Page 62 of Ruining Him

“I prefer venomous,” I grit through clenched teeth and jump to my feet.

He does the same, so we’re back to squaring off against each other.

“That’s true,” he agrees. “You always were a poisonous little bitch. But your time as the Virtus queen has come to an end, and now you’re nothing but a poor little orphan who’s running for their life. If you kill me here tonight, it won’t change anything. More will come after you. It's only a matter of time. You may as well just give in now.”

Over my dead body will I just give in and let this backstabbing asshole kill me.

“You know me better than that, surely?” I ask sweetlybefore aiming a kick to his chest. He sees it coming though and grabs hold of my leg before I can make contact. His grip is like a vise around my ankle, and he pushes me backward, sending me flying to the floor.

I land with a thud, and pain reverberates up my spine, moving to my hips as he straddles me. His head comes down, smashing into mine before his hands find my neck once more. His legs are tight over mine this time, giving me room to get the upper hand, and I wriggle beneath him and scratch at the hand that’s cutting off my airway.

My lungs burn, and I can almost taste the end…

My vision blackens at the corners, and my entire body feels numb, but I don’t stop fighting.

A bang sounds, and Dominic’s body slumps on top of me as I cough and splutter beneath him, oxygen finally finding its way into my lungs.

What the fuck?

It takes me a moment to orient myself and push his body off of me, and what I see when I do has my blood running cold.

Cole is standing over me, a gun in hand resting against his leg and a glower on his face.

“Care to tell mewhat the fucking helljust happened?” he growls, and I wince before looking over at the body beside me.

Cole just killed him.

Cole just killed someone, for me.

Why would he do that?

Is it because he was worried Dominic would go after him once he was done with me?

“Long story,” I rasp and sit up. My body hurts like a motherfucker, but I climb to my feet anyways. I sway a little, andCole reaches out to steady me before throwing the gun and grabbing my shoulders.

“Are you okay?” he asks. There’s worry in his eyes, as though he’s actually concerned for me.

Like he might actually care.

And I’m beginning to think he does.

“I-I’m fine,” I stutter, staring up at him.

I’m far from fine.

In agony, exhausted, confused and conflicted, maybe. But not fine.

“Can you call whoever you did last time to come clean up this mess so I can get you home?”

I glance at the bodies, and on closer inspection I see who the other two guys are. Charlie and Jeremy. They’re both guys I grew up with, one of them I even considered a friend. It just goes to show the things people will do for money.

I look back at Cole, my conflicted emotions about this entire thing making it hard to think straight.

“I can’t,” I say with a sigh. “Dare asked me earlier today not to leave the campus, and he’s gonna be pissed when he finds out. I don’t have the energy to deal with that tonight. You go ahead, I’ll clean this up.”

“Two things. One, who the fuck is Dare?” he growls, and I roll my eyes. He continues before I can answer him. “Two, we’re in this together whether you like it or not, little menace. So, where do we start?”

First, he killed someone, now he wants to help me get rid of the bodies?