Page 15 of Falling for A Lie
Caden’s eyes lock onto mine as he says, “I’m afraid you haven’t reached the pearly gates just yet, Damsel, but you came uncomfortably close.” He continues, “And even if you had, the devils we are wouldn’t be worthy of an angel like you.” A sly smirk spreads across his lips, sending a jolt of unexpected lust through me. I squeeze my thighs together, caught off guard by the sudden spark.
Jesus, this is such treacherous territory to be treading. When my mind is still a jumbled mess of what and why this happened to me. Was that man Jace? If so, why in the hell did he attack me leaving the bar with a bottle to my fucking head like an absolute lunatic? How the fuck did he know where I'd be? Why the fuck is he trying to kill me?My heart begins to beat in an erratic rhythm, and my hands tremble with the questions swarming my head.
I shift slightly, taking in my surroundings and realizing that this isn't a normal hospital. This is a bedroom turned into a medical room, and I'm not alone. My eyes slowly track theslight movement of the men who are now wandering a bit closer to the bed I'm lying in, their eyes burning a hole in my vulnerable state.
“W..where am I?” My voice sounded raspy and slightly quieter than usual.
“We brought you here to patch you up,” Rad says, closing the space between us with a few swift strides. “He said he’d be back to finish the job and that this wasn’t the last time you’d see him.”
“He got away?“ I said, my fingers clutching the covers so hard my knuckles were white. “What possible reason could he have for doing this?”
My mind races as I try to grasp the words that just left his mouth. What is going on? Why is my fiance trying to kill me? What snapped in his mind to make him want to kill me since our last conversation?
I look up and meet Rad's gaze as Caden steps up beside him, speaking before Rad has the chance.
“Yes, he seemed to be hammered. He kept saying he was going to ‘teach that slut a lesson in humiliating him. That a common whore should know not to cross Jace Grayson if they value their lives.” The words make me want to vomit. He has officially lost his goddamn mind. That's it, the wedding is off and I'm filing charges. He cannot get away with trying to bash my head in a club parking lot or calling me a slut and whore.
“He is, well he was, my fiance. We got into an argument tonight before I came to the bar to let off steam. I didn't expect to be struck with a bottle to my head while walking to my car to leave.” I grimace at the memory of the heavy footsteps closing in on me and then everything going dark. I shake my head slightly trying to dispel the vivid memory trying to drag me into a full-blown panic attack.
“Well fuck. There goes my plans of asking you on a date.” Reed grumbles leaning against the bottom of the hospital bed
The laugh that escapes my lips has me slightly grasping my head with my hand trying to rid myself of this headache that feels like my brain is being scratched and poked with a hot iron.
“I've been attacked. Not to mention that I'm here laying in a hospital bed and you're thinking about dating me? You don't even know me.” My voice comes out bitchier than I intended, especially to the guys who practically rescued me from being murdered by my psycho fiance.
Reed seems completely oblivious to what I’m saying.
“Oh, I know you better than you know yourself, Soren Jade Flint,” he says, his Spanish accent more evident than I remember from our limited high school interactions. “I’m going to take this as a challenge – I’m not giving up on making you mine.”
My mouth parts to speak but the words won't come out. I'm both terrified by that statement and oddly turned on.
“Enough, you idiot, give her some space,” Rad says, pushing Reed. “She narrowly escaped being murdered by her fiance. She is not trying to be anyone’s anything.”
He steals a quick look at his brother Drake, who’s silently standing in the corner of the room. It feels like his gaze is burning a hole through my skull.
Slowly I turned to meet his gaze head-on. “You had the option to abandon me in that parking lot, but you didn’t,” I say to Drake as I slowly turn to meet his gaze head-on. “I am grateful you did not abandon me to die there, leaving my sisters without anyone to care for them.” It brings tears to my eyes to think that I could have died tonight and they would have been left alone.
It would have been my fault for going to the bar and abandoning my plans to just grab dinner and head home. I could never forgive myself.
“Don’t thank me for being a decent human being,” Drake growls as his eyes slice into me, completely catching me off guard with how intense they look. “I just stopped some sick fuck from braining an unsuspecting girl with a liquor bottle in a bar parking lot.” His voice is starting to echo off of the cream-colored walls as it gets louder the longer he talks.
“I don't know what you did to piss that dumb dickhead off,” he continues,” but if that’s your fiance like you claim, reconsider those wedding bells – seriously." Every eye in the room snaps toward Drake, drawn by his raised voice.
Before I have the chance to even reply to him my phone goes off on the table beside me, Ben flashes across the screen.
I lean over, the blankets sliding down as I snatch it up before he has a chance to end the call, the men stay deadly silent as I answer and place the phone to my ear.
“Sour Patch Where the fuck are you at?”His voice hinted at a slight panic making the words more high-pitched than usual.
“I'm fine Bennington, what's going on?” Technically, I am fine now that I'm awake and the bleeding on my head has stopped. But telling Ben where I am doesn't feel right, not until I know why he's in such a panic state.
He huffs out a raspy laugh as he can barely believe the lie by omission.
“Yeah, okay of course you're ‘Fine.’ Little Sour Patch, but from what is going around town and the call that I just received from Jace's Father would say otherwise.”
Why the fuck would Tom call Ben of all people about Jace? Why would he not even try to call me first? I’m Jace's fiance, calling me seems like it would be the more logical explanation.
“What did Tom tell you, Ben?”I wait silently for him to reply.