"You sorry bitch." She reached for her back and I tackled her, knocking her to the ground as she screamed. I had to wrestle the gun from her hand and it went off twice before Erik walked in calmly.
"Stealth would be nice." He leaned against the wall.
"Shut up." I reached down and wrapped my hands around her throat. "You sorry bitch. Killing my brother and then you try and take Nate from me?"
"He'll never belong to you." She laughed as I tightened my hands around her throat.
"I could shoot her for you," Erik offered.
"I need to do this." I felt something inside me break. She was right. Nate wasn't ever going to be mine because of what happened. The light in his eyes died that night as if he'd truly become the monster the drug made him think he was. "I hate you so much. I hope hell welcomes you with torture beyond anything you can imagine."
"Jenna. Killing someone will change you. Let me do this." Erik pulled out his gun and moved to stand beside us as I tightened my hands as much as I could and banged her head on the ground a few times, screaming at nothing. At everything. "Jenna."
"Back the fuck off." I glanced up at him and lifted up to press my full weight on her throat.
She scratched and clawed at me, but I couldn't force myself to back up. Erik should have killed her. He was the murderer, not me.
"Please. Please, Jenna. I didn't know. It was all him. It was all Nate. Check it out," Ashley whispered roughly as her face turned a sickening shade of blue.
"I don't care who it was. You're dying for it." I dug my nails into her neck and arched my back, wanting to hear her choke out more than I wanted my next breath. "I hate you. Sick bitch."
"Jenna." Erik touched my shoulder and I jerked my head up.
"I'll kill you next if you don't back the fuck up."
“No, you won’t.” He pushed at my shoulder and knocked me back before firing his weapon twice.
“Why?” I scrambled to my knees.
“Because… someone was paying me something far more than a few favors to get it done, and that someone isn’t you, baby doll.” He winked and offered me his hand.
“What? Who?” I glanced down at Ashley’s bloody face and turned my back to her as a cry lodged in my throat. “I almost killed someone. They’re going to find her and they’ll have my prints all over her throat. What am I-”
"Never. I've been watching over Nate for twenty-six years. You belong to him as far as I'm concerned, which means you have my protection too. Go get in the car and I'll burn this place down. No one will ever know."
I looked up at him. "I'll know."
"Yeah, so live with it. We all do.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead. "Nate would get rock hard over this. Get in the car. Now."
His voice was nothing more than an echo in my head as I stumbled out of the house and walked toward the car. The door slammed and I turned in time to watch him jog toward me as the house exploded into a million pieces. The force of it threw me to the ground, but I was in Erik's arms a few minutes later, struggling to keep consciousness.
Too much. It was all too much, and the one person I needed to help bring me through all of it wasn't available to me, nor would he ever be again.
Nate.
