Page 36 of Savage
“Like killing people?”
“Sometimes,” I answered.
Sayge didn’t seem bothered by that fact; he rested his head in his hands as he stared forward.
“Us knowing things is going to get us killed?”
I gritted my teeth. “I’d end anyone before they got to you.”
“You’re weird. You know that, right?”
Was I?Ken and the guys always said I was off, but I never understood what that meant. I was just like anyone else, except where others found joy in reading a book, I found it in torturing screams out people.
“But I like that about you,” Sayge said. He sank back down in the seat. I didn’t want to stop talking to him, but I could see he was tired. They all were.
My phone rang, and I picked it up.
“What?” I was still pissed, but Ken had called over ten times. He wouldn’t do that unless he had something important to tell me.
“Found the guy who set the building on fire. Also, the bag of cash. Good thing you placed a tracker in it,” Ken said.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes, a few bruises, but we wouldn’t take this from you.” Ken cleared his throat. “I’ll have him set up in the cellar.”
“Stay with him until I come down.”
I hung up, wanting nothing more than to return. I’d make sure his death was painful, and he felt my boys’ sorrow ten times over.
ChapterEleven
DAR
Everything was alwaysover before it ever started. My life was an endless wheel of misfortune. I was born into life at the bottom and doomed to stay there. To die behind some back alley trash can like my father.
I always thought I’d make it out, break free of the curse, and for a short while, it happened. It wasn’t luxurious, to say the least, but it was ours. I had a roof over my head and food. More than I had growing up. Yet, now everything we had, our memories, were gone, burned to ashes.
Anger simmered under the surface, but Calvin was right. How in the hell could I fight the universe? It wasn’t possible, and it only made me angrier. I wanted someone to blame, someone to take this anger out on. It was too much to handle and hold in.
Pinpricks stung the back of my eyes as I fought with my tears. I wasn’t fucking sad, not for a second. I was livid. We were teens when Calvin had agreed to run off with Sayge and me. We’d set off with stars in our eyes of a better life than our home, and in many ways, it had been. I had two people who gave a damn about me. And when one of us struggled, the other was right there to help. Struggling was impossible to avoid when we had to ensure we stayed hidden. However, we kept moving forward with the picture of finding happiness and finally no longer struggling. That hadn’t happened yet.
Before I knew it, we were no longer moving. I forced my eyes open and met Sayge’s. He was staring at me intently, worrying his plump bottom lip. I didn’t know what to say or even if there was anything I could say. I glanced over at Calvin, and he was very much the same as he’d been in the alley.Was this what finally broke us?
My hands throbbed, and my feet were no better. I wanted to take my shoes off but even forming a fist burned like hell.
The car door opened, and Elio’s face came into view.Why in the fuck had he come for us?I suspected Sayge had something to do with it, but that wasn’t reason enough for a man we had a one-night stand with to come and grab us at our lowest.
My head hurt, and I knew no matter how hard I thought about it, I wouldn’t come up with an answer that made any sense.
“Come on,” Elio said. His deep voice blanketed me and coaxed me into a net of safety I knew was false but couldn’t help but fall into.
I pushed myself up and sucked in a breath through gritted teeth as my hands protested. Pale fingers came into my line of sight and reached out for me. Sayge’s cool fingers wrapped around my wrist, and I lifted my head to stare into his dark eyes.
He gave me a faint smile. I knew I owed him an apology. I’d lost my temper, and the last thing I wanted to do was get angry with them.
“I—”
Sayge surged forward and pressed his lips to mine in a chaste kiss. “Let’s just go in.”
