Page 66 of Ruin Me
Callum lunges, using the moment to launch himself onto Adam’s back, locking his forearmaround his throat. “You won’t keep us from her,” he snarls into Adam’s ear.
Adam bucks wildly, trying to throw Callum off, but my brother holds on with a death grip.
Suddenly, the realisation hits me like a punch to the gut: we’re not going to outmuscle this guy. We’ve got to be smarter, more cunning.
“Back the fuck up!” I shout, gesturing for Callum, Harry and Thayer to retreat as I grip another knife hidden in my jacket.
“Got a plan?” Thayer grunts, his forehead drenched in sweat.
“Bleed him out,” I say with a lethal calmness creeping into my voice.
We start circling Adam, who’s now working the throwing star out of his shoulder with gritted teeth. Blood coats his fingers, a vivid red that spells opportunity.
Callum gives me a nod, and I know he’s ready for whatever insanity I have in mind.
“Keep him busy,” I murmur, and my twin understands instantly, baiting Adam with swift dodges and feints.
Thayer and Harry use the distraction. They’re in sync, moving like shadows on either side of Adam, slashing at his legs and arms whenever they find an opening. Blood trickles down from fresh wounds, staining the ground beneath us. Both his and ours. Adam slams his fist in Harry’s gut, knocking the wind out of him, gasping and wheezing for breath as he hits the deck hard.
Adam and I lock gazes as he takes out Thayer with a swipe of his other fist.
“You won’t stop me,” I say, shaking my head. “You can try; you can knife me, shoot me, bash my head into the ground, but you won’t stop me. She means more to me than any other fucker on this fucked-up planet, so do what you have to, but I’m going through you.”
He narrows his eyes, and for one tiny second, I think he’s going to stand down.
Boy, was I wrong.
If anything, he doubles down, launching his gigantic self at me, body slamming me to the ground, and everything goes fuzzy and then black for a moment before the world rushes back around me, my breath squeezed from my lungs by the mammoth on top of me, grinning at me like a crazy fucking psycho.
Just as my vision starts to clear and I’m drawing in sharp gasps of air, a figure barrels into Adam, knocking him off balance. It’s Callum, face a mask of raging determination. He lands a heavy punch to Adam’s jaw that actually makes the monster roll off me.
“Get off him,” Callum roars, voice dripping with venom I’ve never heard before. “No one fucking hurts him. Not ever again.”
Shocked to my core at the ferocity in Cal’s words, I roll to my side, coughing and pushing myself up. My head spins like I’ve been on a bender for a week straight. But I can’t rest, not yet. Vogue’s still indanger, and this motherfucker is still between us and her.
He’s on his feet already, circling us like a gigantic fucking monster ready to eat us whole.
Harry’s back on his feet now, albeit shakily, joining the standoff with renewed fury. Adam’s bleeding from various cuts and grazes now, his breaths coming in ragged pants - but it only seems to make him fight harder.
“Thayer!” I shout over the chaos. “Help Harry!”
I look over just in time to see Thayer pull himself up using the crate, his eyes blazing with an almost feral intensity. He lunges forward, helping Harry distract Adam from the front.
I grip my knife tighter and flank around to Adam’s blind side. With every ounce of strength left in me, I drive the knife into his side.
Adam roars, the sound vibrating through the concrete beneath us. For a brief second, I fear we’ve only made things worse as he swats Harry and Thayer away like annoying flies.
“You’re a fucking dick!” I shout at him. “Why won’t you go down?”
“This is pointless,” Harry pants.
“No!” I roar, pointing at him. “No.”
Bending over, I take a second for a breather, and then I dive at Adam, ready to end this.
35
VOGUE
