Page 38 of Let the Game Begin (Kiss Me Like You Love Me #1)

The madness was creeping over me slowly. I held my face in my hands and tossed my head. I was furious, enraged, completely out of control.

My brother tried to grab my arm, but I was more agile. I fled the room.

I couldn’t hear anything; I couldn’t see anything.

Anger was riding me. It mocked my weakness and enflamed every fiber of my being.

I went outside, got behind the wheel of my car, and hit the gas, blowing past all the speed limits. I darted around every vehicle in my way, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d gotten a ticket.

There was only one thing that mattered to me in that moment: watching that fucker’s blood drip down my knuckles.

“Fuck!” I pounded the steering wheel and ran my hand through my hair again. Had that son of a bitch only tried to assault her or had he actually succeeded? Chloe was a virgin, and the idea that he had managed to violate her and take that from her was killing me.

I had no way of knowing how far he’d gone, because I hadn’t asked enough questions.

Just hearing his name had been enough to make me completely lose my mind.

I was going to kill him.

I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t fear the law, prison, or any of that bullshit. What I felt for my family was the only form of love I believed in and I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt them.

I came to a halt, braking shortly in front of the illuminated Blanco sign. I knew that I could find Bryan inside, and there was a good chance his brother would be with him.

Blanco was synonymous with cocaine, a very well-known place in this part of town for both using and dealing. That tended to make it more attractive to my peers than the usual clubs or bars.

I didn’t bother parking the car correctly and just got out. Immediately, I spotted a black Lamborghini, which I knew to be Nelson’s car.

Like every other night, the place was packed; women and men were lounging on sofas and doing lines or touching each other lazily.

I moved through the crowds, trying to ignore the sly glances from coked-up girls looking to get railed in one of the bathrooms. I struggled to pick out that Nelson dickhead in the crowd.

“Hey asshole, thanks for finally showing up.” Xavier appeared in front of me with a malevolent smile on his face. He looked like he wanted to take a shot at me, probably because of the way I’d bailed on him earlier to get with Selene.

I shoulder-checked him as I passed. I had no time to waste.

“Where the fuck…?” I muttered to myself, viciously shoving any idiot stupid enough to get near me.

“Who are you looking for?” asked Xavier, who I hadn’t even realized was behind me. I turned and looked him up and down. He was giving me a cautiously inquisitive look. He had seen how furious I was, and everybody knew when the anger got the better of me, all I did was raise hell.

“Bryan Nelson. Where is he?” I asked, looking past him.

Then, I spotted it: a head of blond hair and a come-on smile aimed at two chicks near the bar.

Bingo.

I walked purposely toward Bryan, who was now heavily flirting with the two girls, even groping one’s ass. I took him by the shoulder and landed a right hook square in his face, immediately wiping away that smug dick smile. He toppled to the ground and the girls screamed, scrambling away in fear.

Some of the people around us turned and gave us their full attention but most just continued dancing to the irritating electronica the DJ was spinning.

“What the fuck is your problem, Miller?” Bryan ran the back of his hand over his lip, which had begun to bleed in a trickle from the corner. He glared up at me; I’d only thrown the one punch, but it seemed like he couldn’t get up.

But this asshole wasn’t my real target.

“Where’s your brother?” I demanded as I watched him struggle to his feet.

“What do you want with him?” Bryan staggered and spat blood on the floor next to my shoe in a clear act of defiance.

Did he think I was going to spare him if he demonstrated a little swagger? No. I was going to obliterate him.

“Tell me where he is!” I shouted, grabbing him by the shirt. I clenched the fabric in my fists and locked eyes with him. Bryan stared back at me in shock.

Was he getting a glimpse of the devil inside me? Probably.

“Let him go; I’m the one you want,” came a menacing, sardonic voice from behind me. I shoved Bryan away and turned around.

And there he was, Carter Nelson, leather jacket stretched over his shoulders, hair black as night, and a small ring in his left nostril. An arrogant, cynical little fuck.

I stared at him with depthless hatred and clenched my jaw, trying to control the urge to immediately go for his throat.

“I know you, Neil Miller. You don’t scare me,” he said challengingly. What a brave boy.

I grinned cruelly and slowly advanced on him.

“No, you don’t know me at all. Because, if you did, you never would have pulled that kind of shit with my sister.” I held my arms loose at my sides and began slowly moving each finger, as though I were warming up before a workout.

Carter’s gaze slid over to my hands. Maybe he was finally realizing that he was going to play the role of heavy bag for me tonight.

“Yeah, I tried to fuck her, but don’t worry, she’s still a virgin,” he said mockingly.

And then there was a moment, just one moment, that I imagined must have been much like the explosion that constituted the Big Bang—an explosion that birthed the entire universe.

In that one moment, I felt like I was experiencing the very same enormous detonation, except it was entirely contained within my body.

Body temperature spiked, anger expanded, reason disappeared.

My demons seemed to me like galaxies, revolving around me in space. I could see them and hear them, and I followed where they led.

A powerful force coursed through my veins. I could no longer identify any specific voice or face. All I felt was the electric jolt I got as each punch landed.

Everything happened so fast, and I found myself straddling Carter’s limp form. His face grew more disfigured with each blow. The smell of blood surrounded me, my knuckles were covered in painful nicks and gashes and my heart pounded wildly.

And then, I came back to myself. I remembered: this thing had tried to rape my sister, and when Chloe resisted, he’d beaten her.

“Oh my God… You’re going to kill him!” a familiar voice cried out among the chorus of terrified screaming, but I didn’t care.

I took Carter’s head in both hands and bashed it into the floor as hard as I could. I screamed in rage at what he had done, and then I screamed again at what I was now doing in response.

“Enough! Enough!”

Someone wrapped their arms around my chest and pulled me away from Carter’s brutalized body. Both my vision and my thinking were clouded. I couldn’t breathe and sweat was pouring off me.

“Neil, calm down! Calm down, please!”

I continued to flail blindly against whoever was trying to restrain me. There was nothing surrounding me anymore. Only blackness, shapes without animation, indistinct faces, emptiness. I elbowed someone, possibly a girl, it was impossible to tell.

I was swallowed up by rage, a destructive force that I couldn’t fight.

I blinked several times until a slim figure began to materialize in front of me, its edges still blurry and deformed.

“It’s okay, Neil. I’m here with you.”

My breathing showed no signs of leveling out; drops of saltwater beaded up on my forehead. I couldn’t remember where I was or who I was with. I was confused and lost—the way I always was after one of my uncontrolled outbursts of anger.

Little by little, though, the faces around me grew more precise features and appropriate colors. I could recognize my brother. Logan was there.

“Neil.” He held my face in his hands, clearly scared to death. I felt guilty as I shut my eyes and breathed out slowly. My heart was still galloping and my veins were flooded with a sick fury. I had to calm down; I had to do it for Logan.

How many times had he been by my side in a moment like this?

How many times had he seen me in this state?

How many times had I made him afraid?

And yet, he was always there for me. Always.

That was what love meant to me.

“Logan…” I whispered disoriented, and he smiled in relief.

I turned my head slightly until I could see who was holding me.

I recognized Xavier. I wriggled free, and he let me go.

I was tired, drained of all physical strength and energy.

It was only then that I was able to look around and realize that we were by ourselves in a dark and gloomy corner of the room.

How did we get here?

They’d probably pulled me away from Carter, or else I would have finished what I’d started.

Oh yeah, Carter.

I didn’t even know if the guy had survived my fury.

I wanted to make him pay for what he’d done to Chloe, but maybe I had gone a little overboard.

I searched myself for any repentant feelings, but I couldn’t find one.

I wasn’t sorry about what I did, only disappointed in my inability to control myself.

I might have killed someone, and I wouldn’t even have been able to remember it.

“You were out of your mind…” Logan’s shoulders slumped, as though admitting this truth was an enormous burden for him.

“We need to get out of here. Someone called the police. The ambulance already took Carter. He was on the ground, unconscious.” He spoke rapidly, and I was still too dazed to process any of it.

Logan tried to grab my arm, but I flinched away from his touch. I hated being touched without my consent, and I was about to remind him of that when someone else burst in, drawing my attention.

“Logan!”

I turned and saw Selene. Her voice was like the only properly tuned note in an otherwise discordant melody.