Shooting Scars: The Artists Trilogy 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

tried before and yes, I failed. I am not perfect.”
    “No one ever said you were,” I muttered. My heart was threatening to beat out of my chest but as long as I kept my eyes on the floor and my head clear, I was going to be okay. No fear. I had to play it cool, play it safe and have no fear. The minute my mind started focusing on the
what ifs
was the moment I lost it.
    I was very close to losing it.
    “You,” he said coming up to me. My body seized with his just inches away. I concentrated on his black shoes, expensive leather with scuffed tips. Tailored suit pants. It didn’t go. His shoes should have been shiny and as black as oil. “You. You can get to him. You can get close. You don’t even have to pull the trigger.” He said
trigger
like it was a new sexual position.
    Another thought I didn’t need.
    He took another slow step forward. I sucked in my stomach.
    His voice lowered till it was rough and smooth like ice in a milkshake. “You can get your revenge. The revenge you couldn’t get with me.”
    “Maybe I don’t need revenge anymore.”
    “Maybe you’re lying to yourself.”
    I dared myself to look him in the eye. I raised my chin defiantly, pretending I was suited in armor. “Maybe lying is what I do best.”
    He gazed at my lips and let out a small laugh. “Aren’t you tired of searching for that something to put your demons to rest?”
    I ignored him. “Aren’t you tired of pretending you know me when you don’t know shit? You didn’t even know I was Ellie Watt.”
    “I knew enough,” he said vaguely. “And I know you’ll help me.”
    “I’d like to prove you wrong.”
    “Ellie, he doesn’t know who you are. You can get in. You can get close.”
    I jerked my head in disbelief. “Like hell he doesn’t know who I am. Javier. I was your … I was here. I lived with you for a fucking year. Travis knew about me, you told me he did. He saw pictures of us, of me.”
    “He never met you.”
    “Doesn’t matter.”
    “You look completely different.”
    “He’ll know.” I started shaking my head up and down and back and forth. “Oh, he’ll know. How can he not?”
    Javier frowned and rubbed at his chin. I could almost see puzzle pieces coming together behind those eyes. “Because he didn’t know you when you were a child. And he didn’t know you when you were with me. And he doesn’t know you now.” His head dipped. “Angel, you were nothing to him. Unmemorable. He probably doesn’t even remember pouring that acid down your leg. You’re nothing special. Not to him.”
    I felt like I’d been slapped in the face and it took my fingers digging into my pockets like desperate claws to keep from slapping him in the face. Lord knows he deserved it and more. But now wasn’t the time. Because as much as it hurt for Javier to say it, I knew he was right. I had always thought that Travis was watching out for me in the way that I watched out for him. But who was I to him? Just a ten-year-old girl with stupid, reckless, selfish parents. He got his money back. He probably never gave a second thought to what he did to me. He was the be all and end all in the back of my mind, my heart, my spine, my soul. His actions piloted every moment until now. And they would probably affect the next. I knew he hadn’t given me more thought than just that moment, when he scarred me. It was as natural as wiping his ass. He probably woke up the next day and forgot all about what he did to me. I
wasn’t
special. I was a mere second to him yet he’d become my Moby Dick. In some way, he’d become my everything. Too many monsters had inserted themselves into my life.
    “You see,” Javier whispered. Sugar sweet. Poison. “He ruined your life and it didn’t mean a thing. He’ll do that to you. That’s how he got so far. That’s why we’re going to take him down.”
    “I’m not doing anything with you,” I snarled, finding violence in my veins.
    That smirk of his. “You’ll change your mind. You