.“Time to go, princess.Your kings await you.”

I open my mouth to reply, but Amirah pulls me away.Kai turns around, walking off in the opposite direction.Part of me wants to run over the tracks and be with them, to settle this and make them see reason, but the other part understands that now isn’t the time or place.I won’t watch my best friend fight my boyfriends.It’s going to be a bloodbath—one I don’t want to be in the middle of but already am.

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