Fight(43)

He was back up on his feet, stepping back.

“Who the f*ck are you?” I asked.

“Fuck off,” he growled. “You have no idea what you’re up against here. Stay the f*ck away from it all.”

I moved fast and gave a one, two right and left combo. I sent the guy back against the fridge. His nose squirted blood. He started to inch down. I went at him and then felt something grab my leg.

It was Kyle, slowly dying, trying to make a last stand. I turned and stomped my foot on his jaw, feeling it crush like a soda can. All I could see was him hurting Winter.

I lifted my foot again.

“Tripp!” Winter’s voice screamed.

I turned just in time to see the other guy slashing a piece of the broken window at me. I turned, offering my shoulder rather than my damn throat. The glass cut me, but I managed to swing my left hand at him, hitting him in the mouth. The glass was stuck in my shoulder, the pain white hot. I fell forward and put my right hand to the fridge.

The guy jumped at the broken window and was gone. I watched him crawl, climb to his feet, and run.

There was no use chasing him.

I turned and saw Kyle on the floor, dead. I looked at Winter. She slowly rose to her feet. She was shaking, in shock.

“Stay there,” I said.

I grabbed the piece of glass and pulled. It hurt worse coming out than it did going into my shoulder. I screamed and then threw it to the floor. I ran to Winter and scooped her up. She buried her face in my shoulder - my non wounded shoulder - and she cried.

I turned so her back faced the carnage in her house.

It was worse than anything I could have ever imagined.

The guy on the floor had his hand stretched out. Palm up. On his forearm was a tattoo. A pretty damn obvious tattoo. A skull. Under that? X.

Skull X.

That’s who had come here to attack Winter.

That meant one thing.

It was time to go after them.

It was time to find all the truth and give Aldo what he wanted.

Because all I wanted was Winter. Once and for all.

“We’re out of here, darling,” I whispered.

Fuck, I really loved her.



~



I opened the door to the hotel room and went in first. I checked the room and it was all clear. I had a bag of clothes and Winter had a bag of clothes. That was it. We were two people on the run, but at least we were together.

I shut the door and locked it.

Then I went after Winter. I grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her close. I kissed her forehead, her nose, then her lips. My hand gently rubbed against her jaw. She winced and gasped. I kissed her harder, wishing I could steal her pain. It was my fault her jaw hurt because I had left her to be attacked by those two goons.

I kissed down her neck and caught myself burying my face into her neck. I could smell her sweet skin. One hand touched her face, the other hand at her back, holding her tight to me. A wave of emotion ran rampant and I thought I was going to cry.

Winter groaned and dug her hands into my hair. We were in silence because that’s all we had for each other. Years of bullshit brought us together, but at the same time, all those years left scars that wanted to tear us apart.

I slowly kissed back up her neck to her mouth. We kissed deep, fast, pulling away, staring at each other, going at it again. We kissed like that, over and over, for a while. Like one of us wanted to make a move but just couldn’t. Like we were afraid of each other. Our hearts raced, destruction all around us. We both felt the desperate need to be together.

Finally, Winter started to take my shirt off. Her bare hands ran up my bare body. I lifted my arms and saw the flicker of a smile as she took my shirt off. I let it fall to the floor and then she let out a gasp.

“You’re cut,” she whispered. “That looks nasty.”

I looked to my left and there was a decent sized gash. Maybe it could have used a stitch or two, but I wasn’t going anywhere near a hospital right now. There was enough of my blood in Winter’s house to implicate me, plus whatever the hell Stoney, the Red Aces, and Aldo had going on behind the scenes.

“I’ll be fine,” I whispered. “Just a cut. I’ll go wash it out in the shower.”

Winter slipped her hands to my chest. She stared at me. She was still hurt. I slowly put my hands to hers and squeezed.

“It’s…”

“No, not right now. You just have to trust me, Tripp. Just not right now.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’m going to grab a shower. Then we can talk.”

Winter nodded.

I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers again. On the tip of my tongue was I love you, but I wouldn’t let it slide.

I’d hurt her enough already for one night.





26.


(Winter)



I love you, Tripp.

He turned and walked to the bathroom. His back rippled were mountains of muscle. My fingertips had played on those ripples when he loved my body. Now I watched him walk away.

The door shut.

I reached down for his t-shirt. I balled it up and smelled it.

Tripp.

Sweaty and sexy man.

I looked at the cut at the shoulder, the blood on the shirt. Dana had come so close to slashing Tripp’s throat. And Kyle was on the floor. Dead.

I dropped the shirt.