Page 53 of C is For Corruption (Horsemen #3)

Joey

I paced the living room floor, waiting for the guys to return.

They’d left with Victoria a few hours before, not even bothering to tell me where they were headed.

I’d decided in the time they’d been gone that I would force them to deal with me.

To explain to me why I was being cut out of my own damned organization.

It was time they chose me or that fucking viper who’d sank her fangs in them.

The front door opened with a bang, causing my head to snap in that direction.

My eyes narrowed on Leighton as he stalked inside, chest heaving like he was half a second away from losing his shit.

“What the fuck, dude?” I demanded. “Have some fucking respect for my parent’s house.”

“You!” He bellowed, pointing his finger at me as he stormed closer. “I fucking told you the next time you fucked with her, I was going to fucking kill you.”

“What the hell are you talking about? What did that fucking viper say to you?” I shouted back.

Leighton moved in close, grabbing fistfuls of my shirt and pulling me closer so that we were practically nose to nose.

“ She didn’t tell me shit. Tiffany called me while we were dealing with Theo and filled me in on your little trip to the gun range.

I know all about how you assaulted my. Fucking. Woman.”

“Is that what she said?” I shot back, shoving him backward a step, but not far enough for him to lose his grip on my shirt. “She wanted it. She practically begged me for it.”

Leighton removed one hand from my shirt and hit me in the mouth. My head jerked back under the impact, and I tasted blood. In the time it took me to straighten back up, he’d tightened his grip on my shirt and was forcing me backward through the living room toward the back door.

“Get the fuck off me, Leighton.” I snapped, shoving at him. I barely noticed the others following after him as I struggled to keep my balance and break free of his hold.

“Leighton.” Az called after us.

Leighton snarled and forced me backward faster.

I stumbled over my feet as the kitchen whizzed by in a blur.

With a final hard shove, my back slammed against the wooden door, my head making a loud thunk as it connected with the wood.

Leighton let go of me long enough to reach down and turn the handle.

I took the opening to swing a fist at him, but the fucker ducked just in time.

His shoulder slammed into my abdomen, and suddenly, we were falling.

We landed in a heap on the grass, the air forced out of me under his weight.

“I don’t want to fight you, Leighton.” I yelled, wrapping my legs and one arm around him as I used the other to try and roll us over. “Not over her . She’s not fucking worth it.”

Leighton reared back, animalistic snarls and growls spilling from his lips as he slammed his head forward into mine.

Pain bloomed in my face, whiting out my vision for just a moment following the sickening crack of my nose breaking.

Leighton pulled back again, and I unwrapped my legs from his body, planting them on the ground to help me throw him off with my hips.

I scrambled to my feet, holding one hand out as he circled me. The other moved to my back, checking that my gun was still tucked in my jeans. It wasn’t loaded, but it might act as a deterrent if Leighton couldn’t get control of himself on his own.

“He’d be ashamed of you.” Leighton snarled, circling around me as he looked for an opening to attack again.

That felt worse than the throbbing in my nose.

Everyone seemed so sure that if I were right, Rich would have already known that.

He would have already dealt with it, but he loved her instead.

I wanted to stop and demand he explain his logic to me so I had something solid to argue against. Some way to silence that little voice in the back of my head that kept screaming I’d been an idiot and ruined the best thing that ever happened to me.

Instead, I turned with him, keeping him in my line of sight.

I’d seen Leighton at his worst, but in all the time I’d known him, I’d never seen him look so rabid.

Blood dripped from his forehead; whether it was his or mine, I couldn’t say.

His eyes looked black from how wide his pupils had blown; he snapped his bared teeth at me, a clear threat.

“Leighton, stop it!” I heard her call out. It was enough to distract me as I looked over my shoulder toward the house to glare at her.

It felt like a freight train ran straight through my middle as Leighton slammed into my stomach.

The world shifted, and I flung out my fists, aiming for his arms in the hopes of making him drop me.

Leighton didn’t flinch as they made contact, ignoring blow after blow until he slammed me into the ground on my back.

He dove on top of me, and I brought my hands up to protect my face as he threw a flurry of punches.

I could hear Az and Craig calling out, their voices getting closer before one of them pulled Leighton back just enough for me to go on the attack.

As we fought and rolled across the backyard, we became a dizzying ball of fists, elbows, and feet.

I’d managed to split Leighton’s eye and land a punishing blow to his ribs, but he was so far gone to his rage that he didn’t seem to feel any of it.

I, on the other hand, felt it all. Every split of my skin, every creak of bone as he tried to break me apart with his bare hands.

He kept me on my back, making it impossible to get to my gun, or else I’d have pulled it to get him to stop.

“That’s enough!” Az’s voice boomed out over the yard.

Leighton’s bloodied face was jerked away from my field of vision, and I scrambled upright.

Both Craig and Az were struggling to hold him back, their arms straining around his body as he fought to get to me again.

Az’s eyebrow was split open, and I could only assume Leighton had managed to hit him during our tussle.

“Go inside, Joey.” Az called, not taking his eyes off Leighton. “Ice your injuries and then lock yourself in your room so we can get him calm.”

I managed to get myself to my feet, wrapping an arm around my ribs as I spit a glob of blood on the ground.

There were streaks of blood all across my parents’ green grass.

Swaying slightly, I made my way inside, using the walls to hold myself up once I’d made it through the door.

My vision blurred as I lurched toward the fridge to grab some ice from the freezer.

“Here, let me help.” I jumped at the sound of her voice, sending a wave of nausea through me.

“Go the fuck away, Victoria.”

“Please, Joey, you’re hurt. Just let me help.”

I scoffed, easing myself over to grab some paper towels from the counter before digging into the freezer for the ice.

“Will you at least tell me what happened? Why did Leighton go after you like that?” She asked, moving to lean on the counter beside me.

I wrapped a handful of ice in the paper towels and then pressed them to my nose before looking at her. To anyone else, she would appear the picture of concern. Her brows were dipped in manufactured worry, and her wide eyes shone with unshed tears.

“You know exactly what set him off, Viper.” I scoffed before wincing at the pain it sent lancing through my head.

“Please, Joey. Just talk to me. Don’t shut me out like this.”

Jerking the ice away from my face, I glared at her.

“Stop, Victoria. Just fucking stop. Stop trying to fix things for us, stop following me like a wounded animal. Stop trying to make it better. You can’t make it better!

Richard is dead , and it’s your fucking fault.

None of this would have happened if not for you.

He even tried to warn us. If what just happened with Leighton is any indication, you’ve already cost me the rest of my brothers.

I’m not going to let you suck me back in just so you can put the rest of us six feet under.

Maybe the kindest thing for all of us is to kill you before you get the fucking chance!

” My hand slipped to my back, pulling the unloaded gun from my waistband before I pressed the muzzle against her forehead.

Victoria went so still I could barely tell she was still breathing. Her jaw tensed, and then determination filled her eyes. “If you can, then do it. But I don’t think you will, because I know that my Joey is still in there.”

Pain shot through my jaw, and my head rocked to the side; Victoria gasped in horror just as my father’s hands went under my arms to keep me upright. The gun that had been in my hand fell to the floor and skittered across the linoleum.

“Go get some air, little lady. I’ll handle my son. ” My father ordered, anger and disappointment painting his features.

My father and I stared at each other as we listened to Victoria’s footsteps retreat. I barely caught Craig’s voice telling her to take a burner and then the ring of his phone before he answered.

“You hit me.” I said quietly.

“You held a gun to an innocent young woman’s head and threatened to kill her. A single punch is the least of what you deserve for that.” My father replied.

“She’s–”

“Rich used his dying breath to tell that woman he loved her. What do you think he’d do if he found out you were treating the woman he loved this way over something she had no control over?

” My father demanded. “You’re damned lucky your mother isn’t here to witness any of this.

It would kill her to know what you’ve done.

You need to get yourself straight and crawl on your knees and beg that girl’s forgiveness. ”

“I’m not begging her for shit !” I hissed.