Dean’s eyes went wide, and I could see tears brimming. There was no wavering in Kye’s tone, and I think we both realized that he had truly meant to kill him.
The hard realization hit me that Kye didn’t care about the consequences, he cared about me.
“I’m sorry, Daisy. I’m so sorry,” Dean said, his voice cracking.
“For what?” Kye said, the deadly tone keeping me frozen. “Tell everyone why her face is red.”
“I’m sorry for hitting you. I’m sorry for hurting you.”
Kye nodded, apparently satisfied with the admission, but when he leaned down, only the three of us could hear him.
“If you ever so much as put a fucking finger on her again, I will kill you, and she won’t be able to save you twice.” His words were calm, a harsh contrast to the chaos around us, and I knew he meant every word of it.
“Fuck you,” Dean said.
Kye stepped back and Dean took his chance, running off, leaving me by Kye as chaos erupted behind me.
He was only looking at me, though. Red streaked his blonde hair and there was already a red spot on his cheek that I knew would bruise.
“Daze,” he said, snapping my attention back to his eyes. I held my breath, too scared to breathe. “I love you.”
I didn’t know how it was possible, but my already racing heartbeat picked up.
“What?” I could hear him, but I couldn’t comprehend the words, never expecting them from Kye.
He reached up, running his fingers down my face. “I said, I love you. I love you like I’ve never loved anyone, and I don’t know if I ever could.”
I stared, his face flashing blue and red, as I reached out, sliding my hands into his bloody ones.
“I love you, too.”
He leaned down, kissing me once. “I’m going to go talk to your dad now.”
“Okay.”
“I love you,” he said again. “I love you with every fucking part of me. Every stupid, broken part is yours.”
“I love you, too.” I said the words again, but my tears came harder now. A terrifying feeling sank into my gut.
I turned back, and someone wrapped their arms around me. Quinn, maybe, but I couldn’t see through my blur of tears.
I was desperately in love with Kye and somehow it felt like I just lost him.
TWENTY-NINEKYE
“He was hitting her. I had to stop it,” I said as her dad pushed me into the police car.
“Just shut up for one damn second.” He shut the door, and I could only lean my head back and close my eyes.
It was worth being here.
Ash slid into the passenger seat, and Daisy’s dad got behind the wheel. The car was quiet, the silence a harsh contrast to my heartbeat roaring in my ears.
“Where did he hit her?” he asked quietly.
“Her face, mainly. I think he choked her. I don’t know how bad it was before I got there, but what I saw was bad enough that I wanted to kill him. I dropped her off, and she called me that someone was following her. I headed back, and by the time I got there, he was outside her dorm room door, trying to force her inside and hitting her. I chased him down and that’s how we ended up here.”
“Dammit,” he mumbled. “You know who he is, right? You know no one is going to believe he was the problem here.”
“I know.”
“Kye was doing the right thing,” Ash said. “Even if he maybe took it a step too far. You know you would have wanted to do the same thing. Please, you can’t arrest him.”
“I can and I will. He chased him down and tried to kill the guy. A guy that I need to remind you is very loved by this college and will stand behind him. I mean, dammit, Kye, I knew you were no good when you came into my daughter’s life, but this?”
I laughed. “Sorry. Should I leave Dean to beat her up a little more next time? Or maybe just walk away completely?”
“Kye,” Ash hissed. “We all know that Kye did the right thing. Can you please help him? Come on, you’ve known me my whole life, you know my dad. You know I wouldn’t be hanging around Kye if he wasn’t a good person. He was doing the right thing by Daisy. Dean was hitting her, Sheriff. Won’t this be dropped if she presses charges against Dean?”
“That’s if she does. She dated Dean for years. She might not want to,” he said.
I wanted to snap at him, but Ash jumped in for me.
“I know this may be hard for you to understand, but I truly believe Daisy will do anything for Kye. She will press any charges possible against Dean if it keeps Kye safe. You cannot underestimate what she will do for him. I promise she is not out there crying for Dean. She’s crying with worry over Kye.”
“Ash, I can’t just pretend this didn’t happen. And even if it was justified at first, hunting him down and trying to kill him is not.”
“Would a bribe help? We can get you new cars, fast ones that can keep up with our cars. Maybe then you will be able to catch one of these guys.” She smiled, trying to lighten his mood, but it wasn’t working.
“I can’t take a bribe.”
“No, you take donations, and I know for a fact that you have let Dean off the hook for a long list of things. Don’t forget that I know what goes on behind the closed doors around here. Kye kept your daughter safe. Doesn’t that count for something?”
“My daughter has been getting into more and more trouble since he has been around.”
Ash looked back at me as though I could add something, but I couldn’t. He wasn’t wrong.
He ran a hand down his face and stared out the windshield. “How about this? I will try to convince Dean to not pursue this based on his own career and history with police run-ins,” he said as he turned to look at me. “And in return, you will never talk to Daisy again.”
My eyes met his, and I knew that second how serious he was. I knew because I had basically just told Dean the same damn thing. I knew with every single part of me that I meant I would rather die than have him get close to her again.
I was pretty sure that her dad was telling me the exact same thing.
“I can’t promise that.”
“Then I cannot promise to help you. I can’t promise that all of your friends won’t be involved in this now because they were here. I can’t help you. Any of you, unless you let Daisy have a better life. Let her not be standing with her supposed boyfriend at 1 a.m., getting arrested by her father, for almost killing another guy she dated. She deserves a lot better than that.”
“She does.”
