“Someone get her a drink; Ebs is known to get grab-happy when someone pushes her to the brink—shit is about to hit the fan, and our girl here isn’t the best at regulating her feelings.” My brother is playing with fire, and I’m ready to cook some marshmallows on a stick. This is their foreplay, but both of them are too pig-headed to realise it.
Nothing new there.
“Grab happy?”she counters, seemingly affronted, even though I know she remembers.“That boy tried lifting my skirt and copping a feel. So he only has one ball left, I’m sure the fucker still found a way to procreate.”
“Little Jimmy was in primary school; I don’t think he expected the twisted eight-year-old with the ribbon braids to jump straight to attempted emasculation.” Caleb chuckles, and her fists tense.
She spins to face me. “You laugh, and I’ll show you just how adept I’ve gotten at following through,” she spits at me, and I trap the laugh bubbling up in my throat like a fish in a net as it gulps at the land air. I have maimed and killed more men than I can count, but this little wildcat knows exactly how to make me pause and rethink my next move.
I’m quick, but I know for a fact she’s quicker.
Fuck, I’ve missed her.
“You don’t need to tell me how strong your grip has gotten, Dove.” I arch an eyebrow playfully as the smile spreads across my face. I see the moment the mental image of her small hand wrapped around my cock as she swallowed me down flashes through her mind. The sheepish pinking of her cheeks warming her pale skin as she chews on her lower lip it a definite tell.
“Don’t call me that, I’m not your fucking Dove.”
She is though, whether she wants to admit it or not.
Both her and I know it was mine and Caleb’s names she uttered breathlessly in that closet as she found her release with my fingers buried up to the knuckles inside her.
“So you’re pissed off? That’s to be expected,” Calebrebukes with a smirk. She diverts her gaze from me, her brows pinched again as she locks stares with my brother. “I don’t know when I asked for this level of attitude though,” he finishes.
“It’s free. Consider it a welcome home gift,” she seethes, trying to prise her bound hands apart and huffing when she realises she isn’t getting free. “Cut me loose, and let’s make it a fair fight at least; I don’t remember you two being cowards.”
She thinks I don’t know about the blade itching to be pulled free from her boot. It’s actually quite sweet how our girl here underestimates us. I could have taken it from her when I was changing her into Caleb’s t-shirt, but I know it’s a comfort blanket of sorts for her.
“Keeping the prey bound is the smartest decision we’ve made so far.”
The fizzle of heat permeating the air between the three of us as Jose packs up his bag in his car dissipates in a rush as Bobby groans on the floor and ruins the moment.
A swift kick in the ribs from Ebs has him groaning louder and her smile widening.
“I deal with dead bodies, not unconscious bodies,” Jose chuckles as he pulls another cigarette out and lights it, gesturing towards our friend coming to on the ground.
Caleb pulls a syringe from his back pocket and uncaps it, holding it between his teeth as he flicks open his knife. Roughly grabbing a handful of Bobby’s hair, he pulls him up onto his knees and slices the blade across Bobby’s throat easily, like he’s dissecting butter with a branding iron. Bobby’s eyes fly wide with panic as a crimson wave drenches his football jersey. It’s deep enough to drain himbut not enough to kill him immediately. Caleb wants him to suffer for what he did to Ebony—even if he won’t say that’s why he’s doing it.
“Have fun in hell, fucker,” Caleb whispers in his ear loud enough for all in attendance to hear, his muddy green gaze flecked with amber as he dead-eyes Ebony who stumbles back in shock. Emptying the syringe into what’s left of Bobby’s neck, Caleb rises to his feet and lets Bobby slump to the ground. He shakes violently as the last vestiges of life drain from his body as he bleeds out, writhing in the last moments of pain as the drugs work their way around his system. “Problem solved,” Caleb announces chipperly in offering to Jose with his arms outstretched.
“Well, that’s my cue to leave I think,” Jose comments brightly as he stubs out his cigarette under his boot, making sure to pick up the butt and tuck it into a plastic baggy he pulls from his jeans. He moves over and opens the passenger door to retrieve his clean-up kit, unzipping the body bag and laying it out next to a now eerily still Bobby. Caleb hands him an envelope splattered with tattoo ink full of bank notes, and he slides it into his inside jacket pocket. “Pleasure doing business with you boys.”
“You’re gonna leave me here—with them?” Ebony cries out. Obviously deciding our friend here is the lesser of two evils.
“Not my monkeys, not my circus, darlin…” he quips. Caleb growls possessively his way, and Jose takes a wary step back with his hands raised. He’s not as stupid as he looks; he should definitely drop the sweet pet names. He may be useful, but Caleb has a short fuse right now.
“Bullshit—you’ve witnessed the monkeys murder a man in cold blood. Jump on the crazy train—you’re now a full-fledged member of this fucking circus.”
“She’s feisty,” Jose chuckles warily, not yet knowing what will set us off—wise move where she is concerned.
“Adorably so,” I snicker with a sigh, opting for carefree because it seems to rile her up. If only she knew this had been set in motion the second she’d applied to this university. We hadn’t anticipated an active serial killer roaming the streets when she would finally saunter back into our lives. But Grimmville is known to harbour the most depraved members of the population—fucked up and frenzied are attributes everyone here has had to deal with in their lives at one time or another. Stalking Ebony while also trying to keep her safe has meant hating her has been harder than I’d first thought it would be. Caleb holds on to the hate with a tighter grip which is why we agreed he would be the one to restrain her. I was ready to bend her over the car, bury myself balls deep inside her, and fuck her into next week while whispering sweet nothings into her ear. Anything to have her scream for me. I shudder at the thought as Ebony wrestles against my ropes binding her wrists. Caleb, the fucker, grins from ear to ear; he gets off on that spark of fight in her.
“Fuck my life. First, this dickbag tries to rape me.” She kicks the dead man at her feet before Jose rolls him up in the plastic, hauling him over his shoulder with a grunt as he drops him into the boot of our car. “Then I get taken hostage by you fuckers. You had six years to come and find me. SIX YEARS. Do you know how much shit I’ve had to deal with since you left?” She struggles to hold back theemotion attached to the day we got carted off. She wasn’t to know we tried everything we could to get back to her.
For now, she thinks the anger she is feeling is protecting her from us. But we’ve always been able to read her—she can’t hide herself from us. She won’t admit it just yet, that she wants us here, but she will soon enough.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
COOPER
