“I hope so,” I muttered. “Dad used to love Mom too, until he saw how it made her.”
“Kitten,” Slash purred, pulling me out of my head. “We lost you for a bit there. You should really eat some of that leg Aeron prepared for you.” His gaze softened and then twisted up in disgust as I stabbed my fork into one of the slices and stuffed it in my mouth.
The meat all but melted onto my tongue, savory juices spreading through my mouth before I swallowed. A groan tumbled from my lips as juice dripped down my chin, Slash glaring at my antics. His gaze narrowed as I stabbed another slab and decided to try something different.
Everyone stilled as I crawled onto the table and held the fork out to Slash. “Open up,killer,” I teased. He stared at it for several seconds, before parting his lips just a little. A giggle rumbled through my chest as I tore off a healthy bite and chewed before closing the distance between us to kiss him.
Juices trickled down my chin as I fed him the meat, one of his hands moving up to grasp the front of my neck. His tongue swiped over mine before he pushed me backward, breaking the kiss. Slash wiped his chin, still glaring at me before turning his attention to Aeron. “Aeron, your cooking skills are fantastic, but it’s fucking with me that that’s not a good cut of beef. Excuse me while I stuff my face with cheese.”
SLASH
With dinner over and a moment left to actually think, I wondered if they were all a little startled, like me, by how casually Runo had admitted his mind was slipping, how he was racing against time. I ate the last bit of my slice, still desperately trying to rid of the taste of leg in my mouth before wiping grease from my chin. “What next?”
Runo grinned from across the table, masking the fact that he just zoned out again. “Dad said he won’t be back tonight. Bummer, really. But now we just clean up. Leave the pizza box and put everything else in the dishwasher except for one plate and cup. Keep the pan by the sink.”
He started directing us, pointing at everything as he laid out his plan. And that’s when it started to make sense. He was making it look like he’d had dinner with his father, but only one person ate the human. Clever, twisted, and perfectly Runo.
I grabbed plates and stacked them in the dishwasher as Aeron just stared at the leftovers in the main pan. “What about fingerprints and everything else? This is so fucking messy.”
Runo’s grin widened a little. “It really isn’t. I’m telling you, Dad will try and clean up, his fingerprints will be everywhere, and they won’t look any deeper.” He just seemed sosure, however, I had been through enough kills and setups to know that Samael had an emergency backup plan.
Samael cut in. “And Tyrone?”
Runo sighed, his head flopping back a little before he straightened up again. “Oh! Yeah, we have to kill him now. Jade fucked that up. But everyone’s okay with that. After all, Samael and Aeron find him annoying and we all hate that he fucked Slash.”
I grimaced, pushing Runo toward the sink. “Can westopbringing that shit up? Thanks.”
Laughter followed as we continued to prepare the kitchen for the perfect scene, the leftover arm still resting on the edge of the table. Once Runo was sure everything was perfect, he dragged us all into the car for a late night rendezvous at the morgue.
This was where I was sure the plan would fall apart. None of us had clearance to be in that building, let alone in the main labs, regardless of the time of day or night. Not even Samael had access inside here unless he was escorted.
So, unless we were going to add breaking and entering to the list…
We took a sudden turn left, heading toward Aeron’s house, the opposite direction of the morgue. “This isn’t the right way, Samael.”
Runo seemed just as confused, his brows starting to furrow with an anger I did not want to experience in the car. Samael enjoyed control and he didn’t like being blindsided. Runo just didn’t like having to amend his plans and he had alreadychanged them a few times. “Where are we going? This isn’t part of the plan.”
Samael grinned and met my eyes through the rearview mirror before throwing a glance at Runo in the front seat. “Killer, you have plans for everything and I applaud you for that. Truly. However, you’re not perfect. Mostly, but not quite. You were banking on me to have access, weren’t you?”
Runo nodded.
“And yet, I don’t. I investigate crime scenes but am rarely ever called down to the morgue. They send the reports up or send the newbies to grab the details.”
Runo snorted. “That’s probably because Dad wasn’t sure if it was me or not. He didn’t want anyone looking too close so he restricted access. Whatever. If you can’t get in there, where are we going? This won’t work without Harley.”
Samael’s grin widened. “Dr. Harley’s already been buried.”
We all glared at Samael, wondering where the fuck we were headed.
He just laughed at the shock on our faces. “The investigation was wrapped up real tight and attributed to The Skinner. Your dad must have been working overtime to get that done, because why else has Primrose not heard all about it?”
Runo’s eyes narrowed, his grin faltering. “You didn’t tell me.”
Samael’s voice dropped a few octaves, an impatient edge to his tone. “And I told you that I like to be in control. I let you do whatever you needed to with Brent and Niles, but you’re playing with more than one player.”
The car fell silent as Samael sped down the road, only stopping when we hit the edge of Primrose, a few streets over from Aeron’s house. This part of the city was all but abandoned, located directly next to a graveyard. I hadn’t even thought of the morgue burying them out here. Dr. Harley didn’t have any family that I knew of but out here was just…
Samael twisted around, throwing us all a wiry grin that set me on edge. “Runo says that Dr. Harley is needed for the plan. So… it’s time to dig.”
