But I whipped around and punched him, sending him flying back to the ground. “Fuck you!” I said.
I could hear Kai ahead. “You okay? Alex, talk to me. Stay with us.”
Aydin’s crew surrounded us, but he just stayed on the ground, not knocked out, but whatever fight he came in here with was now gone. He just sat there, staring after her with blood dripping down his face.
I looked after my friends, everyone in one piece, although Banks was limping, and Misha carried Ryen, their lips locked together as they went off. Guilt washed over me.
I knew this wasn’t our fault. We just wanted a piece of the pie. Evans sent us to jail with the help of Martin.
We didn’t want this fight. We just wanted them both gone, because we weren’t safe otherwise.
But it still hurt. I didn’t want Emmy, Misha, Ryen, or any of them in danger like this ever again.
I looked at her next to me, seeing a little blood on her face, and I quickly dabbed it, trying to get it off.
But she stopped me. “I had to fight back,” she told me. “Now he knows. Now he knows it will never go unanswered again.”
And I pulled her into me, squeezing her so tight.
She was like us. I would say the exact same thing, and even though I hated to risk losing her, she wasn’t a flower.
And now I understood why Michael let Rika be at his side in everything they did. She wanted to feel this, too.
That didn’t mean I couldn’t defend her honor, though.
Now, it was my turn.
“Come here, motherfucker.” I made my way for Martin, but when I turned, he was pushing off the ground and running.
Where the hell did he think he was going?
He raced for the entrance, but Damon spun around, quickly ushering Winter into Rika’s care as he faced Martin, ready to stop him.
I ran for him, and Martin stopped, looking for a way out as he twisted toward me and then back to Damon, realizing he was trapped.
Going the only way he had left, because he was too stupid to give up, he dove between the Ferris wheel and the utility building, probably thinking he’d lose us under the cover of the rides and game booths.
Damon went left, I went right, both of us charging after him into the darkness with the coast looming beyond the cliffs. I rounded the Ferris wheel, looking left and right, and then saw him running along Cold Point in the pitch-black night.
I growled, digging in my heels and running so hard my muscles burned. I reached my hand out, only about four feet of clearance between me and the cliff dropping off into the sea, and pushed him, seeing him stumble to the ground before I came down on top of him. I punched him, we rolled, and he straddled me, climbing off and scurrying back.
I rose to my feet, the sea at my back, and he stared at me, turning his head and seeing Damon come up from behind, trapping him again.
His eyes shot to mine, and I could see it in his gaze.
The rage. The defiance.
I saw the moment his lips tightened, he inhaled, and his eyes sharpened, resolving what he had to do in his head, the decision made.
Oh, shit.
He charged, and I didn’t have time to move out of the way before he rammed his body into mine, sending us both flying over the edge.
My heart jumped into my throat. Emmy…
Screams pierced the air above, and I stopped breathing, my mind paralyzed with so much fear I wanted to cry out.
No, no, no…