Page 55 of Stalk

Now. Do it now while he’s preoccupied.

Fuck.

I tighten my grip on the shard of glass, cutting the meaty part of my fingers in the process.

Be swift. Don’t miss.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

I raise my hand to be level with the water. Anthony’s tongue moves against mine and it’s too wet. Too hot.

One… two… three…

My arm shoots out of the water, making a small wave. With as much force as I can muster, I stab Anthony in the side of his neck, aiming for the carotid artery. My hands are restrained in a flash, and I lose the shard of glass almost instantly. Anthony is no longer kissing or licking me. Instead, he takes my lower lip between his teeth and bites until my tongue is layered with coppery blood.

Then, I am being forced down, underneath the rolling water. Anthony’s hands are strong as he pushes me by the top of my head and my shoulder.

Down, down, down.

I guess it’s safe to say I didn’t hit the carotid artery.

Defeated, I surrender immediately to the hot water.

CHAPTER 22

Mattia

Iwant to scream out from where I’m hiding behind the privacy bushes. I was trying my hardest not to intervene—to give Ren the chance to take care of this scumbag by themselves. For a second there, I thought they would pull it off, but Ren didn’t use enough force when they tried to pierce the creepy asshole’s carotid artery.

I’ve been in the shadows long enough now.

The smart thing to do would be to grab my gun from its holster and shoot the playboy motherfucker in the back of the head. But my rage controls me, and I want to have some fun with this nasty bastard before I remove him from this world.

Scumbag holds Ren under the water, and Ren doesn’t even fight him.God damn it, Ren!They can be so fuckingstupidsometimes.Whatever. I’ll berate them later, after I save their ass. I step out from the bushes, steady and quiet, careful not to step on a twig or something else that could blow my cover. Once I’m fully in the scumbag’s line of sight, I rush at him. Luckily, he’s so preoccupied with trying to drown Ren that he doesn’t notice me until the last second.

“What the?—”

Asshat doesn’t have a chance to finish his sentence before I pull him back by his stupid, shoulder-length golden hair. I yank him over the side of the hot tub and then drag him down to the hard floor below. He grabs at my ankles, but fury and hatred fuels my body, and I break away from his hands as though I have the strength of ten men.

“What the fuck are you doi?—”

Using all of my strength, I stomp on his nose. He screams out in pain. Quickly, I glance up at the hot tub to make sure Ren has resurfaced. They have, which is good. Because if they’d already drowned, I was going to beat them up a bit while conducting CPR, just to piss them off. They lean over the side of the tub, panting.

The stupid motherfucker on the ground is still shouting.

“Shut up,stronzo.”

He rolls to his side and attempts to get up, but before he can do so, I stomp down on him again, this time in the middle of his back. I wish I was wearing my steel toed boots, but alas, they are back in Venice.

For some added pleasure, I decide to waterboard him. I am not sure it’s worth the extra effort, but I also don’t care. I pick the scumbag back up by his arms and throw him toward the water. He falls, but catches himself on the edge, avoiding the water entirely. That’s okay, though. I grip him by the nape of his neck and dunk him.

Once he’s under, I glance at Ren. “Really? You couldn’t put up a fight?” I can’t help but berate them.

Ren’s eyes fill with tears.God damn it.“I–I’m sorry.”

I need a cigarette. I want to say more things to him, but asswipe has stopped flailing, and I’m not letting him go the easy way. “Talk later.”

Before letting the man go, I hold out my arm to Ren. “Get me my knife.”

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