Before he can fall for my goating and swing again, a soft sweet voice calls hesitantly from the hallway behind us.
Fuck.
“Garett?” my Princess asks and my veins turn to ice. She was supposed to stay hidden. I want her far away from this shit-show.
I swing toward her, moving swiftly to grab her and hurry her away. I cross the room but it’s too late. Her gaze lands on the woman in my front room and recognition flits across her face.
“Celeste?” Ali asks as she slowly slips from the shadows of the hallway. “But I thought…”
She trails off, her eyes fall to me. I know this is a lot. I finally just had her in my grasp, open and willing to hear—to understand. And now I can see her pulling back. The intrusion is shaking the fragile trust we’ve just begun to build. Ali shakes her head at me, clearly disappointed that there’s still more pieces to the story she doesn’t know.
“You can fill me in later,” Ali informs me in a cool, cold tone before turning to Celeste. “You need our help? Who’s Liv?”
Her thoughtful and helpful nature is one of the reasons I love her, but right now, I want—no, I need her focus on me. Movingacross the room, I close the distance separating us. My Princess doesn’t even flinch, she lets me curl myself around her like a snake constricting its prey tightly.
She’s still mine.
She might be scared, hesitant, unsure, but deep down, her soul knows that this is meant to be—we’re meant to be. Somewhere, I know she feels this maddening obsession just as deeply as I do. She’s my perfect partner—my Princess with a heart of gold and a soul full of darkness.
“I promise I will explain everything,” I whisper in her ear before laying a trail of short kisses down her neck. She nods silently in acknowledgment.
“It’s Will,” Celeste says and I immediately tense. I haven’t heard that name in a long time.
“Your brother, Will?” I ask Luke who outwardly looks composed but the small tick in his wrist tells me he’s barely keeping it together.
Luke was in foster care—a broken soul just like the rest of us. Unlike me who had a mom that finally got her shit together and got custody back, and Ali who eventually had an aunt that took her in, Luke had no one. He was left in the system to be chewed up and spit out. His foster brother, Will, was a golden boy—at least, on the outside. He’s used, abused, hurt, and scared every person he’s ever come into contact with. He and my pal Brody have been friends since high school. In fact, their group of friends, close companions that helped them destroy countless lives, are all the names on my list.
The list of men who I’ve killed or will kill.
There’s only two names left now. Two to destroy, two to end it. Brody and Will.
“He’s been hiding out at some seedy casino down south.” Luke nods in acknowledgment. I know he has a lot of trauma around his foster brother. It’s something we don’t talk about alot. I’d gladly kill the fucker to give my best friend some peace.
“He’s working with a woman there, Erika,” Celeste adds.
I pull Ali closer, letting her scent invade my senses and calm my nerves. Floral and sweet, just like the girl she once was. I meant what I said to her—I’m a bad man. I’ve killed before. And I intend to kill again. This group of men, Brody and Will and their friends, are evil. And from their wickedness and sin, retribution was born. They might act like deviants, but the Devil is knocking at their door, ready to collect his pound of flesh.
Celeste launches into a long story detailing what our buddy Will has been up to recently. He’s a real fucking piece of shit. I mean, I already knew that fact, but the shit that he and this Erika girl have been up to lately, it’s pretty fucking gross. Celeste has to stop every so often to explain details and answer questions for Ali so she can get caught up. I know there’s no love lost between these two women, but they seem to be getting along okay. When things seem the darkest is when we need each other most, I guess.
“Liv was supposed to stay away from him.” Celeste’s voice cracks when she talks about her friend. I’m gathering they’re more than friends. Luke seems to have found himself girlfriends who are girlfriends.
Interesting.
I haven’t thought much about pink-haired bimbo since I saw her in a coffee shop where I was stalking Celeste months ago. I knew they were friends. My intel never suggested they were more than friends. It looks like things have changed in the last few months.
“I told her I’d handle it,” Luke seethes. He’s pacing now, like a pent up cat. Anger rolls off him in thick waves. I haven’t seen him this out of control since we were teenagers. Last time he was this upset, shit went south fast. I need to get this under control. I can’t have him going full psycho, not with Ali here.
“She said she was going to work.” Big tears roll down Celeste’s cheeks as she continues, “Then she was gone, and Luke—” She lets out a choked sob. “Luke got a video.”
A video? What the fuck?
Luke takes out his phone and shows us the video that was sent to him. Pink-haired bimbo, Liv, I guess, Celeste’s best friend and Luke’s other obsession, lies unconscious on a bed. There’s blood on her face like she’s been hit. She’s nude and slumped over the bed, like she was tossed there without care.
The camera spins and Will’s smug face fills the screen. His dark hair is slicked back and his sharp eyes glare into the camera. “Hello, little brother. I’m sure you’re busy at work being a good little boy, but your girlfriend is here and wanted me to make sure you knew where she was so you wouldn’t worry.”
Will chuckles. A dark and humorless laugh that makes my skin crawl. My grip tightens around Ali, she strokes my hand soothingly in response.
The camera pans back and now there’s some woman assaulting the passed out girl. Ali sucks in a sharp breath and turns her head away. I hold her to my chest. She doesn’t need to see this. The fake as fuck redhead is also naked. This bitch looks rough, everything about her screams junky. Her skin is sallow and graying; her hair is thin and fried. But it’s her eyes that truly show her empty soul—lifeless eyes. She’s grinding roughly against the passed out girl. Is she seriously trying to get off by just humping a slumped over body?The fuck?
