Page 109 of Running from Drac

“Amber, no! Please!”

But she’s gone, I can hear her retreating as Pippa’s vicious laughter takes over the garden.

“How pathetic. You actually got on your knees and groveled.”

Before I can rethink it, I’m on my feet, my hand wrapped around her throat, throwing her against the wall until she’s gasping.

“Eddie, what are you doing?” she screeches, wriggling in my grasp, her fingers digging into my hand as it constricts her airway.

“You did this!” I rage, sticking two fingers at her face like a gun. “You fucking made this happen.”

“I did it for us, Eddie! I did it so we can be together.” There’s unbridled fear lingering in her eyes, a terror I’ve never seen before.

“There is no us,” I growl, slamming her against the wall even harder, her head slightly hitting the brick. “I fucking hate you,” I scream. “If I could kill you right now, I fucking would.”

Her eyes widen. “You don’t mean that!”

But I do. The thought’s there. Lingering… niggling… daring me to squeeze a little tighter. All it would take was one snap, and the bitch wouldn’t wake up tomorrow.

My fingers dig in even harder, her eyes clouding with crocodile tears.

“Eddie, I love you.”

“Stop saying that, Pippa! You don’t fucking love me. If you loved me, you just would’ve left shit alone. But not you. Not Hurricane Pippa.”

“You’re hurting me,” she says, struggling to speak.

“Good. Maybe you’ll get what it feels like.”

My arm starts to shake, fighting within myself to keep from snapping her neck like a twig. There’s no fucking conscience tostop me. Nobody to tell me no. I could do it and not think twice about it.

But I don’t.

Someone stops me… the only voice of reason.

A powerful hand comes down on my shoulder. It doesn’t tug me away or try to rip us apart, it just sits there, my dad’s commanding tone invading the murderous undertones of my subconscious. “Let her go, Son.”

My hands tighten even more, veins popping out, my inner demons feeding on the fear in her eyes.

“Please, Eddie. Let her go.”

“She fucking ruined everything, Dad. She deserves—”

“What’s coming to her,” he finishes for me. “But not by your hand. Not today. Let her go, Eddie. Karma will fucking take her down when the time comes.”

My grip slightly lessens, but I’m still too wound up, too stuck in my head, to really see past the blood I’m thirsting for.

His hand fits over mine, and he gently unravels my fingers, pulling my hand back slowly so that my brain can catch up to my rage.

The second he steps me back, I lose it, crumpling to the ground in defeat.

“She left me, Dad. For real this time.”

He just hugs me. His arms encircle me, his protection healing the open wounds that are still bleeding.

“Get the fuck out of here, Pippa.”

“But, Mr. Frazier…”