One of the guys on the floor starts to move, and my eyes fall to him. He looks familiar.
“Who is that?”
“Just an ant that needs to be exterminated.”
My head shakes automatically at his words. “He was one of the guys in your house,” I declare, realization hitting me. “August, what are you doing?”
“Rich girl … fucking leave.” He turns away from me and goes to the man who’s looking my way. He grabs him by the hair and pulls him up on his knees and brings the knife to his neck. August looks back at me and smiles. “Last chance, rich girl. You should leave before your soul is tainted forever.”
“My soul isn’t perfect,” I profess, watching the knife cut into the man’s skin, his blood now pooling around the blade.
“No, I guess I tainted it, didn’t I,” he says, smiling, showing his teeth. Then, in one swift movement, he cuts the guy’s neck and lets him drop to the floor with a thud.
What the actual fuck?
Chapter 2
Rylee
I should be screaming, yelling, crying. But I’ve done enough of that over the last few days. Seeing August standing there, the knife still in hand, I can’t seem to walk away.
Am I a sucker for the wrong man?
Anderson was a prime example of my poor decision making.
But August, well, he’s different.
Not once have I thought he would touch me in ways that could hurt me. I feel safe with him. I know what the devil looks like, and he is not him.
Even if what I’m witnessing says otherwise.
Maybe I’m brainwashed—fucked in the head.
But something in me is telling me he’s a good man.
“Rich girl, leave,” he says again, this time on a growl.
“Do you want to go back to prison?” I ask.
August pauses while looking down at the guy on the floor.
“Don’t, August. Please, think about what you’re doing. Is it worth it?”
“They won’t know it was me. How do you think Josh got away free for so long? I have all his connections now, and all of them…” he pauses, looks back over his shoulder at me, “… are scared of me. I warned him I would come for him, and he didn’t listen. The reason he sent me to jail and didn’t kill me was so he could prove he had power over me.”
He takes a beat before continuing, “He didn’t. And I’ve proven that now.” His foot lifts, and he rams it down on the guy at his feet.
“August.” I say his name in the hopes he will turn around and walk away.
“This is one of the guys who took her … who gave her to him,” he says, pressing more weight on him with his foot. “Go now, Rylee. You need to leave.”
“You’ve said that before.”
August removes his foot from the guy and walks over to me. The hand that held the knife rises, and he touches my face with it, stroking gently, then takes a deep breath. “You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” he whispers, leaning down to kiss me, and I allow it because I am defenseless and vulnerable to his touch.
Every. Single. Time.
His lips push against mine with enough pressure. It’s all I can feel. August moves close, so close that no air can come between us.
He takes, and I let him.
I don’t need to breathe when he’s so willing to give me his breath.
When he pulls back and I open my eyes, he’s watching me.
“Now fucking leave and never come back. If you try to find me, rich girl, your brother will come, and I will have to defend myself. Do you want to lose your brother as well?”
August’s words hit me hard.
So hard I take a step back. He nods once in acknowledgment, turning and walking to the guy on the floor.
“It was fun while it lasted, rich girl,” he says without so much as a final glance at me.
It takes me a moment to compose myself, and when I do, I turn and walk out of the door and out of that house. When I reach my car, my hands are shaking violently. My reflection shines back at me from the car window. There’s smudged blood over my face. I wipe it off and shake my head.
Getting in the car, I call my brother, but he doesn’t pick up.
So I call Rhianna. She picks up immediately.
“Where is Beckham?” I ask.
“Still with Glenn, I’m pretty sure.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Ry, he blames August. You should stay away from August, okay? At least until Beckham has time to heal … time to think about things. I’m afraid of what might happen.”
She isn’t wrong. Beckham is almost an adult. He’s in his last year of high school, and after that, well, I don’t even know what’s going to happen.
He made plans with Paige, and now…