Page 34 of Pucking Possessive (Kings of Castlebrook #2)

CALLUM

H ayden drops Danny to the ground. He’s severely injured. No way he’s running anywhere now. And instead of crying or begging, he just starts laughing. Loud. Unhinged.

“Game’s over. Show’s over,” he cackles, eyes wide, unfocused.

“You fuckers win AGAIN. You always win. Because isn’t that life?

Survival of the fittest? You fucking hockey players get EVERYTHiNG you want.

All the time because of what you look like.

That’s the only reason. I have your money.

I have everything but your height and body. ”

Hayden raises his gun and cocks it with a click. “Sorry you don’t have abs. I don’t know what to tell you, bro,” Hayden would be funny if I wasn’t replaying all the shit Lilac has been through because of this fucking guy. Hayden sighs, “Can I shoot this fucker in the head or what?”

“Don’t,” I snap, stepping in. “I want answers. Lilac deserves answers.”

I grab Danny by the collar and slam him against the nearest tree trunk, my forearm pinning him there as I press the barrel of my gun to the side of his neck.

“I don’t give a fuck why you did this,” I growl. “But who else is in on it?”

He doesn’t answer. Just stares past me. And I know exactly where his eyes land.

Lilac.

Tristan must have seen that we have everything under control because she’s out of the vehicle and walking toward us. Tears spring up, but they’re not sad. My girl is angry. Bitter.

I shove Danny harder, then I pat him down, rough and fast to make sure we don’t have anymore surprises. I find a bloodstained switchblade in his pocket and I toss it toward the woods like it’s nothing but a toy. “Who else is in on this!?”

“You fucking killed him!” Danny screams at him, his voice raising several octaves. I must have hit a nerve. “He was going to be a distraction for me so I could sneak up on you, but you fucking murdered him.” This is really rich coming from a prick who has a collection of dead figure skaters.

Lilac starts to move closer. “Stay back there, baby,” I bark, my chest tight because I don’t want her to have to see all of this. Danny is not making it out of here alive, and if I have anything to say about it, he’s going to leave this world screaming.

“I have to know,” she says, voice shaking, but she’s so fucking strong for this.

I grit my teeth and shove Danny toward Hayden so I can move to Lilac’s side. I don’t trust this bastard not to try something, even now.

“Don’t shove him over here if I can’t fucking shoot him,” Hayden mutters, kicking his foot out at the smaller guy like a pouting child.

“The guys might not care why,” she says, voice clearer now. “But I do. Why? And was that you grabbing my hand when the lights went out during hockey practice?”

Danny’s face contorts. Something feral flashes through his eyes. Despite all the blood loss, he lunges forward with a scream, arms outstretched like he’s reaching for her.

Hayden doesn’t flinch. He smashes the butt of his gun into Danny’s skull, dropping him to his knees, howling.

“Don’t fucking think about it,” I snap, stepping in front of Lilac. “I’ll cut your head off if you ever try to touch her again.”

Danny wheezes, blood and spit clinging to his chin.

“Even my uncle knew how obsessed I was with you,” he snarls at Lilac. “He let me bring girls here. Let me dress them up like you so I could have something. ” His voice breaks. “I almost had you.”

My jaw ticks hard. Whittaker was his uncle, or some variation of I guess. They don’t share the same last name, but that doesn’t mean anything.

“I put it in Lexi’s ear that we should come up here.

She was so fucking dumb and gullible, wasn’t she?

” he goes on, and he sounds so unhinged in the worst fucking way.

“I made it sound so forbidden. Breaking into the crazy old professor’s gothic mansion.

She had no clue he was my uncle. She convinced you girls to snoop around, and she was too fucking stupid to realize I was setting it up!

It wasn’t until she started inviting the guys that shit went sideways.

Especially when your brother and your fucking guard dog showed up uninvited.

” He’s just rambling now when he says, “He was just like me, you know. My uncle helped me kill them, taught me how to cut their necks just right. But they weren’t you. They could never be you. ”

It’s not just a confession. It’s a breakdown. A guttural, primal release of everything he’s held inside.

Lilac stares him down, eyes full of disgust.

“Why did you want to hurt me?” she asks, and her voice shakes. “What did I ever do to you?”

Danny loses it.

“Nothing!” he screams, spit flying. “That’s the whole fucking point! You never did anything to me!”

He lunges again, but Hayden kicks him square in the chest, not hard, just enough to knock him back into the dirt.

“He’ll stomp your face in if you touch her,” Hayden says flatly. “If you want to be put down humanely, I suggest you simmer down. Is there anyone else up in the house?”

“No! It was me and my uncle, you dumbass,” Danny slings the slur at Hayden, but his bloodshot eyes never leave Lilac.

“I wanted you,” Danny says. “I would’ve given you anything. But you never noticed me. You pulled away if I so much as touched your shoulder. I was invisible to you because I wasn’t some big dick hockey player who just wants to fuck you like the whore that you are!”

The second the word leaves his mouth, I move.

Lilac flinches, and I pull her into my chest, hand cradling her head, shielding her ears.

I lift my gun and unload one bullet to Danny’s neck and another one between his eyes.

Danny drops, laid out on his side like a puppet whose strings were cut.

I lower the weapon slowly, then press a kiss to Lilac’s temple.

“No one,” I murmur against her skin, “is going to call you a name and think they’re going to live another second.”

A rustling draws our attention and Ramsey stalks out of the woods, brushing leaves off his jacket, looking annoyed as ever. I didn’t notice he wasn’t here this whole time.

“Where the fuck did you go?” Hayden asks, checking his own gun before sliding it into the band of his jeans.

“I don’t have time to stand around and listen to a sniveling little bitch whine that no one wants to suck his shrimp dick,” Ramsey mutters. “I just walked up to the house. No one alive in there. Must’ve just been him and the old man letting him live out his morbid little fantasies.”

“You could’ve been killed,” Lilac says, disbelief written across her face.

Ramsey shrugs. “I’ve got places to go, people to see, lives to ruin.” He chuckles, and I feel Lilac finally start to relax in my arms. The tension in her spine eases just a little.

“I can’t believe all this,” she whispers. “The girls he killed… just because he couldn’t get to me.”

“Oh, there’s at least nine girls up there,” Ramsey says casually. “Throats slashed. All wearing the same light purple skate dress thingy.” He waves a hand like he couldn’t care less what it’s actually called.

“Girls from our school?” I ask, already knowing I won’t like the answer.

“I don’t know, Grey. I didn’t check ID. Let’s torch the place and get on with it.” I flip him off. He flips me off right back.

“Hey!” Hayden shouts, raising his middle finger too. “Don’t leave me out, assholes.”

Lilac laughs, a soft, exhausted sound that makes my chest loosen. She’s going to sleep well tonight.

“Why don’t you wait in the car while we take the gasoline up and take care of everything?

” I ask, already turning to guide her. “I say we still burn everything to the ground and leave no evidence that we were ever here. They’re both dead and won’t be held accountable.

I don’t want the girls to have to go through an interrogation or trial, whatever would come of it. ”

But Ramsey cuts in. “Already done, fucker. We just need to drag the bodies up, move the cars, and throw some matches. Then we’re out.”

Hayden gapes at the back of the SUV where we’d stashed the gas. “How the fuck did you get that out without us seeing?”

“I’m magic,” Ramsey says dryly, grabbing Danny’s foot and dragging him toward the house. “This is why you incompetent fuckers call me every time you’re in some shit,” Ramsey says.

Hayden rolls his eyes and follows him, muttering, “I have a question.” Because of course Hayden has a question that’s most likely going to set Ramsey off. “Was this asshole saying all hockey players have big dicks or just Callum?”

“I don’t know,” Ramsey throws back. “Maybe he snuck in at night and compared everyone’s soft peens. I guess Cowboy Callum isn’t a grower.”

“Oh my God,” Lilac groans into my chest. I laugh and hold her tighter. “He’s never going to let the dick size thing go, is he?” she mumbles.

“Probably not,” I say, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. I tip her chin up. “How are you? Are you hurt?”

She snuggles into me. “I just want to sleep. A bubble bath. And for you to not let me go.”

“I can do that, baby.”

I help her into the SUV that has some damage, but is absolutely drivable. It makes me stupidly happy when Madi and Winter join us and both launch forward to hug her.

“It’s over,” Madi says. “We cannot have any more psychos after this. We get home and this is the end. We have a good summer and come back next year with zero stalkers.”

Winter squeezes Lilac’s hand. “You handled this perfectly. You’re so strong.”

They all settle into their seats, quiet now, watching as smoke starts to rise above the trees.Then Hayden and Ramsey come into view, walking side by side, still talking shit. Ramsey shoves Hayden. Hayden shoves him back. They fall into a ridiculous brawl.

Tristan sighs, tossing me the keys to what I presume is Adam’s car that he must have moved when the girls were joining Lilac and me.

“Grey,” he says my name and then gestures toward Hayden and Ramsey who are smacking each other while they fight over who is going to drive the Bentley up to the house to burn it.

”Get your friends or we’re leaving without them. ”