Текст книги "Retribution"
Автор книги: Sienna Valentine
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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 13 страниц)
~ THIRTEEN ~
Will had never felt frozen like he did now. The weight of the handgun hung at the end of his arm, heavy and unsatisfied. He watched those motherfuckers stumble out the door, all four of them still breathing, still in one piece. Their blood on his blade wasn’t enough. They owed him life.
If anyone had asked Will what he felt in that moment, he would have told them he was too angry to move. He didn’t realize that was possible, or what it could even feel like, but he knew now. He knew he was a nuclear reactor on the verge of a meltdown, and if he even so much as stepped a foot toward Eva in that moment, he would explode and send them all into oblivion.
The thought came with a second emotion: fear.
His eyes felt heavy and he let them close as he focused on steadying his breath. From outside he could hear the men pile sloppily into their SUV, doors slamming shut one at a time. A moment later the vehicle revved to life and quickly sped away, throwing rocks and gravel against the bar. He heard Charlie’s exasperated breath release in a great huff, and the thunking sound when the barrel of the shotgun knocked against the bar. And he heard Eva’s ragged, teary breathing at the edge of it all.
Her voice echoed in his mind. “Anger’s my meat; I sup upon myself, and so shall starve with feeding.”
It was from Coriolanus. One of the many beautiful lines given to Volumnia, the soldier’s mother, a character Will found so strong; and one Eva rightly pointed out was as poisoned with rage as her son.
In that moment, standing over the man on the floor, Will had been fully prepared—eager—to end his life. All he could hear was the raging of the fire that took the bakery wailing in his ears, the greedy consuming sound of heat and death that haunted his nightmares. Somehow he could feel the heat on his skin like it was happening again, pulsing like a living thing, singeing the hair off his arms. And something deep in his brain told him all he had to do to put the fire out was pull the trigger. Pull the trigger, dig four graves in the meadow out back, and everything would be fine. It would be over. You would have your retribution.
But Eva burst through the fire in his mind like a phoenix, an unexpected invader he had no defense against. For the first time in a long time, Will had hesitated. He listened, like he was under a spell. He heard her over the fire, reciting Coriolanus to him, both a daydream and a distant memory come together to stop him.
Her voice was like a flashover, a rush of oxygen deliberately pushed into a fire to make it burn out quickly. Suddenly the fire was gone, and Will stood there, cold, wondering.
He didn’t remember telling them to leave. He was just suddenly aware of the weight of his unused handgun in his palm, and of the dark anger that started bubbling up in his gut.
You should have fucking killed them. You piece of shit coward. You should have killed them. You might never have a chance like that again. What about vengeance?
Will heard his name on the edge of his consciousness. He turned and saw Eva taking soft steps toward him in bare feet, her eyes wide and scared.
“Get away from me,” he growled.
Eva stopped and straightened. “Will…”
“Get away,” he said, turning from her. “I told you to stay in the fucking office.”
“Will, I…”
“You should have stayed in the office!” he yelled.
Charlie came out from behind the bar and behind Eva, putting his hands on her shoulders. His face was still a wide-eyed moon of shock. “Eva, c’mon.” He pulled on her gently. She fought him for a moment as she stared at Will, her mouth hanging open, wondering, asking without saying a word. Finally she let Charlie turn her away and lead her through the bar and out the back door.
Will dropped his head and closed his eyes. Fumbling, he put his handgun on the nearest upright table and rubbed his hands roughly over his face, tugging at his own hair, trying to get his body and his mind to reconnect with each other. He felt wetness on his cheeks and realized his eyes were leaking what must be stress tears, a byproduct of the chemical overload rushing through his brain.
You’re also a human, said some part of his mind.
He leaned hard on the table and hung his head. There was too much adrenaline in his veins to sit, but too little to actually hold him up straight.
He stood, propped against the table in a numb haze until Charlie came back in from outside without Eva. He came up to Will, but kept more distance than he usually did, and it did not go unnoticed. “That was…” said Charlie, trailing off.
Will sighed heavily. “That was a disaster.”
“A disaster?” said Charlie. He put one hand on his hips and ran the other one roughly through his brown hair. “Shit, we’re all still alive. I was going to say I can’t believe that worked. When you wanted me ready with that shotgun, I was… I thought for sure I was gonna have to watch someone die today.”
“You should’ve watched all of them die today,” said Will.
A look of quiet horror descended on Charlie’s face. “What?”
“I told Eva to stay in the office. I didn’t want her near this for a reason. I shouldn’t have hesitated. Now they’ll regroup and strike back harder. They’ll bring guns this time. They won’t make that mistake again.”
When he heard no response, Will looked up and saw an expression that said Charlie doubted him. He pushed himself up straight and took a few steps forward.
“So what are you suggesting?” Charlie asked when Will stopped in front of him.
Will thought a moment. “We have to hit them first.”
“What?”
“It’s our only choice,” said Will. Even as he said it, he didn’t fully believe himself, but the words kept pouring out of his mouth anyway. “They won’t see it coming, not now. We gather up a tactical arsenal and strike out at them first—get them to understand what’s going to keep happening if they don’t back off.”
“Christ,” said Charlie in a whisper. He looked behind him, as if making sure Eva wasn’t listening. “Will, you can’t be serious! I’m a fucking handyman, I’m not a soldier. I’d get my ass killed in a heartbeat!”
“I won’t let that happen,” said Will. “I’ll give you the training you need.”
Charlie shook his head and started shifting from foot to foot. “No, man, no… I don’t… I don’t like this.”
“Give me time to get the plan together,” said Will. “You’ll feel better when you can see it. This has to happen, Charlie. I have to protect her.”
“Protect her?” said Charlie.
Will froze, blinking. He hadn’t realized he’d said that. “I have to protect Eva.”
Charlie fell silent and looked hard at Will. He looked very much like he wanted to argue, but didn’t have the words, or the balls, to do it. Whatever the reason is fine with me, just keep your mouth shut.
“Might as well clean up the blood on the floor and open up for the day,” said Will as he swiped his handgun off the table and stuffed it into the holster under his shirt. He walked around Charlie. “They won’t be back for a while.”
Behind him, he could hear Charlie talking to himself, incredulous, shifting around in discomfort. Will didn’t care. He had another issue to attend to. He stalked out the back door and out into the meadow to look for Eva.
~ FOURTEEN ~
Eva sat in the cool shade of the forest meadow and absently picked flowers. She could hear Charlie’s and Will’s loud voices from the open back door of the bar. In her mind, the fight echoed and replayed over and over, like it was on a broken feedback loop. The whole thing couldn’t have lasted two minutes, and yet Eva felt ten years older than she had when it began, and in her head everything played in slow motion.
She could still see Will standing there, hovering over the unconscious man on the floor, the man he had already defeated. Among the books she had devoured in her life, Eva had read many from the great warriors and generals of history, including the fictional ones. She couldn’t remember a single honorable warrior who brought death to an enemy he had already defeated. It was a scorched-earth policy, the actions of a man full of rage, not of a cunning warrior only looking for victory. It was desperate.
Eva knew from the second she saw him that Will was dangerous, and now she had seen it first-hand on more than one occasion. He wanted so badly to kill that man—to kill all of them.
But he didn’t, said a voice in her head. He gave injuries that heal. Shallow cuts. Broken bones. Eva winced as the sound of that man’s arm cracking days before echoed in her mind. Up until that moment, he has gone out of his way not to kill anybody.
Will, the enigma. The warrior poet. Eva felt her heart twisting and breaking, trying to wind around the reality of him. Underneath her confusion was a sincere relief that she hadn’t had to watch anyone die today—not just her brother, or Will, but anyone. She wasn’t fierce like the heroines in her books, or like Will himself was. She didn’t want to watch someone die. And she didn’t want to watch someone kill.
Suddenly the forest wind was chilly rather than comforting on her skin. Eva picked herself up from the meadow and brushed off her dress, and then wandered back toward the house, away from the bar. She scuffled inside slowly and into her room, dropping down heavy on the edge of the mattress.
A few minutes must have gone by as she sat there, lost in the quiet, staring at the curtains in the breeze, because she went from hearing nothing but the leaves rustling in the trees to hearing the sharp rap of knuckles on the half-open door of her bedroom.
It startled her to find Will standing in the doorway. She swallowed and gave him a deep once-over, uninterested in interacting with the growling animal that had pushed her out of the bar. But something was soft and numb about him. Which Will is this?
“May I come in?” he said.
Eva didn’t answer. She lowered her head and stared at the hands fidgeting in her lap. Will waited a few polite seconds before he stepped inside anyway and sat on the bed next to her.
When his voice came out, it was that same honey-sweet quiet baritone she loved. “Are you all right?”
Eva rubbed her eyes. “Yes. I’m not hurt.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
She let out an exasperated huff, a nervous half-laugh. “Well, then no, I’m not all right. I just watched you kick the shit out of men and almost kill one of them, so…”
“I didn’t want you to see that, Eva. I asked you—”
“I know, I know. ‘Stay in the office. Eva, just do what you’re told and everything will work out fine,’ ” she said, the words spilling out of her mouth before she could stop them. “I’m sick of hearing that. I’m sick of being a bystander in my own life. And if I had stayed in the office, you would have blown that guy away, right? So if you ask me, Will, it’s a damn good thing I didn’t listen to you.”
When she finished, she instantly felt lighter at getting those words out, yet still nervous as she waited for a reaction. Will fell quiet for a moment, and the room filled with the sound of her own nervous breathing and tears. When did I start crying?
Will reached over and wrapped one of his hands around both of hers. He squeezed them tightly until her anxious fidgeting stopped. The warmth of his hands against her skin was so enveloping that Eva let out a tired little groan under her breath at the sensation. Angry as she was, she couldn’t stop herself from clinging back, twisting her fingers in his.
“Why did you do that?” she asked in a teary whisper.
Will leaned until his head rested on top of hers. He said, “I have to protect you.”
Eva turned and made him look into her eyes. “You did protect me. You have every step. And you haven’t had to kill anybody yet to do it. There’s no reason to start now.”
“They’ll keep coming, Eva,” he said, his voice breaking. “They’ll keep coming, and I can’t let you die.” He dropped his forehead onto hers.
They grasped each other’s hands as if some unseen force would otherwise pull them apart. Eva felt an inexplicable and overwhelming rush of emotion crash into her as the sensation of Will’s touch pulsed against her stimulated skin.
“I don’t want you to die,” she said. “You’re running headfirst into battle with no armor, Will, don’t you see that? I know we just met, but I know this isn’t you. I know you’re a smarter warrior than this… this suicidal berserker that you are now.”
Will surprised her by giving her an enormous grin. “Of course you know what a berserker is.” He pulled one of his hands up to run through her hair and caress the side of her face. His touch made her feel electric, alive, and Eva nuzzled the side of her face into his palm. “Because you’re an incredible fucking woman that has no business understanding my world.”
Eva met his eyes, firm and sure. “If I haven’t shown you this already, Will, let me tell you again: you don’t get to control me. Not what I know, not what I understand, and not what I do.”
The tension between them quickly shifted to the most heated, sexual charge Eva had ever experienced. Will stared at her face, at her lips, hands clutching the side of her head as if he was trying to stop himself. But the fire built in his eyes and in a heartbeat his lips were against hers, devouring them hungrily.
Eva threw herself into his embrace, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and pulling him as close as she could get him. She moaned into his mouth as Will put his arms around her waist and pulled her even closer, lifting her up off the bed and into his arms. He held her hard against his lap for a few seconds as their tongues continued to wage their own battle for dominance, but then he threw her back onto the bed and crawled on top, both their legs dangling off the short end of the mattress.
Eva melted under the feel of his soft lips and the scratch of the scruff on his chin as he ran his mouth up and down her neck, across her collarbone, and down the small part of her chest that was exposed by the square-cut dress she wore. Her fingers slid through his hair, tightening their grip as one of his own grasped at her breast. His name escaped her lips softly and repeatedly as she felt his other one slide along her body until it passed the edge of her dress to land on the bare skin of her thigh. It didn’t pause for a moment before it dove right under the soft fabric until his palm landed straight against her panty covered pussy. His name turned into a moan of pleasure as his hand began to rub against her intensely.
Twisting under his expert touch, her mouth opened happily to suck in a finger he pressed against her lips. She smiled at the sound of his own groan when he felt her tongue swirl around his finger. As last time, nothing she did could take his focus away from what he was doing between his legs, though. He kept up his pressure with the other hand until she came, hard and screaming, wetness soaking the panties under his hand. Only once she came down from her bliss did Will gently strip the damp fabric from her legs, bending to take a few laps with his tongue before standing to undress himself.
Will pulled her to her feet with courtesy and told her to hold still while he ran a soft hand up her back, feeling for the zipper on her dress. He drew it down slowly, letting the fabric fall around her arms and off her like melted frosting. She stood before him fully exposed, and Will let out a soft sound of appreciation at the sight.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he said in a throaty whisper. He kissed her, lips swollen and red, just like her own. His strong hand held her jaw as they made out like teenagers, pressing his warm, naked flesh against hers. His pulsing erection slid between them and made her ache to be filled.
“I want you,” she whispered as he bit at the skin on her neck.
Will bit harder. “Tell me again.”
“I want you inside me now,” she said. “Please.”
Will covered her mouth with his own in a firm kiss, and then dipped her back down on the bed with careful arms, sliding her up and against him until she lay comfortably across the mattress. He bucked his hips against her as his legs slid between hers, positioning himself at her hot entrance. She knew he didn’t slip a condom on this time, but she didn’t care. The thought of feeling the bare skin of his cock slide into her, and the eruption of heat that would fill her at the end, only added to her excitement.
He pressed the head of his cock against her as his eyes shone down from above. “Tell me.”
“Fuck me, Will.”
He pushed inside of her in response, but only just. Eva writhed and tried to pull him further with her own hips, but he wouldn’t budge. Instead, he dipped his head to catch her lower lip into his mouth and sucked on it before repeating himself. “Tell me again.”
“Please fuck me, Will. I need your cock inside me so badly,” she begged, far too gone to disobey.
Will sighed with a smile and then answered with one firm thrust. His entire cock slid into her, and Eva wrapped her legs around his waist as she cried out in pure satisfaction. From the sounds of his dirty talk, Eva expected Will to give her another hard fuck, but he surprised her instead with his slow, deep thrusts. He took the time to inch his cock out of her nearly all the way before he pushed back in with firm pressure, not fast but hard, building them both to an intense orgasm. Will watched her face as he hovered over her, planting little kisses all along her jaw and neck, ending back over her lips. Her pale skin lit up underneath the insistence of his touch.
She was getting close, grasping at him and drawing her nails against his back as he smothered her with another kiss. She was almost breathless when he finally moved his lips again, and not just from the kiss. “I’m going to come.”
Will kept his face next to hers as he pumped a little faster, but still with that same deliberate thrust, all the way out, then back in. Eva’s feet curled around his waist, helping to drive him even deeper into her core. His mouth hovered over hers, both breathless and panting, lips swollen.
“Come for me, Eva,” said Will. He tangled a hand in her hair and used it to leverage his thrust, pushing deeper than ever. Eva screamed in pleasure at the feeling of his cock driving into her, but it was his tongue licking along the edges of her neck that sent her over the edge. She came hard on his cock, wave after wave of rapture rippling through her body. It was so strong, she almost didn’t notice Will reach his own hot finale. He pushed deep inside her pussy with a finally powerful thrust and held himself there as he came, holding her face hard against his as he filled her insides with the heat of his own essence.
“Eva,” he rasped.
She nuzzled up against his face. “Will.”
He gave her lips a peck and flashed his incredible half-grin. “I’m coming back in here tonight after your brother goes to bed, and I dare you to stop me.”
~ FIFTEEN ~
The following afternoon, Will poured himself a double-shot of whiskey, drank it down, then poured another. Bartender perk, he told himself. Charlie had asked him to stay and watch things so he could run into town on some errand, but he had not specified that Will was not allowed near the whiskey during the job. The place was empty, anyway.
Will was still riding the battle high from the day before, feeling stronger and better than he had felt in months. Hell, in years. Even though he had felt shitty at first when Eva stopped him from using lethal force, she had eased that wound endlessly with her eager hands and passionate kisses. Will felt virile, invincible around her, like he really was the prince in some fairytale come to save her. It made him ache for her when she wasn’t in the room.
Luckily, that didn’t happen very often. As if she heard his thoughts, Eva appeared from the back, wearing a beautiful, short, yellow sundress. Like it always did, the sight of the pale skin of her bare legs was enough to harden his cock almost instantly. Any other woman would have to strip down to nothing to get Will as aroused as Eva did in her normal wear. She was like a music box that only he held the key to, the touch and sight of her a special secret he felt lucky to have. That power turned him on more than a roomful of the hottest strippers.
Eva stood there, grinning at him with a goofy, self-effacing smile. She was watching him stare. “What’s gotten into you?” she asked.
He returned a half-grin of his own and let his gaze roam casually over her body before he sauntered forward to slide an arm around her waist. “I think the better question is, what can I get into you?”
Eva turned red, but her eyes and mouth said she was hungry. “You’re lucky there’s no one around to hear you talk so dirty.”
“I’m also lucky they’re not around to see me acting so dirty,” he responded as he leaned forward to steal a wet kiss. His other hand ran shamelessly up her right thigh, under her dress, caressing her ass with greedy touches. The little moan that came out of her mouth made his cock pulse, and he pulled her body against him so that she could feel what she did to him.
“Will…” she said in a breathless protest. Her eyelids fluttered and her chest rose with heavy breaths. “Someone could walk in…”
Will brought his hand up and held her face as he kissed her deeply, his tongue probing her mouth. She melted into the kiss and leaned back into him. He only finally pulled away from her mouth so that he could plant small kisses on the rest of her face and caress her swollen lips with his thumb.
The hand around her waist came back around front and swept underneath the skirt of her dress. Will’s fingers probed until he felt the silkiness of her panties, already wet under his touch. She gasped when he zeroed in immediately on her clit.
“Do you want me to stop?” he whispered against her lips.
Eva bucked her hips up to meet his touch and kissed him hungrily. “No,” she said in a whisper of her own.
Will smiled and kissed her again. He pulled his hand out from under her dress and turned her around, pressing her ass against the growing bulge in his jeans. Eva moaned and writhed against him as he pushed his hands over her body, squeezing her breasts and sucking on her neck. After a few moments, he roughly pushed her against the bar, leaning her forward over it.
Dropping to his knees, Will lifted the back of her dress and exposed her beautiful, pale ass, decked out in pink lace panties. Eva responded by gyrating her hips ever so slightly under his touch and gaze, whimpering as he kneaded her ass gently, one finger running slowly and teasingly along her slit. When he couldn’t wait any longer, Will carefully peeled her panties down over her ass until they reached her knees.
“Do you have any idea how incredible you taste?” said Will as he brought his face up to her pussy. His tongue made a few probing licks against her heated, swollen skin, and Eva writhed like she had been shocked. He smiled as she turned her head toward the front door, eyes wide for fear of it swinging open, yet still unwilling to stop him from his obvious plan. With a delicate touch, he teased her clit under his fingertips for a few seconds before lowering his mouth over her pussy.
“Oh, fuck,” he heard Eva say as she pushed her hips back to meet his tongue, driving him deeper into her. Her sweetness coated Will’s mouth and beard, his hands holding open her lips and ass to give him complete access to every inch of her. He pushed on her clit as he licked her and moaned against her lips when her legs began to shake from pleasure. Will didn’t let up even then, his tongue lashing her folds until a mighty orgasm overcame Eva. He drank the juices as she came on top of his face, listening as her hands grasping at the bar for support and her soft voice groaned his name.
A few more licks along her sensitive pussy and then he stood, bending over her to grab her head and forced her to lean back and meet his deep, passionate kiss. Still breathless from her orgasm, she returned it desperately. “That’s what you taste like,” he said, when he finally pulled away. He brought up his fingers and put them to her lips for good measure. Watching Eva pull them into her mouth and suck hard against them made his dick so hard it hurt.
Will leaned back enough to unbuckle his jeans and pull down his boxers. His hard cock sprung free, swollen with lust. Lifting the folds of Eva’s yellow dress again, he smiled to see her panties still wrapped around her knees like sexy. pink rope. Her pussy dripped, waiting, as he rubbed the head of his cock up and down her slit. Eva cried out as soon as she felt him, pressing back against him and begging for him to give it to her, this time not even waiting for him to ask.
Will couldn’t stand much more teasing himself. With the taste of her orgasm still fresh on his tongue, he pushed his length into her and began to fuck her hard, holding her body against his with one hand, while the other braced them on the bar. He bucked his hips up to bury his cock as deep inside Eva as he could, and Eva pushed back against him before dragging his hand up to cup her swaying breasts. She twisted around to kiss him then, her tongue lapping at his lips like a hungry dog. He loved the way she seemed to let go of her inhibitions when they fucked, the way she lost herself in the touch and passion, completely in the moment and undistracted…
“Will,” she said in a breathy voice.
“Eva,” he said back, pushing hungry lips into her neck and shoulders.
“Will!” she said again, this time in a voice that made him open his eyes and listen. Underneath the pulse of his heart and sound of their bodies came the unmistakable rumbling of approaching engines pulling into the bar’s parking lot. They were so unusually loud they could only be motorcycles.
“Someone’s here,” said Eva, eyes wide with fear even as she remained bent across the bar with him inside of her.
Will groaned in frustration at the idea of having to separate himself from Eva’s sweet pussy before they were both done, but the sharp sound of car doors shutting drew away the last of his lust-haze. He pulled his cock out and moved away from her quickly, fumbling to do up his pants.
The bar door swung open as both of them were still quite obviously rearranging their clothes, faces flushed. Eva’s hair looked like she had been caught in a wind storm. Will glanced over to the front door and saw Charlie entering, his face dark and angry.
Oh, fuck, thought Will. Did I just get caught fucking his little sister? He looked away instinctively, eyes landing on Eva.
“Charlie,” she said, with a big, overcompensating smile. “How was town—” Her words dropped off when two more men followed him into the bar. A wash of recognition came over her face, causing Will to turn and look. His stomach hardened to stone.
Jase and Ghost stood there, flanking Charlie, whose arms were crossed in front of him. He looked like the bullied kid who had run home and convinced his big brothers to fight for him. Ghost’s expression seemed much like it always did: alert yet bored, his eyes betraying little as he looked at Eva and Will. Jase’s face, however, spoke volumes. He glared at Will with a potent mix of disappointment, anger, and exhaustion.
“Oh, fuck.” This time, Will couldn’t stop the words from dropping out of his mouth. He felt Eva’s eyes on him but didn’t turn to meet them.
For a moment, the men on both sides of the room stood silently, sizing each other up. Will didn’t want to speak first. He didn’t fully understand how this strange fellowship had come together, and he didn’t want to give them any information they didn’t already have. Instead, he waited.
He thought Jase would speak, but instead it was Charlie who broke the silence. His gaze flickered back and forth between Will and his sister. “Did we just interrupt what I think we interrupted?” His voice was deadly quiet.
“Charlie…” said Eva in a calming tone.
Her brother shook his head and let out bitter laughter. “No, that’s just about perfect, isn’t it? This motherfucker comes in here and endangers my family’s livelihood, why shouldn’t he help himself to my sister, too?”
“She’s a grown woman,” said Will.
“You shut your fucking mouth,” said Charlie, pointing an angry finger. “I know all about you now, Mr. Knight in Shining Armor. This little playtime is over for you.”
“No one’s playing,” said Will. “Least of all, me.”
“Charlie, what is this? Who are these guys?” said Eva with a hand toward them.
Jase moved into the bar space a few steps. “We’re friends of Will’s…”
“They’re members of your sweetheart’s fucking biker gang, that’s who they are,” said Charlie, spitting the words. “That’s why he’s so good at beating the hell out of people. That’s why he knows what’s going on. He’s a fucking criminal.”
Will’s face went dark. He met Charlie’s angry eyes. “I protected you.”
“Not according to your buddies here,” said Charlie. He held up his smart phone to display a picture of Will sitting at the bar with half a smile on his face. She wasn’t in the picture, but Will knew he had been talking to Eva when it was taken. “You think I was about to go along with your insane plan? Instead I took this around town until someone recognized you. Imagine my surprise when they told me who you were.”
“You should have come to us, Will,” said Jase. “What the fuck made you think this was a good idea? Were you seriously going to try and storm the cartel with two men—one of whom isn’t even trained? What did you think you were gonna do?”
“The same thing I should have done before: slit every last one of their fucking throats,” said Will in a steady, firm voice.
Ghost let out a sardonic laugh and scratched at the side of his face. “Will, I love you, bro, but this is just fucking suicide. This is stupid, and you’re not stupid. You need to listen to us.”
“No, you fuckers need to listen to me,” said Will, fury boiling within his veins. He stalked around the bar to meet them, ignoring the feel of Eva’s questioning gaze on him. “Two years ago, I couldn’t get either fucking one of you to listen to anything but a violent answer, and now you both have the balls to stand here and tell me I’m wrong for fighting? You would rather me try to talk my way out of this mess again and watch Henry get them killed, watch this place get burned to the ground at my feet again? I don’t think so. I fucked up before, and it’s not happening again.”
