Making it past the door and outside, she’s shaken and barely breathing when she breaks away from me and runs to my jeep.
“Babe, what the f**k happened in there?” I ask, when we get to my car, her whole body shaking. “Who the f**k did you see?”
She falls with her back against the side of the car and grabs on to my shirt as she’s crying, gasping for a decent intake of air.
“Jack is in there. We have to leave.”
“Who’s Jack?”
“Him! Jack is . . .” Her cries are strained when I see Jase approach, asking in shock, “Candace, what happened?”
“Jack’s inside.”
“Oh, shit!”
“Who the f**k is Jack?!” I scream, confused as f**k with what’s playing out in front of me.
“The guy that attacked her,” Jase tells me.
Everything stops.
Grabbing on to Candace’s shoulders, I demand, “Get in the car. Now.” I pull my keys out of my pocket and hand them to Jase, yelling at him, “Get her in the f**king car!”
Everything tunnels as I turn from everything good in my life and walk away.
One second. That’s all it took.
Suspended in a false reality where actions and consequences no longer exist. Where rage boils so deep inside your veins that you’d do almost anything to drain them. I’d bleed it all out for her.
Chaos. I’m in it when I slam through the doors and bark out, demanding only the way a feral animal would, “Where’s Jack?!”
When the guy to my left points him out, I come unleashed.
Without a conscious thought, I grab ahold of the hair on the side of his head and drive him with unrelenting force as I smash his face into the brick wall, blood splattering everywhere. The screams around me are nothing but hollow echoes as I keep my hand fisted in his hair and with one fluid movement, jerk him back and throw him to the floor, hearing the crack of wood as his head clips the edge of the table on his way down.
I watch his eyes roll back with heavy lids as I slam my fist into his face. Over and over. Blow after blow. I’m ravaged with hate, feeding this guy his own blood as I knock another punch into the side of his jaw, giving him only a small piece of what he gave my girl. I’m blinded by the rage that pounds in my chest. I’m gonna f**kin’ kill this piece of shit as I ram my fist into him until I’m suddenly pulled back.
I can’t feel anything besides the strain in my muscles, tense with fire.
“Breathe, man!” I hear Max yelling in my ear from behind me. His large hands are clamped to my arms, pinning them to my sides as I try to jerk out of his grasp. When I peel my eyes off of the sorry f**ker lying there, spewing blood, I see Mark in front of me, hands against my chest, holding me back. Everything moves in slow motion around me when suddenly the noises start to filter in clearly. No more static. Everything in full force around me.
“Get the f**k off of me,” I seethe at Max.
“What the hell is going on?”
Yanking myself out of his grip, I turn and lean into his ear, forcing out the words, “He raped Candace.”
His head snaps up as he looks at me, and I see the fury in his eyes grow.
“Get the f**k outta here, man,” he tells me in a low growl.
Looking down, the guy is starting to come to, when I say, “No way, man.” I’m not even close to being finished with him. “This guy’s dead,” I spit out, and before I can propel myself on him again, Max pulls me back, and says, “You left her outside. Go!”
“Dude, she’s outside, hysterical!” Mark shouts.
That’s all he needed to say to grab me. To suck me out of this tunnel.
Looking at Max straight on, I give him my hard words, “Finish him off, and throw this piece of shit out by that dumpster.” I feel my tears well up as he nods at me. “I’m not f**kin’ kidding, man!”
“I hear you, boss,” he says when I turn to Jack, draw my foot back, and kick the living shit out of him, cramming my boot into his balls. The pained shriek that rips through his throat is the last sound I hear as I storm out, fists still clenched when I spot my girl sobbing in the front seat of my car.
“Keys,” I quietly demand as I pass Jase.
Hopping into the car, I keep my eyes to the front. I’m still fuming, and my racing heart is making it hard to take in a solid breath. I need to get the hell out of here before the cops show up, but all I want to do is go back and destroy every little piece of that sack of shit.
I know I’m scaring Candace; I know how sensitive she is, but I also know that if I open my mouth right now, I’ll probably really upset her. So I stay quiet and focus on bringing my heart rate down and calming myself. I don’t even realize how firm my grip is on the steering wheel until I feel the blood from my knuckles running down the back of my hand.
By the time I pull up to the loft, my breathing has slowed, and I’m in a daze with all that just happened. Everything that I never wanted to do in front of her, I just did. And without a single second thought. Completely shut down, letting my anger get the best of me. I wouldn’t have been able to control it even if I wanted to. And the sick thing is, I’m still not satisfied.
Parking the car, I get out and walk around to her door. When I open it, I see her reddened face, soaked with tears. I grab on to her hips and turn her towards me as I drop my head onto her lap and cry. It hurts too much to keep it in, so I let it out. I feel her body as she leans down and drapes it over mine.