It’s odd reading about your own murder spree in a newspaper as though you’re just a casual bystander and not at all the one who caused it, but Crescent Vale City is pretty shocked by the gang violence that suddenly erupted between the Bones Brotherhood and the Torres Casino. Apparently, they had been doing shady deals together for a long time, and somewhere along the way, they snapped and turned on each other. What followed was a violent bloodbath with tons of dead bodies and the Torres patriarch dead.
What a turn of events.
I chuck the newspaper into the bin next to the Tartarus House and take in a deep breath.
“Ahhh, the smell of opulence and hedonism. My two favorite things,” I murmur as I follow everyone inside.
I’m happy as can be to see my own place again. I even missed my fellow Tartarus boys that come and greet us at the door.
“Welcome back, boys. Glad to see you’re doing well, but I won’t ask,” Arlo says, winking before giving us all a bro-hug. “Miss us?”
“Not a chance,” Caleb retorts, making everyone laugh.
“I did,” I reply. “But most of all, my books.”
“Wow, more than me?” Arlo adds a wink, and it makes us all snigger. “Just kidding, I know about your addiction.”
“Addicted to romance, correct,” I reply, smiling.
I can’t wait to finish the book I’d started before all of this went down because the reading material in that hospital was beyond pitiful. And a mind like mine needs nurturing, sustenance, and romance.
I take a deep breath and snort the smell of the Tartarus House, then hug the pillar. “Oh, darling, I missed you so.”
Everyone’s laughing, but I don’t care.
“Is he okay? Talking to a house now,” Caleb asks Crystal, who bursts into laughter.
“I’m perfect!” I respond, and I wrap my arms around Caleb instead, hugging him as tightly as I just did to the pillar.
“Stop. Crushing. Me.”
“See? Perfect,” I say.
“Fine, fine, you missed this place,” he says. “I get it.”
“Missed it? That’s an understatement. I could’ve possibly never seen it again,” I quip.
He makes a tsk sound. “Doubt it.”
“I almost died, Caleb. DIED. Do you even care?”
“Of course, I do, asshole,” he retorts, folding his arms. “I already told you that.”
“Did you?” I tilt my head. “But I love hearing you say it.”
He rolls his eyes and punches me in the side, and I groan. “Not there.”
“Sorry,” he replies. “Forgot.”
A wretched smile forms on my face. “Of course, you did.”
“Okay, enough with the back-and-forth bullying,” Ares interrupts. “Caleb, help me unpack upstairs.”
“Wait, but …” Crystal glances at the door. “It’s still open.”
Ares tilts his head. “It is.”
My eyes narrow.
That was intentional.
I turn to Crystal, who stays put near the door that is still wide open, ready for her to close. She’s wistfully staring at the two boys walking upstairs, and I just know thoughts are swirling through her head.
So I place a hand on her shoulder and say, “You made it through alive … and now you’re free.”
She smiles. “So are you.”
My brows draw together. “Yet here we are.”
She tilts her head. “He saved your life; you saved his. The debt is gone. So what will you do now?”
I grin and lift my hands, showing off the beauty that is Tartarus. “Darling, I belong here. There isn’t anywhere in the world I’d rather be.” I place one fingertip against her chest. “Except with you.”
A blush creeps onto her cheeks, and I lean in to press a kiss to her lips, tasting her deliciously sweet virtue, making me all hot and bothered once more.
“And if you want to leave, I’ll follow,” I whisper against her lips.
Her eyes open while our mouths are still connected, and she kisses me back only once before whispering, “I don’t think I can.”
My fingers entwine with hers as I plant another kiss beneath her ear. “I told you they wouldn’t ever let you go.” And I smile against her neck when her heart rate picks up. “It’s a good thing you made us all fall in love with you, darling. Because you wouldn’t have survived otherwise.”
I wink as I lean back and watch the smug grin besmudge her pretty little face. “Now go on.” I slap her ass in the direction of the stairs. “Get up there and talk to them.”
“One more thing,” she says, waltzing toward the door to give it a good swivel so it closes on its own.
And I’m so fucking proud of her. No one can slap the beaming smile off my face.
Not even Caleb and his insufferably bad quips.
Caleb
I place a box of clothes on the floor and pull out some of his shirts. “Jesus, you needed all this in a hospital?”
“You’re the one who packed it,” Ares replies, making me snort.
“True.”
When I hang it in the closet, he wraps his arms around me and sniffs my neck. “I missed you. I missed this.” He presses his lips down on my neck, and I tilt my head back. “But I don’t want to move too quickly after you just lost your mother.”
I turn my head sideways and glance at him. “You and Crystal are what keep me together, keep me sane. Keep me from wanting to die with her.”
He turns me around and kisses me on the lips, claiming my mouth in the same way I remember he always used to before we all got destroyed by sorrow. But we will build each other up again and fix what was broken.
When my eyes open, Crystal’s staring at us from the doorway, and my lips tear away. Ares turns his head to look at her, and her cheeky blush clearly gives away she enjoyed watching us.
“Sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt—”
“You’re not,” Ares says.
I swallow away the lump in my throat, feeling my heart throb not just for him but for her too. I never thought I could fall for someone, let alone give my heart to two people. But I did. I fucking did.
I waltz right past him and grab her face, kissing her just as hard as he just kissed me, licking the roof of her mouth, rolling my pierced tongue around hers to show her my commitment.
“What you just saw …” I murmur. “I feel for both of you.”
Her reddened lips brush against mine. “I know.”
“Do you? Because I don’t think you understand how much I crave you … how badly my heart bleeds when you’re not around. And now that my father is no longer dating your mom, I don’t have to feel guilty for what I feel.” I plant another kiss on her lips. “I fucking fell in love with both of you. And I need you. I need you more than ever. Stay. Please.”
Crystal
Could we be together? All of us?
“I …”
“Don’t. Don’t force her to stay,” Ares says, and my eyes find his over Caleb’s shoulder. “She needs to make the choice.”
Caleb steps back, allowing me room to breathe and think as I stare at the two handsome men standing in front of me.
“She already closed the door,” Blaine says behind me, peeking in from the hallway.
Ares’s jaw tenses, and I can see the spark of excitement lighting a fire in his eyes.
I walk closer and look up into those eyes that could tear a girl’s heart out with a simple gaze.
He softly caresses my cheek, and I lean into his hand.
“I was the one who took your smile … but I will do anything to bring it back to this pretty face again.”
A mischievous grin forms on my face as his hand lowers. “Anything?”
My hands rise to his shirt, which I begin to unbutton one by one, his strict gaze on me at all times, but he doesn’t stop me. Not even when I reach the top and push the fabric slowly off his shoulders.
There’s my name, in all its glory, carved into his flesh.
I circle him, my hand still on his muscular body as it slowly slides to his back and across all the fresh scars. I touch the raised skin like the painting on a canvas, ruined by a vandal. All his pain and suffering are out in the opening underneath my fingertips, and he doesn’t even flinch. I am in awe.
“There is one more thing I need to do,” I say as I circle back to his stern gaze again. “Give me your knife.”
His brows furrow as he glares at me for a moment. “Why?”
I hold out my hand. “Trust me.”
With narrowed eyes, he studies me.
I gave him the same words he gave me.
The only question is whether he will honor them or not.
But if he wants this, and I know he does, he’d better treat me like an equal.
He finally makes the decision to fish the knife from his pocket and tucks it into my hand.
The same knife he pulled from my father’s body.
I stare at it for a moment, swallowing away the lump in my throat as I look up into his haunting and beautiful gray eyes.
“Kneel.”
His Adam’s apple moves up and down as he looks up at me with desire.
Thud. Thud.
Thick knee muscles slowly collide with the floor, and I lift the knife until it’s against his neck, chin tilted up to meet my gaze. And it is the most awe-inspiring sight.
A god on his knees for me.
