This Is Love, Baby (War & Peace #2) (22 page)

“Ow!” she cries out. “Let me go!”

A crazed laugh rumbles around us and I shiver. For a moment I wonder if it’s Gabe coming back to haunt us but then I realize the laugh is mine.

I
deserve her loyalty.

“Did that freak give you this?” I snap and jerk the same wrist up so I can take a closer look at what’s on her arm.

“Stop, Brandon,” she says in a wobbly voice, all her fire snuffed out.

I yank the watch from her arm and heave it as far as I can throw it, which is pretty damn far considering I was a pitcher for the varsity baseball team. If we weren’t standing on sand, I’d have stomped it into a million pieces.

I
deserve to spoil her.

“Get in the house, babe,” I grunt. My hand squeezes her forearm as I guide her inside. “We need to talk.”

I’m surprised to find the house unlocked. It makes me wonder if the owners are nearby. Out for an early morning walk or some shit. They’ll regret coming home, that’s for sure.

I
deserve to have her all to myself.

She puts up a resistance when I start pushing her toward the stairs. “You promised me you’d take me to my dad. That’s the only reason I left with you. Where is he?”

Ignoring her, I all but drag her up the stairs and down the hallway. When I find the master bedroom, I toss her onto the bed and glare down at her.

I
deserve her body.

“Take off your clothes,” I snap.

At first, her eyes widen in shock but then her nostrils flare and she scowls at me. Her cheeks and neck redden but I’ve known her long enough to know it isn’t from embarrassment. She’s pissed. How is it she’s scared shitless of Gabe but I don’t frighten her one bit?

I
deserve her fear.

“Baylee Marie Winston,” I bite out, “if you don’t take your goddamned clothes off right now I will cut them off you.” For effect, I yank the knife out of my pocket and wave it at her.

I
deserve her terror.

Tears well in her eyes but the fury remains. She’s still not fucking afraid of me. With her angry eyes locked on mine, she whips off my hoodie. The same hoodie I’d seen her in hundreds of times at school. The hoodie with “Thompson” emblazoned on the back that let every guy at school know she was mine.

Was.

I
deserve to give her my last name.

I run my fingers through my hair and let out a rage-filled scream. “Why, Baylee? Why did you do this to us? You used to love
ME
!”

She crosses her arms over her breasts and glares at me. “Where. Is. My. Dad?”

I
deserve her undivided attention.

Storming over to her, I surprise her when I grab onto her jaw, my fingers digging brutally into the flesh. “Naked, babe. You’re still half dressed.” When I drag the knife along her breast and down over her belly, she winces in fear. Fucking finally.

I
deserve her hot cunt.

“Okay, Brandon, okay.”

I release her and watch as she shimmies out of her pants. As soon as her perfect pussy is on display, I ache to taste it. To put my mouth on her hot cunt and remind her of why she loves me—not that bastard in the hospital.

I
deserve her entire body.

“What are you going to do?” she demands, her teeth gritting together. I’ll give it to my girl for her bravery—she’s one tough bitch after what Gabe put her through.

I kick my shoes off and start unbuckling my belt. “What I should have done a long time ago.”

I
deserve to fuck her into tomorrow.

She starts to squirm away from me but I seize her ankle and yank her back over to the edge of the bed. “Brandon, don’t do this,” she begs, fear finally threading her words. “This isn’t you.”

I
deserve her pleas and screams.

I smirk, not feeling at all like that timid little pussy boy she once loved. “You’re right, babe. I’m different and I’m tired of being a fucking virgin while you fuck every goddamned prick on the West Coast. Keep your eyes open, Baylee. I want you to know who’s fucking you this time.”

I
deserve all of this.

I waited for her.

I rescued her.

I killed for her.

I deserve her.

My Baylee.

B
RANDON’S NORMAL TWINKLING
green eyes are dulled into something dark and deviant. I don’t recognize his voice, his hateful smile, or the menacing expression and crazed look in his eyes. He’s not the boy from high school—the boy who was shy about giving me my first kiss or meeting my parents for the first time. This isn’t the boy who I cried for when Gabe took me.

Gone is the boy from my past.

This man is a product of Gabe’s actions.

Gabe created the monster before me.

“Please,” I beg again as his grip becomes tighter around my ankle. “I’m pregnant,” I blurt out.

His green eyes spark to life as he takes pause. I watch in wonder as his gaze darts back and forth between me and my belly as if trying to make sense of my words. I hear a creak on the wood floors in the bedroom. A pair of eyes peer back at me just beyond Brandon. A familiar pair of eyes. A pair of eyes that belong to the devil.

I’m seeing things.

Brandon seems to snap out of his daze and works at his jeans to free his cock. While he’s preoccupied, I rear back with my free foot and kick him with every bit of force I can dredge up in his chest. It doesn’t faze him, though, because he laughs and twists my ankle in his grip to the point of pain, causing me to yelp out.

“You must be deaf because I clearly heard her demand for you
not
to touch her.” As if the devil has any room to talk. Brandon freezes as Gabe steps closer, pointing a gun at him.

So I’m not seeing things.

A bruised and bandaged up Gabe enters the bedroom. He walks with a slight limp and winces.

“I killed you,” Brandon murmurs in disbelief as if he’s seeing a ghost. “You were dead.”

Gabe laughs but then coughs. “No, you beat me, when I couldn’t defend myself, and then you dumped me into my cellar. You broke bones, but you didn’t break
me
,” he mutters through gritted teeth. “Drop the knife on the bed and step away from her.”

Brandon lets the knife fall on the edge of the bed and takes three slow steps away from it. Gabe winks at me and I shiver.

“How did you get out?” I ask softly. There was no way out. I should know, I was in that cellar for days and felt every surface looking for an alternate escape route.

He remains perfectly still, only his eyes sliding over to meet mine when he says, “There was a window. You just never found it, baby.” He shrugs dismissively, like I just lost a simple coin toss over who has to do the dishes that night.

I sit up and glare at him, reaching for my hoodie and sliding it on over my head. “There was no window!”

“There was. It was painted black near the ceiling. It was hard as hell finding all the brick grooves to stick my toes in so I could scale the wall but, I managed,” he says in a triumphant tone. “Too bad you two were long gone before I got out. Otherwise, we could have had fun together.”

Brandon starts toward Gabe but he aims the gun, fitted with a silencer, at his head.

“Don’t even try it, pussy boy. Why don’t we start by you telling Baylee what you did to Tony?”

My eyes find the enraged ones of Brandon. His jaw clenches as if the boy I knew from before is clinging on desperately. Begging him not to make things worse. I can’t help but be thankful for the truth that Gabe will no doubt force from him.

“You know nothing,” Brandon snaps. “I did nothing.”

The muscle in Gabe’s forearm flexes as his finger hovers over the trigger. “I’m not stupid. You and I both know what you did.”

Brandon grunts and runs his fingers through his hair. His eyes dart back and forth between Gabe and I as he searches for the right words. When his furious glare lands back on Gabe, he fists his hands and spats out words that have my already fragile psyche cracking. “Tony deserved it after what he did.”

My heart thunders in my chest and I shake my head in denial. What did my dad deserve? What did he do? “No.” The word is a whisper and I’m not sure either of them even heard it.

Gabe frowns and shakes his head in disproval. “Did you tell Baylee that
you
killed him? Surely she has ascertained as much by now.”

“No, you’re lying.” I swallow down my emotion and blink away the tears blurring my vision. “Tell me where my dad is, Brandon.”

Brandon grits his teeth and jerks his gaze to me. The fire in his eyes is burning bright and hate-filled. He’s lost. So lost. “That night,” he snarls, “that night when
he
fucking took you, I woke up with a broken nose and a broken heart.”

“Awwww,” Gabe taunts.

“Shut the fuck up,” Brandon snaps. “I went into their bedroom and woke up your dad. I told him what happened. Do you want to know what he did?”

My brows scrunch in confusion. I can imagine a million different scenarios. Dad hitting him. Dad freaking out with worry. Dad accusing him of doing something to me.

“He dragged me out of that room, so your mother wouldn’t wake, and he punched me in the stomach. Then he threatened me. He told me to shut the fuck up or he’d do it for me. To not tell a soul anything because as far as I was concerned, you ran away. It wasn’t until a few days later when I came back, after your mom had passed away, that I learned the truth. He told me that he did what he had to do for the money. To save your mother. End of story.”

“I don’t understand,” I murmur. None of this makes any sense.

Brandon huffs and lets out a cruel laugh. A laugh so similar to Gabe’s it sends goosebumps popping up all over my flesh. “Your dad was in on your abduction and sale, Baylee. It was all planned.”

Time stops as I consider his twisted words. There’s no way my father would sell his daughter for money. Absolutely not.

Sitting up on my knees, the hoodie hitting me mid-thigh, I point my finger at him angrily. “No, I don’t believe this.” Anger surges in my chest at his insinuations. “You’re a fucking liar, Brandon. Dad wouldn’t let Gabe
abduct
me,
rape
me, and then
sell
me. No!”

Gabe chooses that moment to pipe up. “It’s the truth,” he says and has the audacity to look regretful. “It was the only way to insure Lynn got moved up on the transplant list or considered for a private donor that could be paid off. It was business and you were a pawn, sweet girl.” Then, his eyes slide over my bare legs and he flashes me one of his wicked, psycho grins. “Besides, Tony didn’t give me his approval to sleep with his daughter. How was I supposed to know we were going to fall in love? That was just a bonus, beautiful.”

We are
not
in love.

He is fucking delusional.

“This was all for nothing…” I trail off, choking on my words. “What about those other girls? Did you love them too or were they just practice?”

Gabe runs his fingertips over the top of my foot and I shudder. “Sweetheart, believe me when I say it was
not
all for nothing. It was worth
every
second. And, yes, my little hobby of mine with the WCT opened the door for something bigger. It revealed to me a way to help your father save your mother and to give me you. Everyone wins. You were worth so much more than those broken girls though. You were meant to be mine, sweet girl. Forever.”

Tears roll down my cheeks as the betrayal sinks in at being used in their game. The black knight and the black rook taking out all the pieces in my world, including their attempt at taking my king. My father’s ultimate betrayal spins in my head, threatening to finish me off. Lifting my chin, I remember War’s words.

The rules state the pawn is the weakest piece.

But if the pawn makes it to the other side, it gets promoted.

The pawn can become queen.

And then it’s not weak at all.

“Mom knew?” My voice wobbles.

Gabe smiles, almost tenderly and shakes his head. “She didn’t. Your mother would have never agreed to that.”

Another tear streaks down my cheek and I cling to the fact that not everyone has betrayed me in this life. I almost believe that had they just asked me, I’d have gone willingly. I would have gone off to War to save my mom. Gabe didn’t have to terrorize me in the process. We could have found a way. I would have done that for her. I would have done
anything
for her.

But nobody asked me.

They just used me.

I was exactly like he said. A fucking pawn.

“Go on, Brandon,” Gabe urges. “Tell her how you killed him while she was with that freak. You probably beat him just like you beat me, you angry little shit. Tell her how you buried him in their own backyard.”

“How do you know this?” Brandon says with a growl. “Did you dig up his fucking body?”

I’m shaking my head in denial and send a pleading glance to Gabe who frowns at me. His brows are pinched together and I see the flash of sadness in his eyes. He may be a monster now but he was Dad’s best friend. Surely knowing that my father is dead wounds him too.

Jesus, my dad is dead. I can’t even fathom the word.