Page 13 of Thorns of Silence

“H-hear what?” he stuttered.

“He’s not very bright,” I remarked wryly.

Ghost grinned, blowing out a cloud of smoke. “Maybe he wants to have some dental work done.”

“It sure sounds like it,” I said matter-of-factly, taking a step, ready to smash his mouth.

“She refused me,” Erik screamed, desperate now.

I stiffened, certain that I heard him wrong. “What did you say?”

I kid you not, he started crying. “Sh-she didn’t want to go on a date,” he grunted, his voice muffled.

That wasmygirl. Who was this fucker to think she would ever consider going on a date with him?

“Are you telling me you asked her on a date and she refused you, so you started mocking her?” Ghost’s voice was eerily calm while a tsunami whipped through me, pounding words in my skull.Kill, kill, kill.

He nodded, crying even harder, like a little girl who just saw the boogeyman. He had no fucking idea what he’d unleashed. “I—I’m sorry.”

“I think I’m going to kill him,” I drawled, fury boiling in my blood. The blond stared at me with bulging eyes, but he wasn’t nearly as scared as he should be.

My knuckles burned with each punch to his pretty face. It matched the burning in my lungs that had nothing to do with the smoking habit I’d developed. Ever since my… kidnapping, my temper had been more volatile and harder to control. My brother helped, leashing my violent outbursts by recognizing when I needed a release and pulling me back when he needed to.

If he’d left me to my own devices in those early days, I would be on death row—or just straight up dead.

“Dante.” Ghost’s voice barely registered through the buzzing in my brain. “Dante!” I blinked and found Ghost staring at me, my own reflection staring back at me in his dark eyes. Unhinged. Hungry for violence. Deranged. “You good?”

“Yes.”Not really. But it didn’t matter. Nix was the only thing that mattered here. I would stop this guy and his friends from bullying her.

“If you say so.” Ghost didn’t believe me. No surprise there. He would recognize a fucked-up person from miles away. After all, it took one to know one.

Sometimes I wondered if any amount of violence would ever satisfy this thirst. When I picked up these new habits after the kidnapping, I made Amon promise not to let me slip out of control. Whenever blood saturated my vision, I’d lose my head, and then death and destruction followed.

I focused on the blond prick at my feet. His face was bruised up, blood staining its features that were no longer as pretty.

“You won’t be using sleazy methods to handle a woman’s rejection anymore. Be a man and accept that she doesn’t want you.” He nodded so eagerly I thought he’d give himself whiplash. “Don’t. Fucking. Mock. Her. Again.”

“I won’t. And I won’t touch her again.”

“And tomorrow, you’re going to apologize to Nix—” He gave me a blank look. “ToPhoenix, and you’ll tell everyone you got to join you on this bullying kick that you’re a fucking moron and a douche. You’re going to tell them she is a muse—my muse—and nobody can touch her. If anyone so much as looks at her wrong, I’m coming for them.Capisce?”

He blinked, confused. No acknowledgement. Just silence.

Ghost came over and kicked the guy in the ribs. “Now is the time to sayyesand never fuck up again.”

“No second chances, Erik.” I yanked him up to his feet, grabbing him by his shirt. “Use words. I’m not a fucking mind reader.”

“O-okay. I promise, I’ll make it right.”

“Damn straight you will.” Denying me was never an option. “Now get lost.”

“O-okay,” Erik stuttered. He stood, his eyes darting from me to Ghost, then back to me.

“What?” I snapped, annoyed he was still standing here. “Want to die after all?”

“Who’s going to drive me back?”

Ghost snickered. “You’re going to walk, motherfucker.”