I WAS AT Blackout a quarter to nine this morning. Tyson was already ready like I knew he would be. I sit in the passenger seat while he takes the sharp curves of the Pennsylvania roads. We’re climbing, making our way up into the mountains on a cloudy, cold day.
I’ve got my cell in my lap, an earbud in my ear watching Elli on the screen. She’s sleeping. She’s been doing it a lot this week. She came home from lunch with her mother yesterday, and they got into another huge fight. Her mother stormed into the house yelling; Elli told her to go to hell. It got dirty like the reception argument.
Chance Beckham is who they are forcing her to marry. I’m not surprised. I figured that’s who Lincoln would pick. It’s a way to throw it in my face that he won. He’s thinks he’ll get unlimited access to her if his nephew is her husband.
He’s not as smart as he thinks he is.
I look over at her nightstand. She’s got a pregnancy test and an empty bottle of wine next to it. I watched her take it last night and she actually looked disappointed that it was negative. However, she then celebrated with a bottle while watching a horror film before she passed out.
“Why are you torturing yourself?” Tyson finally speaks to me since I arrived at Blackout almost an hour ago.
I close the phone and remove the earbud, not really sure what to say so I keep my mouth shut, watching the woods pass by.
My cell rings through the silence and it’s Amelia. I hit ignore and run a hand down my face.
Sitting up straighter, I see a sign coming up that says Carnage: 10 miles.
“Be direct,” Tyson speaks, obviously noticing the sign as well. “To the point. Don’t fuck around. The Spade brothers don’t like having their time wasted.”
“Got it.” I nod. “How long have you known them?”
“Long enough,” he answers cryptically.
Not even sure why I asked. My phone rings again and this time I answer. If I don’t, she’ll just keep calling. “Hello?”
“Don’t forget we’ve got dinner with my parents tonight,” she says in greeting.
I groan. Seriously? This could have been a text. “I won’t.”
“My mother and I have an appointment with the florist. So I’ll just ride with her and meet you at dinner.” She pauses. “Unless you want to go to the florist too? Then we can ride together…”
“I’ll meet you at dinner.” She knows I want no part of planning the wedding. I couldn’t care less about it.
“Okay, love you…”
I hang up and immediately pull up the cameras inside Elli’s house again. She’s still in bed sleeping. Locking my phone, I close my eyes, sighing. Tyson was right, I’ve got to stop torturing myself.
_______________
TYSON PULLS UP to old wrought-iron gates. Rolling down his window, he presses in a code and both open, allowing us access. I look over the tall trees that line both sides of the two-lane road.
It’s curvy along with a few hills. Once the trees clear, a medieval-looking building comes into view. “I didn’t even know this place existed.”
“Most don’t.” Tyson goes on, “Just because you’re a Lord doesn’t mean they tell you everything.”
Pulling into the circle drive, we both get out and make our way up the fifteen steps and into the double doors. It looks as rough and old as the outside.
A man dressed in a black-and-white butler uniform nods to us. “Please follow me, gentlemen.”
He takes us to an elevator that we ride to the sixth floor. Opening up, we step off and into a room. “The Spade brothers will be right with you,” he states and then exits, closing the doors behind him.
Tyson falls into a chair, checking his cell. I walk over to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the woods. Listening to the doors open behind me, I turn around to see three men enter.
I’m not sure what I expected but it’s not what I see. One has dark hair that is shaved close to the sides but longer on the top. He’s wearing a black long-sleeved shirt with a pair of holey jeans and black combat boots. Ink covers his knuckles and his neck. A cluster of snakes wrap around his throat all the way up to his jawline.
The second guy has a white T-shirt on, showing off both of his sleeves. One catches my eye. It’s of a woman. She’s dressed in a nun costume that covers her entire body; all you can see is her face. She’s got a ball gag in her mouth with a line of drool running down her chin, her makeup smeared, and she has an upside down cross on her cheek. My eyes lift to his blue eyes, and he smirks, catching me staring.
The third guy wears a backward baseball hat with a hoop nose ring. He’s dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans. He’s covered in ink as well, but I can’t make them out due to the blood splattered on him. He removes a rag hanging out of his back pocket and wipes off his hands before reaching out and turning to Tyson. “It’s been a while.”
“You know how it is.” Tyson shakes it, not even bothered.
“What can we do for you?” the first one who entered asks, picking up a pack of cigarettes off the desk and pulling one out. Like Tyson said, no bullshitting.
“I want to see your roster,” I state.
Silence falls over the room while the guy lights his cigarette and takes in a long drag. Blowing it out, he chuckles. “This is a joke, right?”
“No. I’m looking for someone and I want to know if they’re here or not.”
Taking his time, he takes another drag, his cheeks caving in on the inhale, the end burning red while his green eyes glare at me. Letting it out, he says, “If someone is here, then it won’t matter if we confirm it or not.” Shaking his head, he adds, “They won’t be leaving. To the world, they no longer exist.”
ELLINGTON
I’M HOLDING THE bottle of wine by the neck, down at my side, as my bare feet pad against the cold floor. My life is over. My plan of a career gone. I might as well drop out of Barrington at this point. Chance told me I won’t be working. Ever. My job is here. In this house. One day raising his children. Well, those weren’t his exact words. He was on his best behavior in front of my mother at lunch yesterday when he told her he’d take care of me. She looked more than thrilled to be handing me off like an infant that requires round-the-clock care, and she no longer had the time for me.
At this point, I give up. I’ll die a slow and agonizing death.
Is this why my father committed suicide? Because he just saw no end in sight? How long will I be able to take the life that Chance will make me live? Forget what I want or need. He’ll use my body however he wants, and I’ll pop out some kids while he fucks other women and I pretend not to know. It’s like Sin said in his bathroom, the Lords have women on the side. When you’re told you can have anything you want, women included, why would they be satisfied with one?
Lifting the wine, I take a gulp. Tipping it back too far, some runs down my chin and covers my T-shirt. It’s Sin’s. I found it in the back of the closet underneath a stack of my jeans. It still smells like him. I had the urge to burn it like he did my journals and diaries, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Entering the dark living room, I walk over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and open the black curtains. I look over at the dark woods that line the back of the property.
Lunch went about how I thought it would. Fucking terrible. Then Linc and Chance showed up and it just blew up from there. I ordered a few drinks after that, and my mother had to bring me home. We fought. Once again, she called me a used-up whore and told me that I should kiss Chance’s shoes for thinking he can make me any kind of Lady. I had a few more drinks after she left.
Then I remembered that Kira thought I was pregnant. I had her bring a test over and when it was also negative, we celebrated by having a few shots of the Everclear she brought with her.
It’s for the best.
Hell, maybe all the drugs and shit I’ve consumed will prevent me from having Chance’s children and he’ll throw me away. Like every other man who’s come into my life. A Lord needs to reproduce. It’s part of their commitment to the society. If you don’t have anything to offer to it, then they don’t need you. And the Lords want their army.
Deny a man sex for three years, then give him a chosen as a reward, marry him off and he’s more than willing to knock up his wife. Boom! Next generation of Lords and Ladies are growing up. Rinse and repeat.
A cold chill runs up my back and I stiffen. My heart picking up at the shadow I see in the window standing behind me.
My skin begins to tingle, the fear and adrenaline making my breath hitch. “What do you want?” I ask, knowing exactly who it is.
“Little demon.” Sin’s voice comes from behind me.
I close my eyes, my hand curling around the neck of the wine bottle tighter. The hair is pulled off my shoulders to lay down my back and goose bumps break out across my skin. “Why are you here, Sin?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he rasps against my neck. His lips tenderly kissing right behind my ear.
“I’m getting married,” I say, hoping it pisses him off as much as the news about him marrying Amelia did me. I want him to fucking break. It’s my turn to destroy something.
“You were serving me long before he came along, little demon,” he says, and I whimper. Of course, he doesn’t care that I’m being forced against my will to marry another Lord.
“Leave,” I whisper. “Please.”
“I can’t do that, Elli.” His arm comes around my waist and slides up my shirt. His gentleness makes my breath hitch. Sin is never gentle, but I don’t stop him. I’ve missed him too much. Just the fact that he showed up has my heart hammering in my chest with excitement. “You still think of me.” He chuckles darkly when his fingers run over my nipple piercings. I haven’t brought myself to remove them.
No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to erase him.
His hand slides through the collar of his shirt I have on, and he wraps his fingers around my neck, making me arch it.
His free hand grabs the bottle that hangs to my side. Bringing it up to my lips, he says, “Open.”
He pours the wine down my throat, and I choke on it. Making it cover my face, neck, and clothes. It splatters across the window I stand in front of. “Sin,” I snap, pushing him away and turning to face him, his hand now slipping free of the shirt.
The open curtains now behind me give the room a little light from the outside porch lights streaming in. He’s dressed in his black jeans and black hoodie. All he’s missing is his mask, contacts, and gloves to be my hero. I hate that the guy who saved me is the same guy who no longer wants me. “Get the fuck out of my house,” I growl, walking past him. My shoulder bumping into his.
“Get on your knees,” he orders.
A laugh bubbles up my chest and spills out of my lips. I turn around to face him. The look on his face tells me he was not joking. “You get what you give, Sin, and I don’t give a fuck anymore.” With that, I turn, giving him my back and heading to my bedroom.
His hand grips my hair, and he yanks my back into his front.
“Sin,” I growl, my hands grabbing at his forearms. Digging my nails into his skin, I hope I make him bleed. “Let go of me.” My legs kick out as he lifts me off my feet, carrying me over to the back of the couch. My pussy clenching with excitement. He’s here for me. And if he’s here for me that means he’s not there for her.
“Is this how we’re going to play, Elli?”
I whimper and wetness pools in my underwear. No. No. No. “Just leave. Ple-ease,” I beg him. My heart hammering.
He chuckles, pinning my front into the back of the couch while standing behind me. “Going to fight me?” He grabs my hands and yanks them behind my back, pinning them in place while gripping my forearms together in one hand. His free hand grabs my hair, yanking my head up, forcing me to stare up at the ceiling, panting. “Make me take what already belongs to me?”
I try to wiggle free but there’s nowhere to go and my thighs clench. Hating myself more than I could ever hate him. James was right, I respond better to beatings. Bruises and scars are what I get off on. Why am I like this? Would I have been this way had my father never died and my mother had not married James? We’ll never know. “Fuck you, Sin,” I manage to grind out.
Another dark chuckle. “Go ahead, little demon. If fighting me makes you feel better about yourself, I’m okay with that.”
Another whimper escapes my lips, and he yanks me from the couch. Turning me around, he lets go of me and I slap him across the face.
He reaches out, painfully gripping my neck with both of his hands, taking away my air. Placing his face in mine, he smiles when he speaks. “We both know that I have no problem taking what I want.”
