UNDYING: A Bad Boy MMA Romance (Midwest Alphas) (Book 3) (20 page)

“Tobias!” I cry his name, feeling the effect of Rick’s poison on me. My knees slip. My elbows buckle under my weight. Dizziness knocks me off balance, along with the boot of Rick’s heel slamming against my side to push me down.

I roll over onto my back and stare up into the billowing, black clouds above me until I lose consciousness again.

***

I feel it before I even open my eyes; the gentle rocking of a car. My fingers twitch on the leather seating. I stretch my toes, but I can’t feel them. It’s so cold.

A seatbelt digs into my neck to hold me up against the seat. I will my eyes open and I find myself sitting in a car I haven’t seen in years.

Rick’s car.

I turn my head and there he is. His bruised knuckles grip the steering wheel. Traces of red, crusted blood still sit under his broken nose. He forces his eyes open as far as he can to watch the road, but they’re so swollen shut, I can barely even see them.

He senses me move and looks over at me. “Hello, Claire,” he says, his voice soft and sure. I wince, noticing the holes in his smile. “Go back to sleep.”

My senses want to obey him so badly, but I force my eyes to stay open. I look out the window and watch the blanket of white snow rush by outside. “Where…” I mutter, dropping the words as my tongue weighs itself down.

“We just have a little errand to run…” he says, “and then we are going home.”

Home.
Red and orange flame fills my faded memory and fresh tears flow down my cheeks. I reach for the door handle, but my arms feel twice as heavy as normal and I can’t get a grip on it.

Rick reaches across the seat and jerks my hands away from it. “Knock it off,” he barks at me. “Just go back to sleep, Claire. We’ll be back in Chicago before you know it and life will
finally
return to normal.”

“Tobias…”
I mumble, my tongue thick and dry.

“Is
gone
,” he says. “Tobias is
dead
, Claire.”

I push my numb feet against the floor to move myself up the seat.
“No—”

“Yes.”

“You’re lying…” My voice comes out a whimper. Instinct moves my hands to my pockets in search of my phone. I can feel it beneath me, protruding out of my back pocket. My fingers wrap tight around it, but it slips from my grasp, feeling so heavy in my weak hands.

Rick snatches it away from me and rolls down his window. “Claire…” He tosses it onto the street outside. “It’s all right now. There’s no one standing between us anymore. No Tobias. No Uncle Charlie. Even my father is gone. I killed him myself…”

I shake my head, feeling the warm tears spill out even more.

He scoffs. “Come on, don’t
cry
.” He nudges my numb face. “You know I always hated watching you cry. If it makes you feel any better… this is
all
your fault.”

I sit up taller in the seat, throwing all of my focus into my limbs to revive them with energy, and look out the window. “I know this street…” I fight my blurry memories to recognize it.

“As you should,” he says. “You were just here.”

East St. Louis.
This is Pike’s neighborhood. I swallow to wet my burning, dry throat. “What are we doing here?”

“I told you,” he says with impatience. “We have an errand to run. Just one
tiny
loose end to take care of and then we’ll be on our way.”

“Pike… You’re going after Pike?”

“Beauty and brains, my love,” he smirks and throws his right around my shoulders to draw me in. I cringe as he plants a wet kiss on my forehead. “I knew I loved you for a reason.”

I push away from him with all my strength, tossing myself against the car door. As I roll over, I feel another object poking out of my back pocket. I search with my fingers, feeling the hard curve of the handle.

Rick’s switchblade.

I look at him, fearing he’s figured it out, but he’s staring at the road ahead with determined eyes. I tug against my seatbelt, making sure it’s tight and secure, before gripping the knife’s handle. My fingers are numb, as cold as ice, and I can’t keep a steady hold on it.

“You know, Claire…”

I jolt in my seat, adrenaline bringing me back to life.

He looks over at me and smiles. “I thought about it and I think I can finally forgive you.” I say nothing and rub my fingers together softly to warm them up. “It hurt when you betrayed me — a lot, actually. But—”

“Go to hell,” I breathe.

He reaches over and snatches my chin between his rough fingers. “That’s not very nice,” he growls, his broken teeth bared. “I’m trying to connect with you here. The more we communicate, the stronger we’ll be. Right?” I jerk my face out of his grasp. “Claire, I love you.”

I push the knife against the seat, forcing the button down, and the blade snaps free.

“Claire, say it back.”

“No.”

“Claire,”
he warns. “Tell me you love me.”

“I’ve never loved you, Rick,” I mutter, staring straight ahead. “I never will. Tobias is—”

“Dead—”

“The better man.”

He punches the steering wheel and the car lurches to the side. “Claire, I will be whatever man you want me to be, but you have to love me first.”

I swallow the bile down my throat and pivot my hand to palm the knife handle.

“Claire—”
he fumes. “Either you say it now and I’ll—”

I twist in the seat and swing my right arm around to attack him, aiming straight for his heart. The blade slides into his chest, slipping inside of him like butter. I push it inside until I can’t anymore and fall back into my seat, leaving the knife inside of him.

He shrieks in pain and his arm jerks the steering wheel, forcing the car into the curb. We roll over and I close my eyes tight to shield myself from the broken glass and sparks bursting at my face.

Metal crunches loudly in my ears, leaving a high-pitched ring wailing in my head. Time slows to a halt. Every moment feels a thousand times longer than the last. I scream out in pain, but I can’t make out what hurts.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, the car settles against the thick snow.

Blood rushes to my head, as I’m held upside down by the tight seatbelt. I reach up to try and detach it as movement draws my eyes towards Rick.

He grunts and coughs, his red eyes searching around in confusion. His shirt is stained red with his fresh blood and even more spills out of his mouth. I see the blade still poking out of his chest.

“Claire—” He reaches out to me with weak hands, but I push them away and focus on freeing myself from confinement.

I push my seatbelt free and gravity slams me down against the hood. His knife falls from above, landing right next to my face. I jerk away and look up to find he’s pulled it out of him and now reaches to free himself from his own seatbelt.

I grab the bloody knife and crawl out of my broken window. My entire body aches, but the cold blinds my senses as I pull myself from the wreckage.

“Help!” I scream down the abandoned street and my voice echoes back at me. I push myself up to try and stand, but the agony bones cracking in my foot brings me back down. I whimper in pain, overwhelmed by the throbbing taking over my leg.

“Claire!”

I turn to find Rick crawling out of the window behind me. My body trembles against the extreme cold and snow, but I push myself to survive, crawling on my hands and knees across broken shards of glass. I look up, fighting my blurred vision, and see Pike’s gym on the corner.

“Get back here!” He chokes the words out of him, disjointed and cruel.

I keep moving, refusing to take my eyes off the red snow beneath my bleeding fingers. He’s moving fast; I can hear him shifting against the ground to pull himself up, but I don’t dare look back. “No, no, no,” I whisper, urging myself to move faster.

To stay alive.

Pike’s gym sits before me, just a few more feet away. I reach out for the door, stretching my arm as far as I can, but the handle slips from my blood-soaked fingers.

“Claire, wait!”

I don’t stop. I try again, this time twisting harder, but the door is locked tight. I push up onto my knees and pound against the window with open palms. “Pike!” I scream, praying that he’s inside.

Rick falls to the ground and I look back to find him lying face down on the sidewalk with a long, red trail behind him. I whimper with fear, dreading the moment when he’ll lash out at me, but he lies still against the snow as a deep red puddle crawls out from beneath him.

“Holy shit, Claire.”

I shriek and turn back to the door. Pike stands behind me, stunned and confused as he scans the scene on the street with his swollen, red eyes.

“Help me.” I drop the bloody knife. It clangs against the concrete stair and drips red droplets by his feet.

Pike lowers himself to his knees and reaches for me. “Come on…” He lifts me off the ground.

I wince in pain.
“It hurts…”

“I know,” he soothes. “I got you.”

He carries me through the dark gym, fighting against his own fresh wounds to keep us upright, and climbs the stairs to his room. I shake in his arms, so much so he can barely keep his grip on me. I cling to him with the last ounce of strength I have left until he lays me down on his mattress.

“Where’s Tobias?”

A sob attacks me, drilling deep into my core. I try to answer him, but I can’t get the words out.

“Okay, okay—” He takes a quick step back. “Just stay here, Claire.”

“W-wait!” I reach out to him. “Rick’s still there—”

“Claire…” He grabs my shaking hands. “I’m pretty sure he’s dead.” I pause and let the words sink in as he grabs a thick blanket off the edge of the bed and lays it across my lap. “Stay here,” he says again.

“Where are you going?”

He sighs and throws his coat on over his shoulders. “I’m going to take care of it.”

I listen to his boots thump down the stairs, each one drifting farther away from me until there’s nothing but silence.

Chapter 15

The Unkillable

“Claire?”

Voices call out to me through a darkened haze. My arms and legs feel stiff, but warm. Every move I make leaves my body screaming in pain, even before I embrace consciousness.

“Claire, wake up.”

His voice. It can’t be real. It’s a cruel mirage, one whose sole purpose is to make a fool out of me.

“I heard the wreck outside. When I went to check it out, I wasn’t expecting to see her lying out there…”

“Open your eyes, Claire.”

I obey him, forcing my eyes to open despite knowing the disappointment I’ll feel when I do. It’s not him. It’s not possible. Bright lights burn my vision, piercing their sharp rays into my throbbing head.

A hand rests on my cheek, both soft and familiar. It nudges me, pulling me out of my dark dreamland.

I see his green eyes staring back at me, full of nervous relief. “Tobias?”

He smiles and runs his thumb across my bottom lip. “Yeah, it’s me, Claire.”

“Tobias!”
I push myself off the bed and throw my arms around his neck, ignoring the strong pains holding me down. He latches on to me and buries his nose in my hair. “He told me you were dead—” I choke on my tears.

“No, I made it out,” he whispers in my ear. “When I did, you were gone.”

I pull back to look at him and notice the black ash staining his face and neck. “Charlie?” I ask, fear gripping my heart.

“He’s okay. A little burned, but… he’s okay.” I fall against him again and he holds me still.

“She’ll need a hospital,” Pike says from across the room. “And after that, a
really
stiff drink.”

I loosen my grip on Tobias. “And Rick?” I ask Pike. Tobias turns around, just as eager to hear that answer as I am.

Pike pauses and looks down. “He won’t be bothering you anymore.”

My insides twist with nausea. I killed him. I actually killed my stepbrother. I glance at my trembling fingers, still stained red with blood.

“The police won’t ignore a wreck like that for too long — even in this neighborhood,” Pike continues, looking at Tobias. “You should get her out of here.”

Tobias nods and looks at me. “Can you walk?”

I bend my toes and a hissing pain shoots up my leg. “I don’t think so…” He pushes forward to pick me up.

“They won’t find anything,” Pike says to Tobias. “But if they do, it’ll lead to me. Not her.”