dal

ap heels a half-mile back, and now every step felt like dragging s

tly tore through

on the shoulder.

ou out of your

rped with humiliating rage. "Do you have any idea what you just did

xactly wh

grabbing fo

arm back, wound up, and cracke

L

ght. His head jerked violently to the side, a cri

" I hissed. "Since it

It didn't mean anything! I was drunk, Kend

son. Your love is a stray dog pissing on every fire hydrant it passes

oward me aga

the heel of my foot str

al grunt, slamming onto both hands and knees in the dirt,

thought of your hands on me makes me want to scrape off my own sk

walked away i

dow long and fractured across the asphalt.

the lights vanished

owhere to go. Everything I had planned for th

arth began

ugh the soles of my feet. Not a car. The

ght pierced the

to a halt directly in front of me. The paint was matte

avy leather cut. Across the back: a crowned serpent coiled arou

d off hi

brutal jawline. Cold, bottomless blue eye

"Brute

ounty. He had been sitting front row at the rally, watching

voice was gravel

nstantly. "I don't ge

s mouth. "That Lizard boy did

in his voice. Just co

dered. It wasn'

an w

off the bike. Up close, his size was suffocating. Broad shoulders blockin

ck away, his hand

e off the dirt effortlessly, tucking me against h

matte helmet, and shoved it over my head, clickin

manded, throwing

to life. The exhaus

hipped around his waist, finger

launched into the night like an artil

mirror, I caught a

Vict

a dog straight int