I nearly laughed at that. GemmaCrownewould never give up her sparkly, perfect life.
Not that I’d let her if she tried.
“They say we’re killing people who mess with her,” Lock cut in.
I unmuted. “They also think we do weird sex stuff in the dungeon together.”
I bent over the asshole, bored. The cobblestone was wet with leftover rain, the reflection of my car’s headlights smeared and blinding. Blood poured in the slits between his fingers as he held his nose. “I’m sorry,”he said, voice quiet and muffled.
Good.
He’d touched what wasn’t his.
“We can’t keep this contract. When you took her ink on your chest, you said it would be worth it.”
I’ve only told one lie to my brothers, five years ago, the day I took Gemma’s contract. They didn’t know what really happened on that beach, or the promise I’d made to Gemma.
They didn’t know she never asked for this. They didn’t know I forced it on her—forced all of us into this. They definitely didn’t know Gemma’s response to being forced into this was to make a game out of making monsters mad, of forcing me to choose to save her or let her die.
Every body became another secret, another lie to tell.
“It’s been five years,” Raze added. “This contract is fuckingus.”
The asshole at my feet continued to slither backward,crying and begging. I paused, finding Gemma’s silhouette again.
The first time I met Gemma was back in high school, in a nearly abandoned storage room that I used to smoke. She didn’t know I was there. The door opened and slammed shut just as I was about to light a joint, and then the tears started. I froze with the lighter in my hand, listening. When I saw her one-of-a-kind pink Vans, I knew it was Gemma Crowne.
I don’t know why I’d stayed. At first I was pissed I couldn’t smoke. But the longer I leaned on the other side, listening to her cry with the lights off, the less angry I was. Through the slats in the books, I watched her rip apart her manicure, picking off hot-pink flakes like she was on a mission.
I didn’t plan to let her know I was there. Gemma Crowne was pretty much the last person I wanted to know.
Then I leaned too hard and a book fell.
“Who the fuck is there?” she’d sniffed.
I heard her shuffling to stand, so I came around. Gemma froze when she saw me, still on her knees.Shit. That memory was burned, tattooed, etched in all my neurons.
She was so vulnerable.
So broken.
So fucking beautiful.
What happened next was what always happened with us.
Instinct.
I smeared the black mascara under her eyes, marring the freckles on her red cheeks.
She fucking angled her chin toward me, defiant.
“You can’t tell anyone about this,” she’d said, voicehuskier from the tears.
I could have kissed her then.
“This has to end,” Wraith said, bringing me back to the present.
There was a reason I haven’t fucked Gemma since the first time. I knew once I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop. I’d never let her go.
