“Liar.You meant to… touch my soul.”
The words hit harder than anything she’s said so far.I leave before I forget every reason I chained her to that bed in the first place.My palms itch.My jaw is locked.My cock aches like I’m eighteen again and stupid with wanting something I can’t have.
I shut the door.
Lock it.
Lean my forehead against the cold metal.
I ain’t sure how long I can keep my hands off her.
Because I fucked her once.
And I will fuck her again.
Soon.
Soon.
Chapter 3
Legend
The call comes in before the sun.My burner rattles on the metal shelf by my bed.I’m already halfway dressed, boots on, cut thrown over my bare chest, cigarette burning between my lips.I don’t sleep anymore.Not really.Not since this mess started unraveling and we let Becki Crowley stay under our roof like she ain't poison.
Oaks doesn’t even say hello.His voice is gravel ground under a truck tire.
“She’s gone.”
“Who?”I ask, even though I already know.
“That twenty-year-old who Darla refused to serve at Heck’s Kitchen a couple weeks ago.Sang in the Pearly Gates choir.Walked out of church and vanished into thin fuckin’ air.”
I crush the cigarette into the ashtray and curse under my breath.That’s three in less than two weeks.Three girls with ties to the Reverend’s flock.Two barely old enough to drink, one still in high school.
This ain’t coincidence.This is a pattern.A trail of smoke leading back to fire.
And I know exactly where that fire lives.
Becki's father.The Reverend.Ezekiel Crowley.
I hang up without another word.
My boots slam against the concrete hallway as I move through the Lockup.The place smells like stale beer, leather, sweat, and the memory of last night’s argument.
Sophie crying.Becki screaming.The men shouting.All of it still lingers like smoke clinging to rafters.Half the brothers are asleep.The other half are probably drunk or high.Doesn’t matter.I’m not looking for backup.This is between me and the devil in a preacher’s suit.
I pass Royal’s room.
The door’s locked.Reinforced.Too quiet.
She’s in there.Becki.The preacher’s daughter.The girl who nearly destroyed Sophie with one whispered threat.Now shackled to Royal’s bed like a sin we don’t know how to confess.
For a moment, I stop.
I listen.
Nothing.No chain rattling.No soft cry.No curse.No plea.
