He falls to his knees, his body rocking back and forth.
“As much as I love watching a man crumble, I must be going.”
He gives a rough laugh as he leans over with his hands now on the ground. “I’ll…be seeing you soon, angel,” he whispers.
I crouch down, pick his cigarette up off the dirty ground, and take a hit myself before I blow smoke in his face. “No, you won’t,” I say, and he gives another rough laugh. “Stop following me, Kashton. This will be your only warning.”
He blinks rapidly, fighting the sedative, but it’s inevitable. When his eyelids finally fall, so does his body—face down onto the ground. I walk over to my bag, unzip it, and get what I want. Then I grab the hem of his hoodie, pushing the thick material to his neck, exposing his inked back.
KASHTON
I blink, groaning at the harsh sun beating down on me while the side of my face is buried in dirt. My mouth feels like sandpaper. “Fuucckkk.” I roll over onto my back and something sharp pinches between my shoulder blades.
Sitting up slowly, I reach over my head and slide my hand into my hoodie, feeling around for the pesky sting. There’s something there… I wrap my fingers around it and yank. Bringing it before my face, I blink a few times to clear the haze in my vision, leaning back against the tree.
It’s a ripped piece of paper that I wrinkled. I try to flatten it out the best I can, running my fingers over it to see there are seven words written in red ink.
I chuckle. My future wife has a sense of humor. It’s adorable.
Getting to my feet, I stumble, making my way down the hill and toward my car that’s parked in front of the cathedral, spitting out the foul taste that lingers in my mouth a few times.
I get to Carnage and park in the circle drive before dragging my ass into the building and up to the office.
Saint and Haidyn both look up at me. Saint opens his mouth as if he’s going to continue our argument from the basement, but then he closes his lips, frowning. “What the fuck happened to you?” he asks instead.
Haidyn sits back in his seat. “Looks like you slept outside.” His eyessweep over the dirt, leaves, and stains on my jeans. “This have to do with you and Sin?”
I ignore that. One thing at a time, and right now it’s Eve.
“Where have you been?” Saint goes on at my silence. “We’ve been calling you.”
I had my cell off. My girl deserved my undivided attention. “The cemetery.” If they were so worried about me, they could have checked my tracker.
“Did you fuck in a grave?” They both laugh at Saint’s joke.
I grunt and reach over my head, yanking my hoodie off. Then do the same with my T-shirt. “Is there a tick on my back?” I ask, my voice still thick from the sedative. Fuck, I’m dying of thirst. “Something is biting me.” I face away from them so they can take a look.
“What the fuck?” Saint wonders.
“What is it?” I look at them over my shoulder. “Spider bite?” Who knows what the fuck crawled all over me while I lay there on the ground, passed out.
They both ignore me while Haidyn reaches into his pocket and removes his pocketknife. He slaps it open. “Lean over your desk,” he orders.
“What?”
Saint presses on the back of my neck, shoving me over the side of my desk. I’m too weak from whatever that shit was Eve gave me to fight him. I know it was a sedative. I’m just wondering how she got a hold of it and why the fuck she had it on her. I highly doubt she sedates her victims before she kills them. A woman like that enjoys the rush. She wants her victims to be awake and look her in the eye when she takes their lives.
Haidyn starts counting. “Three…”
“What the fuck, man?”
“Two…” He yanks something out of my back. Saint lets go of me, and I jump up, spinning around to rub the sensitive spot.
“It’s…a staple? Looks like one we use in the basement when we need to put someone back together after we’re done playing.” Haidyn holds the bloody metal in front of my face. “Why the fuck was this in your back?”
I chuckle. “I’m guessing it was what kept this in place.” I pull the wrinkled note out of my jeans pocket and hold it out to them.
Haidyn takes it and frowns, reading it. “Don’t fuck with me. I fuck back.”
