Known Threat by Kara A. McLeod

Author:Kara A. McLeod [McLeod, Kara A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781635551334
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2017-12-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Not knowing what else to do, but desperately needing some space and some fresh air, I thundered up the fire stairs toward the roof. I slammed bodily into the panic bar to fling the door open and more or less stumbled outside, ignoring the screaming alarm that accompanied my great escape. If the guys in Platform watching the cameras that monitored all the entrances and exits to the building knew what was good for them, they’d stay exactly where they were and leave me the hell alone.

I stomped to the roof’s edge and dug my hands into the rough mortar ledge, reveling in the stinging pinpricks of pain. On some level, it felt right that I should hurt on the outside, as well. Lord knew my insides were causing me serious agony at the moment. Like things weren’t fucked up enough already. I didn’t need this new distraction.

Tears welled in my eyes, blurring the streetlamps and apartment lights that dotted the picturesque view of the New York skyline spread out in front of me. I tried to take a deep breath, but the air lodged painfully in my chest, an agonizing ache in the general area that used to be occupied by my heart arresting its easy ebb and flow.

“Ryan.” Allison’s soft voice broke into my pity party.

I gasped and wrapped my arms around my middle, as though I could hold myself together through physical force alone. Just knowing she’d followed me alternately made my heart soar and my rage burn hotter. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to kiss her or strangle her. I was in a tremendous amount of pain. I’d never been hurt this badly. Not even when she’d broken my heart that first time.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. Allison had always had the ability to completely turn my world upside down, for better or for worse. She’d always exercised both options, too. I should’ve known it’d only be a matter of time before she shattered me again. She was the only woman in existence who knew how.

And, boy, was I shattered. My insides felt like they’d been shredded to ribbons and called to mind bloody images of twisted and mangled intestines that would’ve put even the goriest horror film to shame. I glanced down at my abdomen, needing to verify that my entrails were still inside my body.

I pressed the heel of one hand to the center of my chest and rubbed, seeking to soothe the ache steadily growing more agonizing the longer my mind’s eye kept dwelling on made-up images of Allison and Byers tangled in each other’s arms. Bile rose in the back of my throat then, and I staggered a few steps, clenching my jaw against my stomach’s obvious intent to relieve itself of its contents. I closed my eyes and tried to banish the images from my mind. My stomach churned again, and I curled my lip into a disgusted sneer.

Was my current degree of revulsion due to how stirred up my emotions were about my sister? Probably.

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