Fatal (Portland Street Kings Book 2) (2 page)

Rex’s eyes bulge and he takes a step back as if I physically struck him.
 

I sigh and shake my head, frustrated with the situation. I would never blame Rex for what his father did to me. “I don’t blame you, Rex. I’ve had enough bad in my life to know that no-one can control other people’s actions, any more than I can control the rotation of the Earth.”

Rex looks up to the sky, the veins in his neck bulge as he grinds his teeth together and then he lets out a guttural yell.

My brow furrows, and I take a careful step back from him.

This isn’t Rex, not at all.
 

His eyes lower to me as fast as lighting and his lip curls up in a snarl. 

What the hell? His moods are all over the place.
 

It’s then I think to look down at his arms. And what I find shatters my heart. Needle marks, not just one, but many. 

I knew this. Although seeing with my own eyes feels like a slap to the face, and waking up to a reality I didn’t want to believe in. I can’t even begin to describe the hopelessness that sets in. Knowing how far-gone Rex is. Understanding that anything I say right now is just a waste of my own breath. 

A sick feeling hits my stomach as I realize only one of us may be leaving this place alive, and the chance of that being me is almost impossible. I clench and unclench my fingers as fear begins to spike inside me. 

I stare into Rex’s dark eyes and with a shaky, but mostly steady voice I ask, “Why did you bring me here?” 

As if being snapped out of a dream he peers around at our surroundings and then back to me. Rex’s face relaxes, tight lips soften and for the first time today I spot the Rex from my teenage years. The boy who helped me with my school work. The friend who taught me how to draw.
My first love.
 

“You and I, Dell, we’re meant to be. But now, everything’s fucked up. I was gonna make you happy. I got more family, important people in the world. I’ve taken over what my father did for them and I was gonna give you everything you never had.” Rex bends at the knees and fists his hands, his veins popping on and around the track marks on his arms. “I had
plans
for us,” he grinds out. “Plans that went to fucking shit the moment I found out that it was you who killed my father and not fucking Slater.
You.
” 

Rex curls his arms up in the air, they tense as if he wants to grab and shake me mercilessly. 

As I hold my hands out ready to defend myself, I scan the area frantically.

Rex. Woods. Train tracks. Road. 

My breaths come hard and fast and my heart cracks wide open, because what Rex and I could have had didn’t end the day he found out I killed his father. We died the day his father raped me. There would never be a single moment in my life in which I could bear the intimate touch from my rapist’s son.

It’s not Rex’s fault his father turned into a predator, but I could never lie next to Rex and not see his father holding me down. Bruising me. Prying my legs apart. Slapping me until I was almost unconscious. No part of me can ever separate the two. That’s a place I can’t keep going back to for the rest of my life.

Lowering my arms and straightening my back, I pull strength from inside myself and with quivering chin, I whisper, “I loved you.” Rex frowns and he stares back at me with anguish in his eyes. “You were my whole world, the only boy I’d ever thought would have my heart. You led the way and I followed. I whole-heartily trusted everything about you.” Tears begin to flow freely now and Rex’s form blurs. “I’ve had to survive all my life. I only got through my childhood because it’s what I thought was normal. I didn’t know regular beatings weren’t what all other children were going through. I thought all parents and families were the same. Then I lost my sister and had to sit back and watch my brothers suffer every day so they could watch out for me… look after me, eat less than me, sleep less than me, steal for me, deal drugs for me.” I take in a shaky breath and continue, “Your father took the last shred of spirit I had left in me, Rex, and also the last of my humanity when I suddenly looked down at my hands and saw blood on them. I had seen the light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel when I was with you, and then your father took that away from me. He destroyed my light just as easily as putting his hand up in front of the sun. You and I died that day, Rex, before we ever truly began.”

Quickly I wipe the tears aside and stare at Rex with sincerity and honesty. “I’m sorry I took your father away from you and Lana. I am apologetic that I didn’t have the strength to tell you it was me. For the rest of my life, I will have the blood of another on my hands. Please don’t think I take that lightly because I don’t. I regret what I did and I can’t take it back, and I can’t explain to you what came over me the moment it happened. All I can do is tell you how deeply broken I am, that this is my life now and that I hurt you and Lana, two people who I care about a lot.”
 

Silence settles between us. Rex says nothing, just looks at me, but I can see his mind racing behind his hazel eyes. Abruptly, he pinches the bridge of his nose, clenching his eyes closed as if he’s in pain. His mental state is deteriorating.
 

I decide to take the opportunity to glance behind me into the woods and wonder if I should now make a run for it.
How far do the woods stretch out for, until I could hit the Ohio River and possibly dive in and swim to safety?
Would I make it or would Rex drown us both trying to catch me again? 

I swing my gaze to the car.
Could I jump into the car and lock the doors?
It could give me precious time to stay alive, and if the keys are in the ignition I would have my saving grace. 

I scan Rex’s jean’s pockets not seeing any bulge or hear any rattling when he moves. Rex stands tall and pins me with a glare, one that sends a chill down my spine. His gaze alert and his jaw set. His expression exhibits determination. A decision he’s made which is now cemented to his core. 

“I don’t want to talk about this shit anymore. We’re here for a clean slate, Dell… a new beginning. We’re going to wash away all our regrets.” 

My eyes widen at Rex’s words. 

A new beginning?
 

I’m almost too afraid to believe what I just heard. 

Trying not to spook him I calmly ask, “How do we have a new beginning—” The sound of a horn in the distance cuts off the rest of my words. I glance over my shoulder to the bend as I recognize the sound and vibration of the earth. A train is coming. 

“It’s going to be beautiful, Dell, us together, a new beginning. Leaving all this bullshit behind.” 

I twist my head back to Rex and my brow furrows as I take in his words and try to understand them. We’re only about a meter away from the tracks, so I begin shuffling sideways. My sole concern right now is to move far away from the large oncoming train that won’t see us until it’s around the bend. 

I turn my back to Rex and inhale the fresh woods scent and feel a cool breeze against my skin from the wind blowing through the trees. All of those beautiful sensations disappear when two strong hands grip my biceps from behind and begin to drag me back towards the train tracks. My eyes pop open and an icy sensation runs through me. 

Fear grips me.
I knew it.
My heart knew what we are really doing here, but my mind still fought for supremacy, for hope in a man who I will always love, in my memories. Cocking my knees, I begin kicking at Rex behind me. I wriggle my shoulders violently and as a result, a sharp pain shoots up my neck, but Rex doesn’t release his hold on me, his grip only becomes tighter. 

“Rex,” I say in a warning tone. “Let me go.” 

I sense Rex shake his head. “You and I, Dell, we’re starting over. We’re leaving this world behind. We’ll wash away our regrets and sins and try again.” 

Oh my god. He’s unhinged.
This isn’t Rex. This is a mad man. 

I continue to thrash my body around, desperate for Rex to weaken. “No, don’t do this. Rex, this isn’t you. Please.” I’m not ashamed to admit I’m whimpering, but my pleas go unheard as Rex shoves his arm under my right bicep and across my ribs, his hand digging into my left hip painfully. 

He then lifts my feet off the ground and carries me over the metal rails and onto the sleepers, stopping us exactly in the middle of the tracks. The vibration from the train tracks travels all through my body. So much so, I can’t tell if it’s my shaking body or the oncoming train. 

The train turns the bend and the driver sounds the horn once, twice, three times. 

My heart, blood and pulse all freeze in fear. 

My sight is glued to the large metallic machine—the insignificant piece of metal, which has the ability to take my life from me. To splatter my past, present, and now my lost future all over the place.

The horn sounds repeatedly, but it’s useless, no horn is going to stop a madman. I lose it. I’m like a feral cat, extending my claws and scratching him wherever my hands can reach. I put all my body weight on his arm trying to bend forward to tip Rex over, and when that doesn’t work I kick my legs out, striking him harshly over and over again.

Rexs’ grunts of pain prove I’m hurting him, but I’m still not moving him or lessening his resolve. My heart is close to exploding; each breath is harder to take. My vision begins to blur, but I can still see. I’m watching as death comes straight for me.

“I beg you, Rex, beg you!” My voice becomes hysterical. “Don’t do this. Death is forever, there’s no coming back from this.”

His hold does not falter at my words; he stays strong like a cement wall.

“You don’t see it now, but I do. Trust me this is for the best.”

He’s fucking crazy.

I scream. It’s high-pitched, long and unwavering, praying for anyone nearby who might help me, knowing that hope is impossible. I’m breathless, I can’t catch my breath fast enough to keep shouting for help.

The train’s brakes activate and the squeal causes my eyes to clench closed for a brief second from the pain in my ears. Unexpectedly, a shriek, laced with so much agony and desperation fills the air. I look to the right and find my family and Brett running down from my car, toward me. Lana stays frozen.

Rex twists his head toward her. “Fuck. I didn’t want Lana to see this. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” Rex grates into my hair.

Seeing my family gives me renewed strength, I throw my head back hoping to strike his face or nose. Rex’s fingers dig into my skin firmer than I ever thought humanly possible and I whimper still fighting through the pain. 

The train is upon us, mere meters away, I glance quickly to my right and watch my family running toward me, my heart shattering that the last thing I’ll see on their faces when I leave this earth is fear and pain. 

My gaze darts to Brett as he’s sprinting toward me, and I see the shock and desperation as he realizes he’s not going to get to me in time. I mouth
I love you.
His eyes widen and even though it should be impossible, I see him move faster, pumping his arms harder and breathing quicker. 

My heart squeezes and twists. This isn’t what I wanted for him or for me. I wanted my end to be different from my beginning. Less violent, more love. 

I hear an anguished moan come from Rex. Wetness hits my shoulder. 

“My head hurts, Dell. I’ve done a lot of bad, but hurting you was never something I wanted to do. I’m sorry I dragged you down with me.” 

Rex’s sincere tone and sudden honest words come too late. The heat burns my skin, so much so that my eyes widen from the pain and screams rip from my dry throat. 

Rex twists my shoulders to brace for the hit. The first crack of pain I feel from the impact is in my wrist as it shatters, along with my life.

Chapter One

Mackson King and Lana Scavello
 

A map of their beginning and disastrous end.
 

Year 2003

Mackson - Sixteen Years Old

Lana - Fifteen Years Old

Lana

Embarrassed. Mortified.

I race out of my house, my father’s yells echo through the back door, his words spear my back like sharp arrows. Racing through my side gate and out onto the road, I look left and right, desperate for a way out. I hate this place.

My dad isn’t what you’d ever describe as father of the year, he’s not even close. I’m pretty sure he hates me. He always says I look too much like my mother. I have her white blonde hair and dark brown eyes. My father stares into them sometimes, lost, more adrift than his usual absent glare.

My father has never looked upon me before and actually seen his daughter. My mother is all he sees and he doesn’t bother to think past her or the fact that she left him, us. I’m the one who’s paid the penance for her not sticking around.

I peer up the dead-end street and into a field, it’s filled with nothingness, just like this town. I imagine one day driving straight out of here and never turning back. Not having to live with a parent who doesn’t want me or regrets having to feed me. I wish I had the strength inside myself to keep walking. But what would I do for food and shelter, how would I survive?

You little bitch. Always thinking you’re the best, the prettiest, and the smartest. You’re none of those things.

I take a step onto the road and start walking to the field, my father’s cruel words driving me farther away. 

And the funny thing is, I don’t believe I am pretty or smart, so I don’t flaunt myself the way my father says I do. I’m the exact opposite. I hate being looked at, and I don’t have any funny comebacks or cool remarks. I’m nothing special and even if I thought I could be, my father has made damn sure that spark would never light to a fierce fire. I’m pretty sure my spark is broken, just like me. 

Rain begins to sprinkle down over me. I lift my hands.
Story of my life, everything always gets worse. 

The cold distracts my thoughts, but then I lick my lips and taste the salt from my tears, not even the rain can hide my pain. 

Heavy, wet pounding footsteps come from behind me and I glance over my shoulder to find Mackson running toward me. I face forward again, lowering my chin and closing my eyes tight.