Into the Blackness (Blackness Series Book 4) by Norma Jeanne Karlsson Page A

Principal Burke company.”
    Kat dutifully pulls out her phone as Jake rises from his seat. Three, two, one.
    “Wait,” the pussy says dejectedly. “We’ll go.”
    I spin around and pin him with a gaze that holds all the promises I’ve just made and then some.
    “I’ll be drivin’ by your house at nine tonight. If there’s any sign that you’re still in that house, I’m comin’ in and what I just did to you will look like child’s play.”
    He nods briefly.
    “Let’s go,” I instruct my family holding out a hand to Kat.
    She places her sweaty palm in mine, shaking from head to toe with unused adrenaline. Heavy bag is in for some torture tonight.
    I move my family down the hall and back past the ancient receptionist as the boys run up to us from the waiting area. From our faces they know now is not the time to talk. With my arm tightly around Kat, I pull Jake into my other side as we step outside.
    We swiftly arrive at Kat’s illegally parked car half on a median. I let Jake go, but he stays right at my side. I cage Kat’s body to the driver’s door and cup her cheeks in my hands, staring as deeply into her blue-green-grey eyes as I can so she can’t lie to me.
    “You good?” I ask softly.
    “Fuck no,” she whispers.
    “Can you drive?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’m takin’ Jake with me and followin’ you.”
    “’Kay.”
    I press a long kiss to her forehead before I let her go and stalk to my car a few medians down. She can handle anything…I know this. Still, walking away from her right now is making me sick to my stomach, but I don’t have a choice. We have to get both cars home. I’ll take care of her once we’re there and away from prying eyes. Then I’ll plot the untimely deaths of the Burke men because the monster within me has the taste for blood on his tongue and craves immediate satisfaction.

Nick
    Jake and I climb quickly into my car, waiting for Kat and the boys to drive off. I turn to him and grab his chin so I can get a good look at him. Not bad. Will maybe got two hits.
    “You fuck him up?” I ask letting his chin go.
    “Yes,” he responds without hesitation.
    “He hit you first?”
    “Sucker punched me in the jaw.”
    “Pussy.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Where’s he at?”
    “Hospital.”
    “Bad?”
    “He’ll live. Maybe have a limp.”
    “Good.”
    “Kat flipped the fuck out in there,” he whispers with pride.
    “I bet,” I snort as we pull away behind Kat’s SUV.
    “She was wasting time waiting for you.”
    This stops my breath for a second. Kat was waiting for me. I wasn’t there and she didn’t know when I would be…she was willing to wait for me. Because I run shit. Fuck me.
    “I silenced my phone for the meeting and forgot. I came as soon as I figured out what was goin’ on. Think I broke about twenty laws gettin’ to you guys.”
    “Thanks for comin’. Never had anybody stick up for me like that. Today I had the boys, Kat and you. I kinda dig bein’ fifteen again.”
    “I’ll always fuckin’ stick up for you whether you’re fifteen or fifty. Get me?”
    “Yeah,” he whispers with a glint of satisfaction. He gets me.
    “This shit about homecoming?” I ask as we legally wind and weave through picturesque Maybelle, which I’m finding houses the scum of the Earth behind its towering hills currently covered in shades of gold, copper and emerald. Nothing is ever what it appears.
    “Yeah,” he scoffs. “I’ve stayed the fuck away from Regan and her girls. Today at lunch, she saunters up to our table and asks me to go to the dance with her. Will was two tables away and lost his shit. I couldn’t turn her down in front of the whole school, Nick. That woulda caused a whole new level of drama. Before I could say anything he came at me from the side and caught my jaw while I was tryin’ to get Regan outta the way. I launched at his ass, took him down fuckin’ his knee up and pounded his face until he wasn’t movin’ anymore.”
    “Hands hurt?” I ask