Page 15 of Careless
I ran down the path, searching for the group of trees that she said she’d hidden in, but it was dark and everything looked the same. Fuck. I was going to have to have her make a noise, but I had no idea where this douchebag was.
“Callum, is that you?”
I paused where I was, searching, but I couldn’t find her.
“There you are!” a voice growled on the line, and I ran. Full speed.
I didn’t know what the hell I would come upon, but I knew if that kid touched her, I’d end him. I wouldn’t care that it would be my father’s hands once again beating someone to near death. I’d do it.
Nobody touched Felicity.
Felicity screamed, and there was a sound of skin against skin as somebody slapped another person, and I had to hope she was fighting.
I couldn’t think about anything else.
I turned the corner and finally caught sight of the two of them. Felicity kicked out and ran as the guy chased after her. I moved quickly, heart thudding.
The moonlight danced over her skin as she ran barefoot. Her face was pale.
“Whore!” the kid called behind her.
She ran past me, skidding to a stop, but I kept moving toward the kid who only had a few moments left to breathe. I’d kill him.
“Fucking bitch,” the kid snarled before glaring at me. “She’s a tease. Calling her daddy out to save her? What the fuck. She was asking for it, man.”
My fist connected with the kid’s nose, the crunching sound satisfying. Of course, it looked as if Felicity had already broken it before I got to it, and when the kid wailed, I didn’t care. I just hit him again.
“You little bastard. You put your hands on her. You’re lucky I don’t kill you.” Another fist to the jaw. The kid tried to kick back, but I pinned him to the ground.
“My father’s going to end you.” Funny thing to say through the blood pouring from his mouth.
I snarled, leaning over him. “Your father can try, but if I bury your body right now, nobody’s going to miss you.”
Finally, alarm hit his eyes, and I spread my hand around the kid’s throat. For a moment, it looked like my father’s hands on my throat, a flash of memory, the feel of strength around my neck as I tried to gasp for breath. That burning in my lungs when I nearly passed out.
But no, this wasn’t then. No, this was a little boy who had wanted to have something he couldn’t. To forcibly take it.
“Do you want me to end you?”
“No, no,” he rasped.
A hand on my shoulder, and I froze.
“I’m okay, don’t kill him.”
I swallowed hard, trying to find some semblance of control. “You like this kid enough for him to live?”
She squeezed my shoulder again. “I don’t want you to get in trouble. He’s worthless. I’m fine.”
I caught a quick glance at her face, the paleness there, the sight of blood on her lip. Then, looked down at her feet—torn up and bloody from running in the forest barefoot. I turned back to the little creep. “You come at her again, you touch her again, you even think about her again, I’ll kill you.”
And that wasn’t an empty threat. I’d do it.
“You’re insane. Both of you are insane. It was just a little ass. What the hell’s wrong with you?”
I squeezed a little harder around his neck, and the kid finally seemed to get it.
“Callum.”
