Read Online Rage's Story (Vanish Book 1) by Elle Michaels - Free Book Online Page B

the carpet in the middle of the living room.
    I lower to my knees as I place her body into the worn sofa cushions. Her head rolls to the side in a way her hair falls behind her and her soft neck stretches exposed before me. She’s beautiful. I can’t help myself from placing my lips against her, just as she had on our way here, wrapping them around the smooth skin between jaw and collar. She sighs, running her fingers through my hair. I lift my head and stare into the brown portals of her eyes.
    “Auna.”
    The sound of her name lifts another smile on her face and a butterfly beats its wings within my chest. “Wes.”
    Even through the sweetness of this exchange, I see the pain behind her eyes. It wasn't the club, not the playboy, I realize now they were wrapped in their own foolishness. By whose hand she suffered, I may never know. But she suffered some hell, I know. I don’t need to know which. I need to quell my own before I can steal Auna away from hers.
    I kiss her once, lightly, a brushing of lips.
    “I have to do something.”
    She searches my gaze, unsure. But she finds it, sees the truth of my words in my eyes, same as I see all I need to in hers.
    Without another word, another second, I stand and walk towards the door. This time, I feel her eyes on my back, I feel the sting as I go, before any time passes. This will be the last time. The last time I leave her.
    I walk down the hallway, Evin’s on my mind. I realize my body feels different. The heat is gone. My muscles no longer feel strained. My rage has lifted. I don’t want to kill him. I want only to be free. In the back of my thoughts, I realize I want the same for him.
     

 
     
     
    12.
     
    My bike crawls over the bridge and for a moment I hear crickets and stare into the moon and wonder whether Evin would leave it be if I left without our duel. But the option dissolves when I see him, standing in the center of the road, leaning against his bike, head hung before his chest. He doesn’t lift it as I approach. I pull in a deep breath of the cool air around me as I roll to a stop before him.
    If this is my last night living…
    I release my breath, Auna stands before my eyes, her image emblazoned.
    If this is it, I went out on the right side of things. The night may take me, but the day will still come, the sun will still rise, and it will be over when it does.
    He sniffles and wipes a black glove beneath his nostrils. His posture sags.
    “Evin,” I call out to him.
    He’s alone. He upheld the bylaws, as I expected he would. But something is askew. In his stance, the way he carries himself, he’s broken.
    “Rage,” he calls back. Before his head lifts, his arm does, releasing an object that flies through the night towards me. I snatch it from the air. A revolver. I open the cylinder. A single shot. I snap it closed. Just as it’s written. Each a single shot, fired while driving at one another. Moto-joust, he called it with a mocking tone, but he’s kept to the rules exactly. He sighs, finally raising his head, the dim moonlight washes over his scarred features, blending the lines, made invisible. “Ready?”
    I nod.
    “Good.” He pivots, straddles his bike, twists it in the street to face the other direction and drives a quarter mile out, then turns back to face me, stopped.
    Alright. Let’s do this.
    I sit onto my bike, rev the engine to let him know I’m ready.
    The rumble of his bike shatters the quiet, the screech of his wheels banishes serenity. I see him lurch into motion and twist my handle in response, feeling the wheel spin against the asphalt, smell the rubber, watch the smoke rise before my spine shakes to the sudden burst of motion that launches me in his direction.
    We’re barreling down on one another, the wind whips my face, stinging.
    Just stop, Evin. Pull the break. Slide. Turn away.
    Leave.
    His eyes pierce the space between us. I hold his stare while he raises the revolver. Damnit.
    I lift mine against the raging wind