Page 46 of Tethered

“No. Why should I? He wants to hurt you, Cece. Let me show him how it’s done. I can make it quick. He won’t even know he’s dead before his soul slips away. Or I can drag it out, make it hurt so bad, he’ll beg me for death.”

That saying—the lights are on, but nobody’s home? Yeah, I feel like I’m having one of those moments. Only while no one was home, a demon moved in. This is the version of Austin he kept hidden from me, the one everyone else is afraid of. And yet, fear is not what I’m feeling right now. I walk toward him, making a mental note about looking for a therapist for all my mental issues, as I move into his space. I slide my hand into Austin’s free one, realizing he’s wearing a pair of metal knuckle dusters. Shit, this could get really ugly, really fast. Derek is turning a pretty shade of purple. Though the darkness in me wants to smile with glee as the light fades from his eyes, this isn’t the way.

“Let him go, Austin.”

“Don’t wanna.”

“What are you, five? Put him down right now and give me these...” I tug on the metal so he knows what I’m talking about. “…And maybe, just maybe, we can revisit what happened earlier.”

He tilts his head, his eyes moving over my face. I’d like to say I can get a read on him, but his expression is frighteningly blank. Eventually, he releases Derek, who drops to the ground with a sickening thud.

Austin crowds me, his hands moving to my hips as his forehead meets mine. He doesn’t say anything. He breathes me in, using me to find his balance. I let him. He’s too far gone to pull himself out of the darkness alone.

“Time to go,” I tell him softly.

He doesn’t argue. He slides the dusters off and slips them into the front pocket of my skirt before taking my hand and tugging me down the hall. I look back at Jackie. She has herhands over her mouth, her eyes on Derek, who is coughing on the floor. As if sensing my gaze on her, she looks up and offers me a reassuring nod.Go, she mouths before holding her hand to her heart, telling me she holds no anger toward me. Or at least that’s how I’m choosing to read it.

Austin is in such a hurry to pull me to the car that I don’t pay attention to my surroundings. Perhaps if I had, I’d have seen the once lifeless hanging baskets full of new shoots, or the daisies poking through the stones of the path.

Daisies that weren’t there when I arrived.

We drive in silence for a few miles before Austin’s hand slides over my thigh. He grips me tight, not enough to hurt, but enough to remind himself I’m still here. I’m not sure what to make of what happened back there, and I’ll add that to the fucked-up collage of my life that I’ll examine later.

“You okay?” I ask him gently.

“I scared you?”

“What, in general, or back then?” I joke, but he clenches his jaw. He’s deadly serious. “Hey.” I slide my hand over the one on my thigh, and when he flips it over, I lace my fingers through his. “I’ve felt a lot of ways about you over the years—awed, angry, coy, sad, disappointed, angry again, exasperated, frustrated, turned on, and well, angry again. But scared—not so much. I won’t say I’ve never felt fear toward you. That night…I didn’t know who was attacking me. And again in my pasture, though anger won out in the end. It doesn’t make sense because I know I should be terrified of you. Of what you represent. But some part of me really doesn’t think you want to hurt me.”

“I might, though. Sometimes I kind of check out. I don’t even know I’ve done it until I come back. Something felt off. I came to see what was happening, and I heard what you said. And I just lost it.”

“You didn’t. Not really. You just choked the ass a little, and he deserved it.”

“I wanted to kill him. I would have killed him if you hadn’t stopped me.”

“I don’t care about Derek. I just didn’t want you to do it in front of Jackie. No mother needs to watch their son die in front of them, regardless of what kind of man they grew up to be. Who he is now is on him, but once upon a time, he was a tiny baby she fed and bathed and sang to. I have a feeling she’ll need those untainted memories in the years to come.”

“You won’t always be there to pull me back. If he steps out of line again, I’ll end him. Consequences be damned.”

“I get it. Just be careful.”

He looks over at me and frowns. “Did I just get your blessing to murder someone?”

“Meh, some people deserve second chances, others deserve to be buried alive. Time will tell where Derek falls. If he turns up dead, I won’t be surprised. I’ll be pissed, though, if the evidence leads back to you.”

He grins. It’s slightly manic in an adorably bloodthirsty kind of way. Yep, I definitely need therapy.

“Home?”

“Actually, I’m starving. Want to grab something to eat?”

“You want to eat at the diner?”

“Or the bar. That serves food, too, right? Unless you don’t want to.”

“The day I turn down spending time with you is the day you’ll know I’ve been body snatched.”

“Is that right?”