Page 14 of Pucked Around and Found Out

The last words hang in the air like a grenade with the pin pulled.

She didn't just say that.

She didn't just⁠—

“I don't love you,” I snarl, pressing the blade harder. Another drop of blood. “I hate you.”

“I know.” Her smile is devastating in its sadness. “But I love you anyway. And I'm so sorry, Xaden. I'm sorry about Em. I'm sorry about Neave and Miles.”

Tears are streaming down her face now but her voice never wavers.

“So if killing me is what you need to find peace, then do it. I won't fight you. I won't run. I'll give you this if it's the only thing I can give you that matters.”

The scalpel clatters to the floor.

I didn't mean to drop it. Didn't consciously make that choice.

But suddenly it's on the concrete and my hands are empty and the girl who just offered me her life like it's nothing is staring up at me with shock plastered across her face.

Like she's nothing.

“You stupid—” My voice cracks. “You stupid fucking⁠—”

I can't finish. Can't force the words past the tightness in my throat.

Because she's not nothing.

And that realization is more terrifying than any violence I could inflict.

“Incoming, we have ten maybe more cops heading this way fast, we need to go, boss,” one of my soldiers calls out, pulling me from my fucking turmoil. The sound of sirens reaches my ears and I know we have minutes to get the fuck out of here. I know whoever these fucking assholes are, they aren’t on my payroll. It has to be that cunt Meekan’s guys, they are the only ones who would dare come to my turf and interrupt me.

“Get them out of here,” I rasp to Cas.

“Xaden, there’s no time, you can hear the sirens.” His reply pisses me off, I know he’s right but I’m not thinking straight right now. He grabs my arm and tries to drag me away from her but I don’t budge, I stare down at her and sneer.

“This isn’t over, Tink,” I vow.

“Till death do us part, Devlin.” I hear her call out as I walk away and I pause, grab the gun from my waistband then whirl around and fire a shot.

CHAPTER SEVEN

TOREN

The scream lodges in my throat like broken glass.

Masen's cry of agony ricochets off the concrete walls, bouncing back at us in sickening echoes. His shirt was already soaked with blood from the beating, but now it's being drenched by the bullet hole in his chest—dark red spreading like a blooming flower across the fabric.

The instant the warehouse empties, Xaden and his men have vanished like smoke. I release the breath I didn't know I was holding. It comes out shaky and broken.

The sirens are drawing closer, their wails cutting through the night, and I'm not sure if I'm relieved the cops are coming or terrified of what happens next.

He was about to break.

I saw it in his eyes, that moment of hesitation when the scalpel clattered to the floor. When he couldn't do it. Couldn't kill me.

Xaden Devlin isn't the type of man to hesitate.

But he did.