Beyond the Horizon (Sons of Templar MC #4)(60)

I was proud of myself. Not just for my measly bicep strength, but of myself in general. It was an unfamiliar feeling. I’d never really felt proud of myself. Comfortable in my own skin. My own life. It was like I hadn’t found a way to fit yet, I was always tugging at the figurative sleeves of my existence, trying to stretch it into shape. After doing something as mundane as grocery shopping after almost a month back at college, I felt it. I had taken the sweater off, was just me. It felt good. The gaping hole in my life was still there, the pain was constant but manageable. I had hope. Asher was a huge part of this, I knew. It both comforted and worried me. Another person I’d build my life around. Another one that would tear it apart when he left.

All of this was running through my mind, plus being mindful of the glass jars in my bags that would break if I surrendered to my screaming arms. So when I walked through the door I was preoccupied. I didn’t see it at first. When I did, the bags went hurtling to my feet and the smashing of the glass went unnoticed.

Bex was being held up against the wall, by what I recognized was Dylan’s large form. Her lip was bleeding and her cheek red. I didn’t think. The sight of my friend clawing at the hands cutting off her air supply had me acting on instinct. I rushed forward.

“Get off her,” I screamed, yanking at the muscled shoulder attached to the equally muscled arm killing my friend.

His head moved a smidgeon, eyes barely resting on me before he jerked his entire arm, sending me flying toward the coffee table. I hit the corner of it at speed, pain radiating through my skull as the impact jarred my vision and something wet trickled down my head.

“Don’t tell me what to do, bitch,” he spat at me, his hands not loosening. “No woman tells me what to do. No woman breaks it off with me.” His head whipped back to Bex, whose eyes were bulged in panic, her feet kicking out as they dangled off the floor.

I blinked furiously, and tried to push myself up, but my body wouldn’t cooperate, blinding pain in my forehead crippled my movement.

“It’s over when I say it’s over,” he spat.

One of Bex’s flailing feet made impact with his crotch, not hard, but enough to make him release her and send her crumpling to the ground.

“It’s so over,” she rasped, glaring at him in hatred, rubbing her neck.

His entire face went red, like an angry bull. “Insolent bitch,” he yelled, kicking her brutally in the stomach.

My body started to obey the moment my eyes bulged out in horror. White hot fury pulsed through my veins at the image of my strong best friend being brutalized before my eyes. Just like my mother had been years ago when I was powerless and small. I would kill him. My eyes rested on Bex’s bag, overturned amongst the chaos. I scrambled over to it with blurry vision.

“You’re just a filthy whore,” he continued while I rifled through it desperately, wiping the blood obscuring my vision. “You’re going to make me some money off that *,” he yelled.

My hands found the cool steel just in time, and I unclicked the safety, getting to my unsteady feet.

“Get away from her and out of our house,” I croaked, bringing the gun up to shoulder height.

He didn’t even glance at me.

The shot I set off into the floor got his attention.

“Get away from her,” I bit out as he turned to face the gun I had pointed at his head.

He grinned. It was a sick, chilling grin. He stepped forward and I scrambled back.

“You won’t shoot me, you’re afraid of your own f*ckin’ shadow,” he sneered, taking another step forward.

The chilling truth to his words sank deep as he advanced on me. My finger twitched on the trigger unable to do anything more.

“She might not, but I sure as f*ck will,” a cold voice declared from behind me.





“You sure you know what you’re doing, turning up here unannounced?” Asher asked his brother as they both swung off their bikes in Lily’s lot.

He hated the decrepit apartment building in front of them, the shady neighborhood surrounding it. It was ugly. His girl did not deserve ugly. She deserved beautiful. He was determined to give it to her. But getting her out of this place would take time. She was stubborn and fiercely independent. He admired that. Loved that. It also pissed him off in moments such as this.

“I’m not unannounced,” Lucky replied. “I’ve been invited to dinner with my brother and his girl. The hot roommate just happens to be a delightful coincidence,” he continued, grinning.

Asher shook his head. “You’re a crazy f*ck,” he declared.

Lucky didn’t look offended. “Thank you.”

Lucky had been determined to get Bex into bed. He’d even lost interest in his other bitches in his pursuit. He was having trouble getting through to her. She wasn’t interested, as both Lily and Asher had predicted. He wasn’t giving up. It was amusing. Though it didn’t take much to amuse Asher these days. He had a reason to smile. He finally had his girl. Three years of waiting turned out to be well worth it. He’d wait for thirty if he knew that this was at the end of it. The shy, beautiful girl that crawled under his skin and took up residence there. The haunted sadness behind her ice blue eyes still irked him, but it was slowly depleting and her smiles seemed to reach those eyes every now and then. He wasn’t stupid. He knew most of those beautiful smiles were conjured up to fool those around her. He wasn’t fooled.