Start a War (Saint View Psychos #1)(42)

Caleb let out a harsh laugh. “Bliss?” He took two steps forward, going eye to eye with Vincent. “That’s my fiancée you’re talking about. You’ll address her by her given name.” He spat the words in Vincent’s face one at a time, marking each with a pause. “Bethany. Melissa.”

Vincent went still. He and Caleb were probably quite similar in terms of build. Tall but not super solid. If I hadn’t seen Vincent’s biceps when he’d taken off his sweatshirt last week, I wouldn’t have had any clue about the body he’d been hiding underneath his loose fitting clothes.

Caleb clearly assumed the same. Either that or he was just arrogant enough to think that Vincent would step aside at his command, like I would have.

“Bliss asked me to call her by her nickname. So I will.”

Guilt swamped me hard and fast. I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d dragged Vincent into this or because guilt and shame were just a regular state of being for me. It was my fault Caleb was mad. My fault he was here, making a scene.

“Vincent, it’s okay. Let me go.”

“No.”

If Caleb had said it, I would have been terrified. But when Vincent refused to let me go, all I felt was the rush of relief and safety. I wanted to step into him closer and let him wrap his arms around me so I could bury my face in his chest.

Little Dog let out a growl and then launched into a series of angry barks.

Caleb snorted, his gaze rolling over Vincent from head to toe. “No? Did you actually just try to keep me from my future wife? You think your rat there is going to help you, little gay boy?”

A rush of anger roared through me at the condescending tone in Caleb’s voice and the homophobic slur. I had no idea of Vincent’s sexual orientation, and it wasn’t any of my or Caleb’s business. But Vincent was hardly a boy. Clearly younger than Caleb, yes. But nothing about Vincent was anything but all man.

Caleb just chose not to see it.

“Stop it, Caleb!” I hissed, trying not to draw any more attention to us. At any minute, a parent could drop off a child, or one could look out the window. I didn’t want this to be the example I set for them. “I’m not your wife. And I’m not your fiancée either. Not after Friday night.”

He raised one mocking eyebrow. “Have you told your father this?”

I hadn’t, and he knew it.

“What about all your friends? All your father’s work colleagues. Your stepmother and her family. Have you thought of the scandal it will cause?”

“It’s not me who ended this relationship, Caleb. It’s you.”

“You stupid bitch,” he hissed. “You stupid whore. You don’t get a choice.”

“I do get a choice.” But the words sounded weak. I heard it and saw it in his expression. I needed something more. A final nail in the coffin of our relationship so he’d just leave me the hell alone. Maybe I was being petty, but I wanted to hurt him the way he’d hurt me. “I deserve better than this. I’ve realized there are men out there who will treat me right, so when I say we’re done, I mean it. I’m moving on.”

He laughed. “Bullshit. You fucking liar. Who else would want your ugly, fat ass?”

I crumpled under his insults. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard before. Whenever we argued, he brought up my weight. It was an insecurity he took great delight in pushing. And every time, it hurt more than any other barb.

“I do.”

My head snapped to Vincent, but he had eyes for no one but Caleb. Vincent’s body shuddered like he was visibly holding himself back.

I picked up the bone he’d thrown me and ran with it. “We have a date, Friday night at seven.”

Vincent instantly nodded in agreement.

Caleb looked ready to explode. “We had an agreement, and if you don’t hold up your end of the agreement, I will bury you. Your father won’t ever get another contract. And I’ll have your stepmother washing my dishes, while your brother and sister shine my fucking shoes. That’s how far I will ruin you, Bethany-Melissa. I will not be publicly embarrassed by you. You don’t want to try me.”

In a heartbeat, I could see it all come true.

In the next I saw the opposite.

I saw myself turn Psychos into something bigger and better than it even was now. I saw me as the savior of my family, the one who brought home enough money that my father could retire.

Nichelle and my siblings would have everything they needed.

I wouldn’t be beholden to any man.

Especially not a violent asshole like Caleb.

I struggled to pull his ring off, tugging at the too small band painfully until it slipped from my finger. I threw it at him. “Get in your car and drive away, Caleb. We’re done. Do your worst.”

The ring bounced off his chest and onto the ground at Vincent’s feet.

Caleb gaped at me. “That’s a thirty-thousand-dollar ring, Bethany-Melissa!” He crouched to pick it up.

The heel of Vincent’s boot drove down on Caleb’s fingers.

Nausea swirled my stomach at the crunch of breaking bone.

Caleb let out a blood-curdling scream, but Vincent didn’t remove his foot. He ground down harder, twisting his heel slowly and deliberately, leaving Caleb howling.

I knew Josie was probably having a conniption inside the center. There was no possible way she hadn’t heard Caleb’s screams.