The last thing I saw before white dots of light filled my vision was Caspian baring his teeth with a growl as he lunged at me. A blinding pain stung the side of my head, followed quickly by another violent jolt. Acid burned my throat as my stomach lurched, but I refused to let myself throw up.
Fuck. That hurt.
Air. I needed air. I couldn’t breathe. The metallic taste of blood coated my tongue, damn near making me choke before I could swallow. The white dots all blurred together. My pulse thundered in my ears. Caspian’s muffled voice sounded as though we were both underwater. Fuck. Itfeltlike we were underwater. It was as though time had both sped up and slowed down. Where the fuck were my lungs and why weren’t they working?
Sharp, stinging pain burned my face from my temple down to my jaw.
The fuck?
The air was suddenly scalding hot, like flames licking the side of my face, and tiny droplets trickled over my skin. The wet trail slid over my brow before dripping in front of my eye. Blood. He took a piece of glass and fucking cut me. Sliced my fucking face open. My pulse was pounding. Drumming. Rage sizzled like lightning through my veins.
And then it was over.
I fought through the thundering of my pulse to get back on my feet. My lungs expanded with a deep inhale while my eyes searched for his.
He stared at me with a glint in his eyes and a satisfied smirk. His gaze followed the blood from my face as it dripped onto my shirt. He thought he won just because he drew blood? Thanks to my father and his fucked-up version ofparenting, I had scars on the inside that cut deeper than anything on the surface ever could.
I wasn’t malicious. I wasn’t the guy who lived for revenge. I didn’t have time for that. I was chaos. Havoc. The motherfucking storm that wiped out anything in its way. Fierce and unpredictable. And if I found out Caspian Donahue laid a finger on Lyric, I would be back, and this shit on my face would look like a papercut compared to what I would do to him.
I flashed him a smile. “This is far from over.” And then I climbed in Ethan’s car without a single glance over my shoulder. “Take me to Lyric’s.”
Twenty minutes later, we pulled in front of her apartment building.
“You sure you don’t want to get cleaned up first?” Ethan asked when I opened the door to climb out.
I winked, then ducked my head as I eased out of the car. Even before we started fucking around, Lyric had been at our house when I’d come home after a sparring session, bloody and bruised. Maybe never this badly, but I knew my girl. She could handle it. She’d probably clean me up and cuss me out. “It’s nothing she hasn’t seen before.”
He laughed, then drove away shaking his head.
Okay, my little songbird. Time for you to tell me what the fuck you think you’re up to.