Page 54 of Queen of The Reapers
I stare at Melanie, but she doesn’t make a move to pick it up. She just sits there, staring off into the distance.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, studying her sullen face. “You look like you’re going to be sick.”
“I’m fine.” She clips, slipping on her sunglasses as her lips form a tight line. “My fingers were still slippery from the pool. No big deal. Should we head back inside and grab some food?”
The way she’s acting is strange, but I just place the blame on too much time in the sun and follow her back into the house.
“I wasn’t expecting this, you know…” She says, taking a seat on one of her kitchen barstools.
“Expecting what?” I ask, cocking a brow as I take a seat on the opposite side.
“To like you.” She confesses, keeping her eyes on the marble countertop. “I thought you were a bitch and when you asked to come here, my gut instinct was to tell you to fuck off. But in the last couple of days, I’ve realized we have a lot in common.”
“What changed your mind?”
Melanie hesitates. “I got a text. One that I should’ve dug deeper into, but I was mad at you and I didn’t give a fuck about what he had planned for you. But now I do.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, cocking my head at her.
“Dimitri’s coming for you. He’s planning on taking you home. I think it’s his way of forcing the guys to owe him a favor.”
Her phone dings and my heart jumps into my throat.
“That’s him.” Mel says, standing up from her chair. “I’m sorry, Stevie.”
I jump up from my seat and stop her. “Just don’t let him in,” I stammer, “or tell him I’m not here.”
Melanie lingers at the counter and gives me a sad smile. “I know you don’t fully understand this yet,” she says, buzzing him in through the gate on her phone, “but no one says no to Dimitri Evanoff.”
Time stands still as I watch in disbelief as Melanie slides the front door open and Dimitri steps through the door. His powerful body stunts Mels in comparison and I mindlessly wonder if that’s how insignificant I look when I’m next to The Reapers.
This man has gone from enemy to ally to whatever-the-hell-he-thinks-this-is, so swiftly it’s hard to know what to feel about him. But regardless of our complicated past, if he’s here to take me home against my will, he isn’t a fucking friend and neither is Mel.
“You’ve had your fun.” Dimitri says, looking down at me. “But it’s time to go home, Kroshka.”
“No.” I say, shaking my head in disbelief. “I’m not ready to face them yet. It’s only been a couple of days, I need more time.”
“Sweet naïve, Kroshka,” he chastises, shaking his head as his large hand grabs a hold of my jaw and squishes my lips, “that isn’t your home anymore. Your home is with me.”
I stare at him, horrified as shock overtakes my body.What the fuck is he talking about?I try to jerk out of his hold, but when I do, he squeezes me even tighter. Painfully so. I start kicking and punching and flailing against him, but it's pointless. I’m helpless to fight him off.
“Wait.” Melanie calls out, seeing the exchange going on between us. “That wasn’t part of the plan.”
Dimitri slides his hand around my throat, turns his head, and glares at her. “That was always part of my plan.”
Melanie's eyes flash from him to me and then back to him. “No.” She says, shaking her head indignantly. “I’m not letting you take her.”
Dimitri laughs, and as he does, he crushes my throat and lifts me up in an expression of his power. “She belongs to me now.” He hisses, staring at me as my vision blurs. “And I’m afraid you don’t have a say in any of this.”
“Charles!” Melanie screams and the next five seconds happen so fast I can barely keep up.
Charles charges into the room with his gun drawn and ready for war. The look on his face is cold, dark, and lethal and he levels his gun at Dimitri with deadly precision. Charles is fast, but Dimitri is faster. Before Charles can pull the trigger, Dimitri uses his free hand to whip his own gun out and fires a bullet straight into the center of Charles’ stomach.
Melanie releases a heart-wrenching scream as she watches his body slowly crumple to the ground. She levels her teary eyes at Dimitri and with no warning; she leaps for him.
Melanie crashes into Dimitri and all of her rage and pain explodes out of her as she forces a powerful kick straight into his balls. Dimitri curses on impact and drops me to the floor as Melanie continues to punch and kick and slap and claw at him. I gasp for air as I try to scramble to my feet and try to help Melanie.This man is a fucking lunatic and he’ll kill her if I don’t stop him.
The two of them are tussling now, struggling over control of Dimitris’ gun. I race for Charles’ gun, but I only make it two steps when I hear a loud bang go off. I snap my head around in time to lock eyes with Melanie as she collapses to the floor. As blood blooms across her chest, she looks at me with so much sadness in her eyes it hurts.Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Run.” She croaks, glancing towards the front door.
And I do. I bolt for Melanie’s front door and I don’t look back. They need help, and the only way any of us are getting out of here alive is if I escape. As my heart thunders in my chest, my bare feet pound against the cold tile, and I race for the exit. I can’t focus on anything else around me. All I see is the door and I’m so close, I’m afraid that if I blink my eyes, it’ll disappear and I’ll realize it was all just a figment of my imagination. But I make it, and it is real. I reach for the handle, and the second I feel the cool metal graze my fingertips, something hard smashes against my head and everything goes dark.