35. Reed

Reed

35

The wind tickles the side of my face.

No—that's not the wind.

Carter brushes my hair back. Tracing me. Touching me.

My skin crawls with every inch.

I blink my eyes and try to find the air in my chest. But the weight of him this close steals it away. My ears ring as a car horn blares in the distance.

I'm numb.

Wiggling my fingers, I try to feel anything—everything.

The roof beneath my feet.

The dull warmth of the sun.

The slightest breeze.

Anything, so long as I don't have to feel him.

Blood thunders between my temples, coursing thickly through my veins. But I don't back up, and I don't back down. I refuse to be weak for him.

"You shouldn't be here." The words come out rougher than I'd like, but I say them.

I find my voice.

Carter smirks with amusement, and he pulls his hand back. But he doesn't step away. And when he shifts on his feet, the glint of the sun reflects off something in his hand, stealing my attention.

He's holding a gun.

"Don't worry, baby." He smiles when my eyes meet his. "This isn't for you."

That doesn't make me feel any better. If anything, it might make it worse. It's one thing for him to take his rage out on me because I've been conditioned by him to take it, but Mason doesn't deserve this.

"Reed." Mason's voice comes from somewhere down below.

It would be a relief if Carter didn't instantly grin at the sound of him. "Speak of the devil."

I open my mouth to scream for Mason to stop, but Carter shoves forward the moment I do, placing the barrel under my chin and cutting me off.

"Shh." Carter pulls my back to his front, holding the gun hard against my skin. "Be good for me, baby. You don't need to get caught up in this mess."

He doesn't see I already am.

I'm the reason this mess exists.

This was between me and Carter, and now I've gone and dragged Mason and my brother into this.

All hope drains the moment Mason reaches the roof and steps out onto it. He immediately slows his pace when he sees me pinned to Carter like a shield.

I try not to let the heartbreak in his eyes take the fight from me, but it's a battle I'm losing.

Closing my eyes, I try to focus.

On the taste of blood on my tongue from where I bit it.

The smell of gasoline and smog.

The sound of car doors opening and closing.

"Reed." Mason's voice comes again, snapping me back to attention.

"It's okay, Mason." I swallow, blinking my eyes open. "Just stay there."

Mason pauses, his attention moving to Carter. "Get your fucking hands off my girl."

"She's not your girl." Carter's voice has lost all rage.

It's calm.

A tone he saves for when he's truly slipping. It's peaceful to anyone who doesn't know him. But to me, it's the most haunting sound.

Mason takes one step forward. "Put the gun down."

"Or what?" Carter laughs. "She knows who she belongs to."

"I'm not yours, Carter." It comes out through gritted teeth and with the full force of my heart.

At that, Carter spins me so we're facing each other, but the gun is still pressed under my chin. His eyes bore into me. Dark rage settles like the clouds do before a storm soaks the earth. Thunder and lightning at a distance. You see it before you hear it.

His gaze is the whisper of a tornado, ready to rip this entire scene to pieces.

"You are mine."

"We're over, Carter." I shake my head, and it brushes the barrel of the gun under my chin. "You need to accept that. You need to get help."

Carter might be beyond it, but when I think back to the man I met when I was twenty, I want to believe there's still a chance.

"Help?" The hint of amusement in the corner of his mouth is venomous. "You're so fucking na?ve."

"Put the gun down, Carter," Mason says again, stealing Carter's attention.

I want to tell him to stop because at least right now the gun is pointed at me, but I know it won't do any good.

"Put it down or what?" Carter turns his face to Mason. "You're not a Twisted King like her brother. Am I supposed to be scared of you?"

"You're right, I'm not a Twisted King." Mason's tone is level but firm. His shoulders are stiff, and his entire body is on alert. "I'm the nice guy. And on any other day, that might work in your favor. But you put your hands on my girl. So now, I'm your worst fucking nightmare. And I'm telling you to put the gun down before this gets any worse."

Carter drops his chin, breathing out a dark chuckle that shakes his shoulders. And when he finally looks up again, any kindness he had left has drained from his eyes.

The first crack of lightning erupts on the horizon.

A storm cloud is about to rip open.

I reach for the gun before he has a chance, but he's too quick. Carter shoves me backward in one swift motion, and I fall hard onto my ass. A pebble on the roof cuts into my palm when I catch myself, and my wrists and tailbone are throbbing.

Mason starts in my direction, but three steps is as far as he gets before Carter turns the gun on him.

"Mason, don't." I hurry to my feet, swaying a bit from how hard Carter pushed me. I grip onto the nearby ledge and steady myself. "He'll shoot."

"She's right, you know?" Carter taunts Mason. "Not that I really need an excuse when you've already given me so many."

Mason turns to Carter, and the three of us stand in a triangle on the roof. Facing off in a game of who will move first.

"What do you want, Carter?" Mason's hands are fists at his sides.

"What I came for: my girl."

Mason shakes his head. "She's not your girl. And she's not going anywhere with you."

"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" Carter laughs. "You know, I was going to shoot you and make this quick and easy because I don't have any more time for this shit. But now that we're up here, I'm feeling a little poetic."

Carter closes his eyes, not lowering the gun but tipping his head back and taking a deep inhale through his nose before looking at Mason again.

"We all know Sienna couldn't fly, but can you?"

Blood drains from my face as my gaze moves to Mason. His entire posture has gone rigid at the mention of Sienna's name.

"What do you know about my sister?"

Carter's eyes narrow, and the sickest smile stretches his face. "Guess your dad was right; he is a man of his word. I wasn't sure after your little trip to Vegas, with you two being family and all. But then again, business always wins, so I guess he can keep secrets."

"What are you talking about?"

Carter's arrogance is brimming to the surface. He's waving the gun, cool and collected, truly believing nothing can stop him. And as I watch him, amused by the situation, pieces start clicking into place.

Comments Mason's dad made.

Things Steel said when we went to see the Twisted Kings compound in Vegas.

Connections I didn't see at the time because I wasn't looking at the bigger picture.

"You knew her." My words are muttered, but they draw the attention of both Carter and Mason. "You spent time in Las Vegas."

"Just a little, baby," Carter confirms, smiling. "A man's got to let loose every now and then. You understand."

I don't, but there's no point trying to explain that to him.

This man standing in front of me now isn't the man I met six years ago. He isn't even the man I walked away from a couple of months ago. Carter lost me, and now he's losing his business. He's devolving in front of us.

With the state he's in, I have no doubt he'll make good on his threats. And I don't know how far he's going to take this. There's no more holding back. He's spilling out every dark secret he would have veiled in a lie last time I saw him.

He doesn't care anymore.

He has nothing to lose.

And that's the most terrifying realization of all.

"Of course I knew Sienna. She was dating my buddy." Carter tilts the gun and smiles.

"You were friends with Gabe," Mason guesses at the same time I'm thinking it.

Carter nods. "How do you think I got introduced to your father? Las Vegas, San Francisco… doesn't really matter when it comes to shared business interests. Gabe knew someone looking to expand into my city, and I was looking for an investment."

"Match made in corporate heaven," Mason huffs, not amused.

"Yeah, I like that." Carter grins, clearly not picking up on the sarcasm. "Gabe set me up with Rick Zane, and when I came to Vegas to sign the deal, we went out to celebrate."

Celebrate.

A sour feeling stirs in my gut.

"Gabe was always good for his connections," Carter says. "Money. Drugs. Pussy. But I never understood how he got such a cute little thing like your sister to fall for him."

Mason takes a step forward, so Carter turns the gun on me, freezing him in place. Mason might not care about self-preservation, but he won't risk my life for revenge. And Carter knows it.

"Don't pretend you knew who my sister was." Mason's neck tenses with his words.

Carter narrows his gaze, tilting his head to the side. "Why not? I knew her better than you think."

"Fuck you." Mason snaps.

But Carter just smirks.

"Sienna was sweet. Didn't fight back as much as this one." He glances at me, clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "She knew how to take it."

"I swear to fuck—" Mason drags his hands through his hair, and I sense him wanting to move with every ounce of his being.

But he can't so long as Carter is using me against him.

"What, Mason? Disappointed your sister was a coked-up slut?" Carter grins. "Or are you disappointed she was a whore who tried to lie and say she didn't want it?"

Want it?

The story Mason told me replays in my head. About how Gabe threw a party for his friends, and after Sienna passed out, he let them in the room with her.

His friends.

Carter was one of them.

"You raped her." Mason's neck flexes as he comes to the same realization I do.

Pain swims in his eyes with every word, and I've never seen him this broken. It's like he's been punched in the gut when no one has made a move. And the hits keep coming. One after another as Carter continues taunting.

"I had my fun." Carter shrugs. "We all did. And when she said she was going to rat on us, I took out the trash because that's what I'm good at."

I take a step forward—not caring if he pulls the trigger.

I refuse to listen to this—to allow Mason to listen to this.

My feet move without thinking because I've had enough.

Sienna was sexually assaulted, and Carter was one of the men responsible. If Carter shoots me, at least it will give Mason the opening he needs to hand Carter what he deserves.

I owe him that after all he's done.

"I wouldn't do that, Reed." Carter's grip tightens on the gun.

"Why not?" I yell, tears streaming down my cheeks, but I keep walking toward him. "You killed her."

Carter shakes his head. "I never said that. You read the articles. She jumped."

"No." I rake my fingers through my hair. "She didn't."

Carter shrugs one shoulder, the smallest, most venomous smile lighting the corner of his mouth.

It's all the answer I need. Sienna's death wasn't a suicide after all.

"Stop, Reed," Carter says as I continue walking toward him.

But I can't. I won't.

I refuse to let him get away with this regardless of what that means for me.

I'm staring down the barrel of his gun, and it's all too familiar. But this time, I stand up. I refuse to back down and do what Carter says. This time I find my spine, my strength, and my legs.

We're ending this here, once and for all.

Movement from my left catches my attention, and I realize that with Carter's attention on me, Mason seized the opportunity to move in. He steps between me and Carter, and only then do I stop.

The gun goes off before it falls from Carter's hand, and dust kicks up at the edge of the roof, telling me it didn't hit anyone.

"You piece of shit." Mason shoves Carter back.

But Carter doesn't go down easily. He takes one punch and comes right back up. It's his ego or his arrogance giving him strength.

"Just you and me Mason," Carter taunts him. "I'm going to enjoy reminding Reed who she belongs to when we get home. Bitches always submit eventually."

At that, Mason lunges for him, and they're at the edge of the building. The ridge stops them from going over, but with every hit against it, I jump.

Carter lands a punch on Mason's jaw, but he doesn't seem to feel the pain as he retaliates. One hit and then another as they wrestle each other until Carter gets Mason with a jab that has him stumbling.

Carter uses the advantage to go for the gun. Dark evil gleams in his gaze as he moves to where it's sitting between us.

"You're going to owe me for this, Reed."

It's the last thing Carter says as Mason comes up behind him, pushing him away from me in a final scuffle by the ledge. Mason lands a punch on the side of Carter's face, and his jaw cracks as it sends his body backward over the side of the building.

In one swift movement, Carter falls to the pavement below, and Mason spins to bury me against his chest so I don't have to see it.

A thud on the ground below us is the last thing I hear. And then it's just silence.

The most sickening quiet that also somehow manages to scream in my ears.

Or maybe I'm the one screaming now. Because Mason's holding me to him, but I'm shaking so hard my bones feel like they're clattering against each other.

The world is caving in on itself.

However I thought this would end, it wasn't like this. There's no peace here. Sienna is dead. Gabe is dead.

Carter is dead.

Secrets and blood are smeared all over the pavement.

Mason holds me in his arms, kissing the top of my head, absorbing the pain spilling out of me. He's murmuring something that might be words of comfort, but nothing gets through the screaming in my mind.

Off in the distance, I hear the rumbling approach of motorcycles. The hum of my brother's club making its way toward us, and they're followed by the sounds of sirens.

But there's nothing to find here.

Nothing left for him or Mason to protect me from.

Carter won this battle no matter how it ended.

I fell for a monster. One who stole everything that mattered from both me and the man I'm in love with.

Now he's gone, but we'll be the ones living with it.