I STAND AT the end of our bed. She’s passed out. I brought her home, gave her a bath, and she was out before her head hit the pillow.
Her and I are a lot alike, if you think about it. Lords are trained, groomed, and manipulated. You can put fifty average men in a room with a hundred Lords and they’ll be able to pick each one of us out. Even if they weren’t aware our secret society existed. Why? Because we’re raised the same. We’re conditioned to think a certain way. We’re meant to be possessive, dominating, and fucking vile. Death means nothing to us.
James took the training he got from the Lords and used it on Ellington. Where I spent three years of celibacy for initiation. He put her through three years of initiation too. She listened to grown adults talk about their fucked-up fetishes and kinks. Her body craved it but was never allowed a release.
Am I mad that she willingly left Blackout with Marcus? Absolutely. Can I blame her for it? No.
I’m the fourth man she’s ever been with. But what if she wouldn’t have caught me that night at the party killing James? What if she hadn’t seen the masked me save her? I wouldn’t have been getting her off those two years. She would have worked her way through the college. Man after man. Dick after dick. I had to keep her at arm’s length but satisfied at the same time.
No one knows how fucking hard that was. It was like dangling a piece of meat in front of a starving man.
Elli needs constant reminding that she’s owned. That she belongs to someone. Otherwise, she feels lost. Like a child roaming the streets looking for their parents who don’t give a shit about them.
My cell begins to vibrate in my pocket, and I pull it out. My brows crease when I see who it is. Exiting the bedroom, I answer. “Hello?”
“My office. Twenty minutes,” he snaps before hanging up.
Pocketing my cell, I walk back into the bedroom and kiss her forehead, pulling the covers up to her neck. “Sweet dreams, little demon. I’ll be back.”
_______________
I STEP INTO the back entrance and take the elevator up to the third floor. Exiting, I knock on the door.
“It’s open,” he calls out.
I step inside to see Tyson Crawford leaning his ass against his desk at Blackout. It’s seven a.m. and he’s dressed in black slacks and a matching button-up with the sleeves rolled up. Like me, I highly doubt the man has been to sleep. “You wanted to see me?”
“Sit.” He points at the couch to his right. Tyson never has been a man of many words if you’re not a close friend of his. He gets to the point and doesn’t give a fuck if you like what he has to say or not.
I fall into the leather and lean back, getting comfortable.
He hands me a card. I take it, frowning as I read over it. “Detective Haynes. Don’t know him. Or her.” I go to hand it back, but he walks behind his desk and sits down. Picking up a remote, he turns on the TV that hangs on the opposite wall.
Over twelve different angles show multiple cameras displaying the surveillance of Blackout. He clicks on one that is focused on the parking lot. It shows me and Corbin walking in with the girls through the back entrance. He goes to another camera and fast-forwards a little, showing the girls going to the restroom. They bump into Marcus and another guy I know of. They then enter the bathroom, no longer in view. He fast-forwards some more and you see my sister rush out. A new angle shows her walking up to our table, slapping Corbin, and then storming off. He follows after her. I smile at the memory. Then another angle shows Elli exit the bathroom looking pissed. Why did they both come out so mad?
She stops and looks in the direction that we sit. Another angle at the bottom shows Amelia sitting beside me. But she looked mad before she spotted the booth. She turns and runs into Marcus again. This time she lets him pull her over to the bar. He places his hand on her back and Tyson pauses it.
“Want to tell me why the girl you arrived with left with him?”
I turn to face him but stay quiet.
“Sin,” he growls. “Detective Haynes left Blackout five minutes before I called you. They’ve recovered a body. And it belongs to this guy who has his hand on your date.”
I smile.
“Goddammit, Easton,” he snaps my real name.
I’ve always liked Tyson. He was a senior when my class was a freshman. He stayed to himself a bit more from what I saw. But he was always ruthless. Then he lost his chosen, and well, he gave up everything for Blackout. I hope whatever he asked for in return was worth it.
“Did you show them the surveillance?” I finally speak.
“No.” He shakes his head. “Blackout doesn’t cooperate with the police.”
“Well, then that’s that.” I slap my thighs and get to my feet.
“You’re not stupid, Sin. So don’t act like it.”
I tilt my head. “What is that supposed to mean?” I wanted them to find his body. He’s got a friend who was going to fuck my girl with him. I want Marcus’s death to be taken as the threat that it was intended to be.
“It means if you don’t want the girl you love to find out you’re fucking someone else, don’t bring them both to the same place.”
I snort.
He picks up the remote and rewinds one of the many angles to the women’s bathroom again. It shows Kira and Elli entering and a minute later I watch Amelia enter as well. I step closer to the TV as time goes by slowly. He had fast-forwarded over this earlier. Finally, the door opens and out walks Amelia with a smile on her face. Not much later, Kira runs out, then I see Elli. She pauses, wipes her wet cheeks, takes a deep breath, and walks down the hall into the open club. She sees me and stiffens. Then her eyes find Marcus and it’s over. I can tell. Whatever was said snapped something inside her and she was done with me.
Well, sucks to be her because I’m not letting her go.
He shuts it off and speaks, “Next time you plan on doing something over pussy in my club, I expect to be informed.”
“Thanks,” I growl, headed for the door.
“Sin?”
“Yeah?” I turn to face him.
“Marcus?” He leans back in his seat.
“Taken care of,” I say. They won’t get anything off what the guys left for the cops to find.
He nods. “Next time, give me a heads-up.”
“Yes, sir,” I say and go to open the door but stop when I see someone was about to enter.
“Sorry I’m late,” Ryat Archer announces, entering the room. Last time I saw him, we were at the house of Lords sitting in the basement when Matt volunteered himself and Ryat for an assignment.
“Just in time,” Tyson informs him. Then he looks at me. “You’ll want to sit back down, Sin.”
Shutting the door, I walk over to the couch across from the one Ryat sits down in. He looks like shit. Busted lip, black eye, and some bruises on his upper neck. He’s wearing a hoodie, making it hard to see anything else, with a set of dark jeans. You can tell they’re older. I wonder if Matt got a hold of him like he did Matt.
“What the hell happened to you?” I can’t help but ask.
He grunts but doesn’t answer. Me and Ryat aren’t close, but he is with Tyson. The Lords are like anything else. There are cliques within us. Ryat didn’t grow up here in Pennsylvania like me, Jayce, and Corbin. He’s from New York. Moved here after high school graduation to attend Barrington.
“I was on an assignment,” Ryat states and I nod.
“I’m aware. What’s that have to do with me?” I wonder.
He bows his head, running his hand through his dark hair. “Normally, I wouldn’t do this, but if I were you, I’d want to know.” He lifts his head, and his eyes meet mine.
A cold chill runs up my spine when he speaks. I watch his lips move, hear his words, but with the blood rushing in my ears, I’m unable to process what he’s saying to me. One thing is for sure, everything is about to change. And I’m going to owe Ryat big time.
