Keep From Falling (Markson Grove Series Book 1) (66 page)

But I know he’s not heartless like all of these spectators think him to be, like he wants everyone to believe, and as much as it seems like he doesn’t care about Tris’ fate, I know better. He cares, and this death will do damage to his soul, no matter the reason, I can’t see him being able to live with such a dark passenger. But I’m hopeful that he will conquer the darkness with me by his side because this is happening no matter what, and I have no way to stop it.

“Oh, don’t you worry my little
Culpeo
,” Dimitri says interrupting their heated exchange and my dismal thoughts. “You have a chance at greatness too. If you can kill your friend before he kills you, I will grant you a clean slate with me. A second chance. Not too many have experienced such a great deal from me, I assure you.”

The hopefulness radiating in my heart plummets to the pit of my stomach the moment his words penetrate my consciousness. He’s given Tris something to fight for and I’m fearful of what that means for Parker.

Tris says something to Parker that I’m unable to hear. I watch as Parker’s eyes narrow angrily before he looks to Dimitri, “Let me talk to Skylar first,” he calls out. “Please.”

Dimitri nods after a moment of contemplation, motioning for me to approach the cage. “I just adore you two,” he says with a smirk. “Don’t we adore these two lovers?” he announces to the crowd of spectators, and they immediately cheer in agreement.

I run over to the cage, crashing up against it as I fight back the tears I know will inevitably begin to flow at any moment. I place my hands against the cage on either side of me as I press my forehead to his. With both our palms pressed to each other’s, and our fingers grasping onto one another for dear life, I stare into his eyes and watch as a single tear escapes and begins to trickle down his cheek.

“Why is he doing this to you?”

“Because it’ll be a great show,” he replies bitterly. “You know that I have no choice, right? I didn’t want it to happen like this.”

“I know that, baby,” I reply, reassuringly.

“It’s for the greater good,” he says. “Our life, free. Colt’s life, free. I have to do this.”

“You’re hurt,” I say, gesturing to his knee. “What if you can’t… beat him?” I ask with a pitiful moan, my heart tormented with the possibility of losing him. The tears finally break free and begin to flow down my cheek to my nose and onto my lips.

“I’m fine, and he won’t,” Parker replies, attempting to kiss my soft flowing tears away. When his lips fall onto mine between the chain links of the fence, I return the kiss forcefully and take in the salty taste of my tears pressing between us.

“Can you live with this?” I ask him, needing to know for sure that he can handle the fallout that’s to come. There’s no going back from this, Tris will be dead and no matter which way he justifies it, the blood will forever be on his hands.

“I have no choice,” he returns. “If I don’t kill him, he
will
kill me. And then he’ll kill you and then Colt and Ellie and anyone else I care about. It has to end here. If Tris lives, no one in Markson Grove is safe. You know it as well as I do. I can live with this, as long as you can. Just please promise me that you won’t run away.”

“I promise,” I say, making sure to look him right in the eyes as I say it. “I won’t run away.”

He draws in a shaky breath. “Good.” He kisses me one more time. “I love you,” he says.

“I love you too,” I say back.

I take a few steps backward until I am caught in Spencer’s warm embrace. He hugs my back close to his chest and looks to Parker over my shoulder, “Stay alive for my girl, ok?”

Parker nods. He glances at me one last time before allowing his entire demeanor to change and his unforgiving, fighter instincts to kick in. He makes his way to the center of his cell, barely showing that his knee is now a problem.

Spencer leads me away from the cage, and toward a section of the room that’s far away from the carnage that’s about to take place. It appears as though he’s doing this because he’s trying to spare me from having to see the violence unfold, but I know better. His concern is for my safety, and although he doesn’t say it, I know that he’s preparing himself for what will have to be done in the event that Parker doesn’t win this fight. The possibility of that happening makes me sick to my stomach.

A loud, collaborate gasp radiates from the crowd suddenly, and my eyes franticly dart back to the cage.

I’m horrified to see, in the center of the cage, a barbaric weapon somehow come up through the floor in between the transparent barricade separating Parker from Tris.

Oh my God…

It’s a medieval style spiked mace, the kind that’s made of solid iron, and there is only one. Whoever gets their hands on that mace first will be the victor for sure, there is no doubt in my mind. The other won’t stand a chance against the likes of that daunting weapon.

I gasp, but I’m unable to verbalize what is going through my mind right now. I’m frozen in shock.

“Spencer,” I manage, but it’s all that escapes my lips. I have nothing. I don’t know what to do. There isn’t anything
to
do. This is happening; it’s happening right now, and I’m powerless to stop it.

The barricade begins to rise and I watch in horror as Tris darts for the weapon at the exact same moment that Parker pushes forward on his right leg, and immediately hits the floor with a deafening thud.

Everyone in the crowd gasps, myself included.

“It appears our little
Phoenix
is injured… what a pity,” Dimitri calls out to the crowd with a chuckle.

Parker scrambles to his feet, favoring his injured knee, just as Tris takes the mace into his hand and wields it mockingly.

“Give me a fucking weapon too!” Parker screams at Dimitri.

Dimitri laughs. “Now, what would be the fun in that?”

Parker’s eyes dart around the cage for something, anything that he can use as a shield or a weapon against Tris. The barricade finishes rising and Tris confidently moves toward him.

The entire room grows completely silent.

“It didn’t have to be this way,” Tris says.

“Fuck you,” Parker spits.

“Don’t worry, though, I’ll make it quick.”

Parker’s turns his face in our direction and the instant his panicked eyes meet ours, he cries out to Spencer, “Get her the fuck out of here! Now!”

Spencer doesn’t hesitate. He grabs me by the wrist and pulls me to the guarded exit.

I can’t breathe. This isn’t happening!

“I can’t leave him!” I protest, attempting to yank my arm from his grasp.

“Move aside!” Spencer growls at the bouncers, ignoring my pleas. “She shouldn’t have to see this.”

When they don’t budge, Spencer turns to Dimitri. “Tell them to move!”

“Let them pass,” Dimitri says dismissively, seeming annoyed with the distraction we are making for his event.

“Spencer don’t, please!” I beg franticly, attempting to kick him off of me. I don’t want to hurt him, but I can’t leave Parker, not like this!

I look over at the cage and see Tris storming at Parker with both hands tightly gripped around the mace, prepared to strike.

“No!” I scream as Spencer finally manages to drag me through the exit and the heavy door slams behind us.

Evan

When I awake the next morning, I don’t open my eyes right away because the first thing that hits my conscience is the excruciating headache that’s radiating from the back of my head to my temples. I’m nauseated, weak, and my mouth feels like the Mojave Desert.

The second thing that enters my conscience is the memory of ending things with Bree and hours later seeing her kiss Adrienne. My heart still aches over this, and my mind is filled with regret. Why would I do that? I need her, I need us.

No, even in this waking denial, I know the truth. I can’t give her what she deserves, she needs more than me. I have to be strong with this decision; I have to be selfless… for once.

My eyes flutter open the minute I feel that someone’s body is pressed close to mine. I’m relieved to find that it’s Bree, but that relief is short-lived the minute I feel the curve of her ass push into my groin. I let out a groan under my breath as I quickly become aware of my morning wood. I pull away from her body and roll onto my back, making sure my erection is discreetly tucked into my underwear and not pitching a tent under my blankets. I then stare up at the ceiling as I let the irony of this entire situation sink in. This is the first time I get to wake up next to Bree, and she isn’t even mine to wake up next to anymore.

I’m shirtless, but my jeans are still on which is probably the reason that Bree didn’t realize my little friend was poking at her. How humiliating it would have been if she had.

Bree’s curled up in a fetal position with one hand under the pillow she’s sharing with Adrienne. Her face is only an inch away from Adrienne’s, their cute little noses nearly touching. I’m not going to lie, seeing them this way is hot. It sucks… but it’s hot.

Adrienne is lying on her stomach, the blankets mostly all off of her nearly naked body. The perfect curves of her round ass are blatantly visible in her tiny black thong. She’s beautiful, they both are. What a complete kick in the gut it is to know they were both mine, and I lost them.

I feel my phone vibrate in the pocket of my jeans and I reach in to answer it. Eight missed calls all from Derrick and Kelsie, with this call it will be nine. I walk to the bathroom and shut the door behind me quietly.

“Hello,” I say the minute I press talk and put the phone to my ear.

“Evan! Fuck man, you had me so worried,” Derrick’s panicked voice says to me through the earpiece.

“I’m fine. I’m um… I’m really hung-over but—.”

He cuts me off, “You sound like shit, man. Where the hell are you? Please tell me you aren’t in a gutter on the side of the road somewhere.”

“No I’m in a room over a bar,” I say and then add, “with Bree and Adrienne.”

There’s a long pause on the other end of the line. “You’re kidding me?” he says finally, the shock in his voice radiating into my eardrum.

“I’m not. I wish I could explain it to you, but honestly, I can’t.”

“You got a room with two girls last night and you can’t explain it?” he scoffs, unsatisfied with my explanation or lack thereof.

“I was fucking drunk. No, I was beyond drunk. I was too loaded to function. I puked on myself, Derr.”

Derrick laughs, a deep and hearty laugh that tells me he’s enjoying this way too much. “I’m sorry I missed it,” he says, and I can just picture the amused smirk that is definitely plastered on his face right now.

“I’m glad you missed it.”

“So Adrienne and Bree, huh?” he says, attempting to bring this conversation back to where we left it.

“Yep, Adrienne and Bree.”

“What kind of room?”

My eyes squint as I struggle to keep calm. “It’s a room with a bed, I don’t know what else to tell you.” He’s really getting on my nerves and this pounding headache is relentless. I don’t have the patience for his stupid curiosity right now.

“One bed?”

I sigh loudly. “Yes Derrick. I slept in the same bed with two very hot girls who both happen to be my exes. And I got absolutely no play, all right? They got more action with each other than I got with either one of them, trust me on that.”

I hear the sound of sputtering and then a loud thud. A few seconds later, there’s a ruffling of the mouthpiece and then Derrick is back. “What did you just say?” he asks as calmly as he can in spite of how much my words have shocked him. I know Derrick, his brain is convulsing right now, I’m sure of it.

“I said I didn’t get any play. Now drop it.”

“No, the part about them getting play with each other.”

“They kissed, ok? I saw them kissing,” I reply with an overly exaggerated exhale.

“What the fuck? Ok Evan, you have so much you need to explain to me right now? What the hell is going on?”

“I broke up with Bree last night,” I tell him with a shrug even though he can’t see it.

“Yeah, that much I figured. Still doesn’t explain why you slept in the same bed with her and your other ex-girlfriend, though.”

“They were taking care of me, I guess. I got really loaded on whiskey… it was bad. I still feel like shit.” I look into the mirror in front of me and examine my face. I look sick. I’m pale, my lips are grey, there are dark circles under my eyes and my hair is a greasy, disgusting mess.

“Why the hell would Adrienne be taking care of you?” he asks me in a serious state of confusion. My relationship with Adrienne has been hostile, to say the least, over the last few years, so there’s no logical explanation as to why she’d decide to take care of my drunken ass. But logic isn’t something I need in order to understand her motives. She likes Bree.

“Adrienne is different now,” I say. “I think she’s into girls.”

There’s a long silence at the other end and I cringe in anticipation of what Derrick might say. But as the silence carries on, I begin to realize that this fact is actually even beyond Derrick making fun of me for it. The only two girls I’ve ever been with sexually are both gay and have a thing for one another. It’s completely embarrassing, and the fact that Derrick doesn’t even make it into a joke just shows how pathetic it makes me.