Bad Decisions

Ride or die

Micah

I stumbled out of my room, delirious and caught off guard by the sudden memory. My temples fuc.king hurt like a bi.tch and all I could think of was getting back to Kassie. I needed to be by her, breathe her in like she was my oxygen—she would be the remedy to my rampant thoughts.

But, sh.it, I probably needed to tell her about my recovered memory, and that her father was the one to erase it. It might’ve been for her sake, but chances were, she wouldn’t take the news well. And…fu.ck, what if he erased her memories, too?

It was a goddamned sh.it show.

I froze when I felt a body come up from behind me, a hand grabbing me by the shoulder. And although logic should’ve prevented me from going stiff and freaking out, it didn’t. I reacted first, thought after the fact. I grabbed the arm in a tight grip, twisting it as I pushed the fuc.ker into the wall, smacking him face first roughly into the wall.

Heath let out a growl of annoyance and a second later, I regained my mind. I stepped away from him with a huff, and he turned toward me.

“Don’t sneak up on me.”

Heath looked absolutely outraged.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve, Micah,” he bit out coldly.

Ah, sh.it, this was about Crystal…

“You’re damn right it is,” he growled. “You act like you have so much fuc.king control, but the moment something goes against your perfectly laid-out plans, you lose every shred of it!”

I didn’t like his tone or the way his eyes narrowed at me. I was instantly on defense.

“Can you fuc.king blame me? Neither of you seem to realize how much danger she could be in from being suppressed like that,” I hissed back. “How her powers—if she has any—can backfire and—”

“And how is that Crystal’s fault?” He interrupted. “She was only asked to do it. Blame Jaz and Amara for that. If Crystal refused, Amara would’ve gone a different route that could’ve been so much worse. It sure as hell doesn’t give you the right to put your hands on her. She bruises like a fuc.king peach.”

I knew it wasn’t her fault, and yeah, I felt a bit bad for grabbing her the way I did, but the girl can handle her own without a doubt. In fact, I was damn impressed now that I stepped away and took a breath—don’t get me wrong, I was still pissed.

“And how are you any better?” Heath continued.

My brows pulled together and I stared long and hard at him. “What the f***k are you talking about?”

“You can act like you did nothing wrong here, kid, but you did the exact same thing, didn’t you? You found a way to blend her in plain sight.”

“I did what I had to.”

It was true. We ran for a while, skipping from town to town, not knowing if or when a threat would show its face. I wasn’t sure exactly what we were running from—or who to be precise, but I knew she wasn’t safe…and neither was I. So yeah, eventually I found someone who was able to make it so we couldn’t be found. We weren’t exactly hiding in plain sight, since people could tell what we were, but any threats wouldn’t be able to sense us if they were looking. Never did I once make it so either of our true natures were sealed, just masked enough that we couldn’t be traced.

He shook his head. “What are you hiding from, Micah?”

I resisted the urge to swallow and turn away from his unshakable gaze. I refused to falter and give him what he was looking for. He took a step closer to me--he was only a few inches from my face. I think he was trying to intimidate me…and failing.

“I’m just trying to keep her safe, like I’ve always done,” I responded smoothly. He was trying to bait me and he was going to continue to be disappointed when I gave him nothing in return.

His lip curled up at one corner into a smirk, as if he caught me in a corner I couldn’t escape from.

News flash, vampire, I can never be cornered.

“From her monsters, or yours?”

I gritted my teeth. “You know damn well what I’m trying to protect her from,” I snapped. If he dared to move another inch he was going to get knocked on his ass.

“I know you’re hiding something, and so does she. What exactly is it, Micah?”

My eyes widened. Kassie…knew I was hiding something? She told him that?

He chuckled. “You know what I think it is? I think you’re more involved with all of this than you’re letting on.”

In a split second, I saw red. I lunged for him, pinning him to the wall, my forearm coming to his throat tightly, making it difficult for him to suck in breath.

“f***k you!” I seethed. “You fuc.king dare even insinuate that I had anything to do with her parents’ death? That I would ever hurt her that way?! You fuc.king disgusting bloodsucking piece of s**t!” My voice had risen to a dangerous level and I was seriously at risk for losing myself completely. “How fuc.king dare you?”

He made a choking sound and I swear it was him laughing at me. That, or it was my blood-thirsty imagination trying to push me over the very thin threshold keeping my sanity in place.

I was debating making him bleed, doing a whole slew of sinful and painful acts for even suggesting such a thing, but in the next moment I was being pulled off of him. Small hands pressed on my chest, rounded eyes peering up at me. Her scent filled my nose, her breath filled my lungs and her cool hands anchored me back in my body.

Fu.ck, that was close.

She said something and it took me a moment to understand. She sounded…accusatory.

Fu.ck. Of course, I look like the as.shole here, when it was all Heath trying to goad me into giving him answers that were none of his damned business.

And frankly, that irritated me. I wished she hadn’t interfered now—I would love another excuse to beat the vampire’s face in. And to make matters worse, Heath put a hand on Kassie and continued to f***k with me.

“He’s just not used to being challenged,” he said. If Kassie’s presence hadn’t calmed me, if her tiny hands hadn’t been pressed against me, there was no telling what would’ve happened to Heath.

I stared over her head into his eyes, meeting the challenge in his eyes with my own. The threat spilled my lips before I could think better of it, and he didn’t hesitate to return the favor.

“It should be you who is careful. After all, nothing is a secret here. I’ll figure out what you’re hiding, Micah Pellegrino.” He said my name as if it was a disgusting lie sitting on his tongue, like I wasn’t who I said I was.

He didn’t even know.

‘I can tolerate you, Micah, but don’t push me, and don’t ever lay a hand on my wife again. It’ll be the last thing you ever do,” his voice echoed in my head as he turned away, pulling a silent Crystal behind him.

‘And one more thing, if you hurt that girl in any way, I know of very painful ways to kill a demon.’

You dumb fuc.king leech!

I took a step toward him, even as he was walking away, ready to show my displeasure at his threat, but Kassie was there again, just a few inches from me. Her arms were crossed over her chest, brow raised expectantly.

Any other time, place, or person she would back me up without question. This hadn’t seemed like one of those times. And, f***k, did that bother the sh.it out of me.

“What?!” I growled out.

She gritted her teeth as a flash of rage crossed her face, her fangs elongated. “Don’t take your bad mood out on me,” she snapped. “Calm the hell down.”

“Bad mood?” I scoffed angrily. “The sh.it he’s accusing me of…” I shook my head, letting out a huge breath.

She blinked up at me, looking momentarily guilty before she recovered. She returned to her normal attitude, a hip c****d and her arms crossed.

“So? Who gives a sh.it what he thinks? Do you know what I told him?” She didn’t give me more than a second to respond, just continued on, annoyed. “I told him what bull.shit I thought that was, that he doesn’t know you and there’s no chance in hell you would have anything to do with…you know…I trust you, M, and I think that’s the only thing that really counts here. So next time, if he tries saying some dumb sh.it, I’ll kick him in his balls because I already warned him to watch his mouth about that garbage.”

My heart fluttered.

Guess I was wrong to think she wouldn’t back me up against her so-called uncle. That was why she was my best friend, my partner in crime.

And maybe it was a bad move, but I pulled her flush against me, grabbing her cheek in my hand and brushing a kiss against her forehead. When I stared down at her, her cheeks were flushed a brilliant rosy color that looked damn good on her.

Her undying loyalty caused a pang of guilt in my chest that I had to ignore. I could never admit it aloud, but he was right. I did have a secret—one Kassie could never know.

She would never forgive me if she did.