Any Means Necessary

by Lila Herron

“Sometimes it’s better to observe quietly. Don’t mistake my silence for disinterest.” There’s no missing his interest in me now. “But now that you know, there’s no reason to keep it quiet anymore. Is there, Dewdrop?”

Half of me—the twisted selfish half—feels the primal urge to snuff out that beautiful light of hers when she’s sharing it with other people. I want to be the only one who gets to bask in her rays. That smile should only ever appear for me. If I can’t harness it and own it, it shouldn’t exist at all. It’s a possessive and sick way of thinking, but it’s always a temptation residing just below the surface. Luckily the other half, the one I tend to listen to—to act on—doesn’t have it in him to steal that glow from her. Her lovely, addicting glow that radiates with everything she is. I’m self-aware enough to know this part of me is selfish too. If her light’s gone, my life dims with it. Her ability to scatter the shadows lurking with my demons vanishes. And I’m not willing to give that up. Not willing to give her up.

Not a distraction, she’s a devastation. A tornado of beautiful chaos determined to leave my life in ruins. And I’m nothing short of a storm chaser praying for disaster.

“What people think about me is none of my business. I’m not gonna try to take up less space just because other people feel small.”

What have I gotten myself into? I signed the contract and NDA, an unsuspecting mouse walking straight into a trap. And like an idiot, I read the fine print wearing rose-colored glasses that made the boatload of red flags seem pink and harmless instead.

wall. “Get on a dating app again, and I’ll leave a trail of asshats with their throats slit across the city leading to your door.”

I’ll find the man who thinks he can have what’s mine. By the end of the night, I’ll know everything about the fucker. There’s no hiding from me.

“I will slit the throat of any man who thinks they can have you.” He means it, and even worse—he intends to carry out this threat while we’re standing here.

“Get on a dating app again, I’ll kill every man who thinks they have a chance with you. You’ll watch as I split them open from ear to ear.”

She is good, and decent, and simple. She’s also stubborn, judgmental, and guarded. She thanks me for protecting her, and lectures me about violence against her attackers in the same breath. She’s beautiful, and fun, and emotionally unavailable. She’s complicated and wrong for me, and I’m completely obsessed. The anger surging in me shifts towards panic, the realization unsettling every part of me. Lexie has me, and she has no idea. She’s taken me without even trying, without meaning to. But she doesn’t want me, doesn’t need me. That’s going to change, it has to. Because I need her to need me.

Walking out of the store, my hand finds its way around her waist, and I realize I’m nowhere near ready for our shopping trip to be over. I want to see more.

You hate wasting time and money. Why did you spend so much on me today?” “For you, it’s never a waste.”

“You’ve gotten so deep under my skin I will never get enough. You’ve fucking branded me. Every second of every day, it’s you. Your wit, your laugh, how fucking good you smell. I can’t have a single thought without you being right there in the center of it. It’s maddening.”

He thinks I’ve invaded his life, but he’s completely conquered mine.

A thrill runs through me at the primal expression on his handsome face, elated with the knowledge that I put it there. That I’m his undoing.

“They were. I had them reupholstered.” “You did? Why?” I ask, surprised. Callum’s eyes look pointedly at my bare thighs. “Do you like your little dresses?” “Yes, I love them.”

My pretty pink nurse, with her soft curves wrapped in pastel pink scrubs, and long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. She’s a ray of light, exactly what we need.

Lexie knows me, she sees me like I’ve never been seen before. It opens me to weakness. I should see her as a liability, but I can’t help but long for her attention. I fucking yearn for her.

And there’s no corner of the earth she can run to that I won’t find her. She’s mine to have and never let go.

I love her. Staring down at Lexie, I’m hit over the head with the revelation. It’s undeniable, settling so deeply in my chest that it’s a part of me. I don’t just care about her, she’s the only thing I care about. She’s become my first priority and my last tether to sanity.

“I’d never smother your spark, Lexie. I like your fire. I don’t want to control you, you’re perfect just the way you are.”

A man could get frost bite from the arctic breeze coming from Lexie’s shoulder. It’s a slow, cruel torture to watch her light shine on everyone but me, and an exercise for my restrain not to destroy the people who do get to be on the receiving end of her smile. I need to calm the fuck down.

Begging isn’t something I do, but I will for her.

“You’ve been mine since you signed the contract. But I’ve been yours from the moment you demanded to see my ID. That ink sealed your fate and now this ink seals mine.”

“I love you, Dewdrop.”

Hazel eyes trace over my face as I marvel at the man in my arms. The big, scary Fixer who terrifies even the most dangerous men. Who finds emotions messy, and hates losing control. Until he met me.