No time to prepare myself for the gutting pain that fractured through my brain like a million tiny cracks.
It left me nothing but a pile of rubble.
Dropped me to the ground.
Facedown.
Barely coherent.
I came in and out of lucidity, no sound in the air but the piercing scream in my ears. Ricocheting agony through my head.
I gasped and writhed, trying to remain conscious. To fight.
I attempted to climb onto my hands and knees, but a rush of dizziness had me slumping back down into a pile of decaying, rotting leaves.
Darkness surged.
A morbid abyss threatening to suck me under.
Footsteps crunched as they neared, and I could feel the vileness in the air. Something wicked, the voice sounding distant though I knew he was whispering near my ear. “Where the fuck are they, you fuckin’ thief?”
A riot of barking suddenly took hold of the atmosphere, and another set of footsteps echoed through the night.
“Richard?” Linc shouted. “That you?”
The scumbag leaned in closer, oozing his depravity all over me. “Gonna end you, bitch. Gonna end you and all your friends.”
Then he was gone.
A harsh gust of air jutted from my lungs, and I fully collapsed and faded into the darkness.SixteenRichardI glanced back at the restaurant where the girls were still huddled in a group, at the way my wife bit her lip and sent me one of those sweet, seductive looks that would forever have me on my knees.
I was half inclined to go back for her, take her back to our hotel and love her right, but the hand landing on my shoulder and giving it a squeeze drew me back.
“Car is here, man, let’s roll.” Shawn angled his head. Our drummer urged me to follow. Rhys had bailed on this trip since his mother was sick. Dude was nothing but a mama’s boy. But it was cool. He’d already said he was game. Ready to sign. He didn’t need to be wined and dined and shown the life that was getting ready to befall them. He’d known they were headed for it the whole time.
“Later, baby,” I mouthed the promise to my girl who gave me a wave as she and the rest of the girls gathered to head out to go dancing to celebrate Lily’s birthday.
Hollywood style since the band had had to be here for the weekend, anyway.
Funny how some things just worked out.
Nerves rattled through me, this unchained excitement that burned through my senses. Anxious and eager when I slipped into the back of the black sedan and Shawn climbed down beside me. This was it. All the blood, sweat, and tears coming to fruition. Culminating in what we’d been working toward all along.
The car eased into the thick traffic. Neon lights glowed from the restaurants and clubs and hotels we passed, the sidewalks packed, laughter and voices seeping into the car and pumping a fever across our flesh.
The vibe in the air was like none other.
Ripe with potential. With riches and fame. Music and stars. Art and creativity.
The Mylton Records exec shifted around where he sat in the front seat next to the driver. Dude wearing a suit and his blond hair perfectly slicked back.
Reeking of money and power.
He smiled. “Are you two ready for what awaits you?”
“Hell, yeah,” Shawn said.
Blue eyes shifted to me.
“Absolutely,” I answered.
Though I itched, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans as we twisted and turned through the city until we came to the sprawling fortress of a house just outside Beverly Hills.
The massive gate swung open at our approach.
Those nerves rattled.
Different this time.
Something uneasy shivering across my skin.
The Mylton Records exec waved his hand toward the pretentious house as the car eased into the sweeping curved drive. “This…all of it is yours. At your fingertips. Yours to keep. You just need to prove how much you want it.”
I swallowed down the disquiet, and I hung onto the promise.
All of this was mine, and every dream of mine was a dream of hers, and I was going to do whatever it took to give it to her.Heart hammering, I was jarred out of the memory when my mother pressed the damp rag to my forehead, wincing as she cleaned my wound.
Gash right between my eyes.
Bullseye.
“I’m fine.”
She tsked through the harsh lights of the small upstairs bathroom where I sat on the toilet and she doctored me up like she used to do when I was a kid. “Don’t look so fine to me.”
I scowled, and that shit hurt, too.
I was a mess. Disoriented. Head aching like I’d been pierced straight through.
More than any of that, I was raging mad. Fury roiling through my being, muscles knots of aggression, cells overflowing with the need to protect.
There was nothing more I wanted than to pick up the scent of that prick and hunt him down.
Prey becoming the predator.