Page 1 of Unmask (Crew of Elmwood Public #2)

KAYLOR

H ow could a hand have so much meaning?

It was just a hand. Five fingers. Five sexy fingers, each with a playing card suit tattooed below the knuckle.

Heart. Spade. Diamond. Club. A hand I’d seen inflict pain, and a hand with knuckles that had been bruised and broken.

The hand of a quarterback, who could throw a perfect spiral down the field with such control and precision.

But also…a hand that had once, however briefly, made me feel beautiful, treasured, wanted, and even loved.

I never paid much attention to hands before, especially on guys. But Kreed’s? His fingers could be, had been , a lot of things.

Seductive . The way his thumb had brushed across my bottom lip and he smirked when I sucked in a breath like he knew exactly what he was doing to me.

Dangerous . The way they fought, such power in a strike, such anger in his fists.

Gentle . The way they had once, just once, caught a tear on my cheek before I could pretend it wasn’t there.

Now, that hand hung between us, waiting.

The warehouse’s docking door was open, the night air biting against my skin as I stood at the edge of everything I’d ever known. My heart pounded so hard I could hear it in my ears, a steady, deafening rhythm of doubt.

The Vipers Nest loomed behind me, cold, dark, and full of ghosts, but it wasn’t the warehouse I was running from.

It was Kreed.

My heart pounded against my ribs, a frantic, confused rhythm. I didn’t understand how something as simple as a hand could unravel me, how it could make this choice feel suddenly impossible.

I squeezed my fists to keep from shaking.

I knew what I had to do, but it didn’t make the decision easier.

I took a step back, my eyes ensnared by the silver depths of his.

I was so damn angry, so hurt that it made me feel stupid because I’d actually started to fall for him.

How had I thought for even a second that he wasn’t the asshole everyone claimed him to be?

That under the cold exterior, a heart beat in his chest?

That I’d been thawing the ice erected so tightly around the organ?

The step away from him wasn’t dramatic, wasn’t even far, but it might as well have been miles because Kreed felt it. I saw the moment it hit him, the fraction of a second before his face fell, before the storm in his gray eyes dimmed into something almost…hurtful.

Almost.

But it was quickly gone, his famous mask slamming into place, the one that said he didn’t give a damn, that this was nothing but another game.

That I was a fool to think he cared. He dropped his hand like it had never meant anything at all and scoffed under his breath.

“You’re making a mistake, little raven.”

The words lashed through me. I almost asked him if the roles were reversed if he wouldn’t have done the same. I almost asked him which mistake he referred to. Leaving him? Or falling for him in the first place?

My lips remained pressed together because it didn’t matter. I already knew the answer.

I shook my head.

“Kaylor,” he growled through gritted teeth.

The use of my name pierced my bleeding heart.

It was as if each of the Corvos had jabbed me with a dagger, their betrayal a lash, but Kreed…

He sliced my heart more than once. My chin lifted as I stared into his gorgeous face that not even his betrayal could dull.

“What you did… I-I can’t forgive you,” I stammered.

His jaw tensed as he continued to hold my eyes. “I’m not asking you to forgive me, little raven. You’re not safe here.”

My laugh was hollow. “And you think I’m safer with you ?”

He didn’t answer.

So I gave him one. “You killed my parents.” I hurled the accusation, desperate for him to deny it.

His expression didn’t change. “You know that’s not true.”

Something inside me snapped, hot like a rubber band smacking against skin.

“Why? Because it wasn’t your fingers that pulled the trigger?

” I spat, stepping toward him, wanting, needing him to feel a fraction of the pain burning within me.

“That doesn’t absolve you of your part in their death.

Or what you did to me after. You uprooted me from my entire life.

Your father pretended to be my godfather. Why? What sane person does that?”

Kreed didn’t flinch.

Didn’t blink.

Didn’t do a goddamn thing but watch me as if I was delicate and breakable when we both knew I wasn’t.

Maddox’s voice cut through the tension. “We had our reasons.”

I whirled on him, on Nash, on Mason, on all of them.

“Don’t.” My voice shook. “I don’t want to hear your excuses.

They mean nothing to me.” I’d heard what happened to their mother, but the last thing I wanted to feel was sympathy toward them.

Not yet. I needed more time to process my problems before I thought about anyone else’s, particularly theirs.

Rusty shifted beside me, his presence steady. “You heard her,” he directed at the Raven Crew.

Kreed’s eyes zeroed on him, dark and unreadable. “Fuck you,” he hissed at him, and the entire warehouse tensed. “If you think I’m going to let her go… This isn’t over. Far from it.” His threat lingered in the air, an invisible weapon pointed at Rusty’s head.

I had to get Kreed out of here before shit hit the fan.

I wanted them gone, not dead or hurt. For reasons beyond my understanding, I cared what happened to him; even after he ripped out my heart and betrayed me, I still fucking cared, and that was on me.

I’d have to learn how to deal with my feelings, but I couldn’t do that with him here.

I needed space to think without Kreed and the Crew clogging my thoughts.

“Walk away while I’m still inclined to let you keep the use of your legs,” Rusty replied, his coal-dark eyes never leaving Kreed’s as the two continued to stand off. I’d never seen Rusty like this. He’d always been like a giant teddy bear to me.

Kreed exhaled through his nose, jaw clenched so tight I swore his teeth ground. “This isn’t over. It’s personal for me, and I’m not my fucking father. Perhaps I’m worse.”

Too many thoughts ran wild in my head. My parents. Kreed’s mother. The Vipers. The Ravens. My life would never be the same. “It’s never simple with us,” I replied sadly. “It never has been.”

Would he let me go?

If I chose to stay with Rusty, would Kreed walk out alive? Would he fight? Would he get hurt? Would any of them? Would Maddox, Mason, and Nash step in and force Kreed to leave?

Why do I fucking care?

After everything they’d done to me, why did I give a shit what happened to them?

Kreed stood in front of me, the two scars under his right eye glowing by the dim overhead lights. His veins pulsed under his skin with barely restrained fury. “You’re really doing it. You’re really going to stay with him ,” he spat venomously.

I swallowed hard. “And the alternative is to go home with the people who kidnapped me. In what world does that make sense?”

He raked a hand through his already disheveled hair. “Things might have started out like that, but it’s different now.”

“Maybe to you.” Doubt lingered in my voice, but I steeled myself against it.

And yet…I hesitated.

Not because I trusted Kreed, or because I believed things would ever be okay between us. But because of something in his eyes, a glint deeper than hurt that made my stomach twist.

“You don’t understand. Shit is so much more complicated,” Kreed said, stepping closer. “This isn’t black and white. I’m trying to protect you. Believe it or not, it’s all I’ve done. If you leave with him, we’re done. I won’t be here to save you, little raven.”

A knife. That’s what his ultimatum was. A blade to my ribs, a final twist that had been bleeding out for a long, long time, because he meant those words.

I forced myself to meet his stare. “Then don’t. The only person I need to be saved from is you.”

Lies.

We both knew it. No matter how much I might want to deny it, there was this pull between us, twisted and toxic and inescapable. It wouldn’t die just because I wanted it to, but I had to do this.

Couldn’t he see that he left me no choice?

What his father had done to me…to my parents…it was unforgivable.

Kreed’s jaw ticked. “Fine.” He took another step, the heat of him suffocating. “But before you go, tell me the truth.”

I swallowed. “About what?”

His voice dropped lower. “About why you’re really running.”

My throat cinched. “I’m not running.”

“You are.” His eyes flicked to mine as he held my chin between his thumb and finger. “Not from Rusty. Not from me. From whatever the fuck is inside you that you don’t want to face.”

I stiffened. “That’s not?—”

“You’re scared.”

I shook my head.

“You think he’s going to protect you?” Kreed glanced at Rusty, lips curling as his hand fell from my face. “He’s not. Someone still wants you dead. You better hope he’s up for the challenge. You had four of us protecting you before. Five if you add in Nash. That was real, little raven.”

“That’s enough,” Rusty boomed. “You need to leave before I kick your ass out.”

Kreed’s smirk was a thing of cruelty, but his gaze stayed locked on me, daring me to say something…anything that wasn’t a lie.

But I couldn’t.

The truth was…I didn’t know if I was making the right choice. So, I did the only thing I could.

I turned before he could see the war raging inside me, before he could catch the single, stupid tear threatening to fall.

Each step deeper into the warehouse was heavier than the last, but I kept going. Rusty’s hand rested on my lower back, and I swore I heard Kreed inhale like I just knocked the wind out of him.

Still, I refused to look back. If I did, I might break, and I couldn’t afford to lose my shit again.

“You’re going to regret this!” Maddox yelled at me, and I stumbled.

I reached out to steady myself on the wall. Something skidded across the floor, landing at my feet. My phone. The one Rusty’s guys had taken from me.