by Ace Gray
“Okay,” he groaned.
“Want to enlighten us, Danger?” Rousse asked.
I took a deep breath and looked around. There were memories on every blade of grass, every bit of bark, and each leaf. I rubbed the scar, jagged on my palm, knowing that right here, at this very fire ring nine years ago, I pledged to never say what I was going to say next. I pledged to love Dantè Rogue as much, if not more than myself.
“I think I’d kill Dantè if I was given the chance,” I said it before I realized I was still rubbing that scar.
“Holy fuck.” Diego’s voice jumped to life.
“No.” Rousse said it so vehemently I felt his teeth.
“Yeah,” I retorted, looking him dead in the eye.
“I mean, I dunno that I want him dead,” Diego mused. “Something more like that dude that has his liver eaten every day for eternity.”
“What?” Rousse shouted as he shot up. “What did Dantè ever do to you two?”
“The same as he did to you, Rousse.” I stood and shoved my finger into his chest.
“He never…”
“Think about all the little things he’s done without knowing he’s doing anything,” I started. “All the times the universe conspired to make his life come together. How he got the best of luck and love and fortune.”
“Dude gets everything,” Diego chimed in.
“Think of all the times he’s won and you’ve lost.” I saw the nerve I struck glimmer behind Rousse’s eyes. The green of jealousy tinged the flame that lit it up.
The flame that lit us all up.
He’d never done anything wrong to us. There was a chance he’d never done anything wrong at all. But all those small slights and tiny abrasions that came from living within the orbit of someone so perfect were a different kind of pain. It was the constant, low level ache that never went away. The kind that made Chinese water torture successful.
“Okay, so a piece of me hates that but I don’t hate him,” Rousse countered.
“But that IS him, don’t you get it, man?” Diego seemed to understand me best. Like always. “It’s like the universe packaged up all the good luck and true love in the world and tied it up with the easy path to a fortune and shoved it in that tall, lanky, surf god body.”
“How are the rest of us supposed to compete when there’s nothing left in his wake?” I echoed.
Rousse’s shoulders heaved up and down, “You wanna kill him because you get second place? That seems a little much.” He closed his eyes and shook his head, but this time, it was like he was trying to reconcile both parts of the sentence.
“Okay, maybe Diego’s liver thing was better, but I’m fucking over it. He deserves to come down a peg or two—”
“Or twenty,” Diego interrupted.
“I just want a chance for things to work out and in my favor.” I shot him a look.
“I want a chance with my girl. The love of my life.” Diego beat on his chest in time with his words. “It’s not fair that she was stolen before I even got a chance.”
“Well, I mean…” Rousse trailed off. “Fuck, I’d love to win.” There was a carnal craving in his voice and I knew I’d hooked him. Now I just had to reel him in.
“Think about it Rousse, think about every night at the track being a successful one. Think about the money. Think about getting out from under your father’s thumb completely.”
“That bastard can rot in hell,” he murmured as his eyes glazed over, and he searched for some vindication from his cloudy past.
I smiled.
“And you?” I jerked my chin at Diego, and his smile simply curled up to match mine. Of course, Diego was easy, I’d dangled Mercy in front of him. She was his master in a way that made him vulnerable, and a vulnerable Diego was always a little unglued.
I started rubbing my scar again. My brothers were with me. They felt the same slights, the same repeated frustration that brewed insanity. They would stick with me through the next bit, whatever that might be. I could stop living in the pit of defeat Dantè had dug for me after that job interview a year ago. They could be my fucking ladder that I’d climb, rung by rung.
“So what are we going to do?” Rousse asked as he sat down and shoved his hands through his floppy hair.
“What’s the equivalent of an eternity of buzzard bites?” I seconded.
“Take away the water he surfs in, the sun that kisses that stupid Adonis body,” Rousse said.
“The asphalt for skating,” I added.
“And Mercy. Take away Mercy.” Diego’s pain was audible.
The silence was heavy around us, like the fog that rolled in from time to time off the ocean and socked us in between those big tent-like trees. I sucked in a deep breath of salt-brined, pine-fresh air and knew the answer. They’d been right: take this away. A concrete box was the way to do it.
“Let’s put him in prison,” I said.
“Take back our freedom.” Rousse shrugged.
“I wanna take back a lot more than that,” Diego muttered.
I nodded as a ghost of a plan started to form in the back of my mind. I’d need a little time (and a lot of drugs) but I could throw something wicked together. I had to. And based on our conversation earlier today, I had a deadline.
Present Day…
Bass thumped through the house. The remix blared familiar words with wild EDM beats and amped me up. My blood started to flow in time with the wild nature of the song, my heartbeat tuned to the flashing lights that Danger had set up in the living room where he’d shoved all the furniture aside. The sunken living room, a step down from the open kitchen, had become a dance floor of epic proportions.
Girls ground on each other, on my friends, and the smell of sweat and sex mixed with weed, smothering the sea breeze and spilled beer. I would miss this as odd as it sounded. I would miss the life I’d lead for years now—wild and free with my best friends—but just like I’d told Danger a little over a month ago, Mercy deserved more. And this last party was celebrating us moving out and moving on.
Delicate hands wove under my shirt, and a body I knew as well as my own slid up against mine. As if I’d summoned her, Mercy was behind me, grinding in time with the beat. I threw my head back and let her guide us against the notes.
Hands. Her fucking hands crawling over my body, dragging down my abs and catching in the small grooves between them was going to kill me.
I turned and trapped her up against my chest, bending to kiss her, then stopping short. We were still dancing, grinding, thumping as I toyed with her, keeping my lips just out of reach. Even with the cranked volume, I heard her moan. Her fingers went from searching my skin to digging in.
“Please,” she begged and I just smiled, making my hips move even more suggestively up against her. She could probably feel that I was getting hard. If not, then I’d make sure she did in a few moments when I turned her and ground against that plump ass. “Tey.” She slipped her hands out from under my shirt and snaked them up around my neck. “I need you.”
I let her pull me down to her lips. I kissed her as hard as I could while my body told her the other things I’d do to her when there was a spare space in the house to do it. She rewarded me with a beautiful, lazy smile when she let me pull away.
The beat kept thrumming through us as she turned and that beautiful ass nestled into the crook of my hips. I groaned as I folded her in fucking half then let my hands travel down her spine. I playfully swatted her ass.
My dick twitched in response.
I closed my eyes for a moment and felt the energy move through me. I was young, in love, with my whole life was ahead of me. And it was a damn good life.
When I opened my eyes, Mercy snapped back up to roll her body along mine. She wrapped one hand up around my neck and let the other slide up my thigh. She arched up and kissed my freshly shaven jaw. I surrendered to her and the movement itself with a loud laugh and let my body follow her.
It took a while but eventually the trance
she held me in faded just the slightest bit, and I searched the room for Danger, Diego, and Rousse. They were gathered together in the corner of the room, having a deep conversation. Something that they had to tuck into each others ears to shout about. The way Rousse’s face crinkled and Diego wouldn’t look my way, told me all I needed to know.
I turned Mercy once more and wrapped my arms around her before nuzzling against her ear. “I have to go talk to the boys.”
She nodded even though I felt the sigh of her body. I kissed her temple then reluctantly pulled away and dodged the furniture to get over to them.
“What’s up?” I yelled over the music as I jerked my chin.
“Don’t worry about it,” Danger yelled back.
“Is this about rent again? I told you I’d pitch in until you found someone.”
“It’s not about rent.”
I shot Danger a look and he shrugged.
“Guys, you’ve been weird for a few weeks now. I mean, come on, this had to happen eventually.” I found myself pleading. Something had shifted between us and I couldn’t figure out what. All I knew was that it left Danger cruel, Diego angry, and Rousse distant. “It doesn’t change us. It just changes where I live. Mercy deserves it.”
Diego’s eyes flashed to where she was still dancing on the floor. When he looked back at me, he scanned me from head to toe with contempt in his eyes I hadn’t seen before.
“Hey—” I snapped.
“It’s nothing,” Danger cut me off. “Don’t worry about it. Have a beer and enjoy the party that’s in your honor.” He handed me a Baja fog from behind him, the tequila shot sitting in the neck of the Corona.
I managed a reluctant smile as I took it from him and squeezed the lime into the shot.
“Cheers, brother.” Danger tried not to sneer as he clinked the bottom of his bottle to mine, Diego’s crashed into mine so hard that I saw the fizz bubbling up just in time to arch forward and yank the bottle to my mouth to chug. Rousse reluctantly tapped the bottom of my bottle once I was swallowing.
“Cheers, you asshole,” I said, looking at Diego.
“Calm your tits, bro.” Diego rolled his eyes. “I didn’t mean to. Just drink it and don’t be a bitch.”
And I did, mostly because I wanted this awkwardness between us to go away. The bottle was cool against my lips, the Corona tinged with lime, and the hint of tequila was a fresh burn on my throat.
“Atta boy,” Diego said as he slapped my shoulder then disappeared into the crowd.
“Sláinte,” Rousse echoed as he drank and walked away, following Diego into the crowd.
My hair stood up on the back of my neck as I turned toward Danger and pulled in another deep swallow. “You’d tell me if something was wrong, right?”
“If anyone can fix our problems, it’s you.” His smile curled up, something wicked in the corners. My heart shoved against my rib cage and I stepped back.
“Anything for you guys.”
“I know. It’s why we love you.” He stepped forward and pulled me into a hug. “It’s also why we hate you.” His deep laugh rumbled with the bass. “Enjoy tonight, Dantè.” The way he said it was more like a warning, then like a shadow, he slid past me and like smoke, he was gone.
Something dropped into the pit of my stomach. I didn’t know what or why but it hurt. Our friendship felt different somehow and that was its own sense of foreboding.
“Hey,” Mercy broke into my thoughts, and her hands found a perch on my chest. “What’s wrong?”
I glanced down at her and the world whomped, blowing out and going fuzzy before snapping back into focus. Sound fluxed in my ears and I lost her other words.
“What?” I tried to shake the fog that had suddenly settled in my brain. I had no idea what had just happened, where those few breaths had just gone.
“Was Danger a dick? He’s been getting worse of late.”
“He was Danger.” I blinked a little too fast as I focused in on her, on my beacon, and smiled.
“Come dance with me.” She fisted my shirt and dragged me from the corner back to the makeshift dance floor.
I only had eyes for her. For her skin as it changed in the neon lights, for her smile as it strobed. We went back to dancing shamelessly with each other. My hands ran along her curves and my fingers tingled against her.
But then the world whomped again. Things went blurry and distorted and when they snapped back together, it was like someone had hit the fast forward button.
Some guy was behind Mercy. Too close to her. His hands reaching for her.
“What the fuck are you doing,” I shouted and shoved passed Mercy, grabbing his shirt and pushing my face into his. “She’s mine. Don’t you dare fucking touch her.”
“Tey, what are you doing?” Mercy scrambled to grab my shoulders. Rousse was between us the next second. Diego appeared with his arm protecting Mercy.
“You’re a lover not a fighter, man.” Rousse pounded on my chest as we all shuffled away from the dude I’d blown up at.
“What the fuck, man? That’s not you,” Rousse shouted over the bass.
I shook my head and tried to shove him off but couldn’t put much muscle behind it.
The world whomped again. Fading. Blurring. Becoming black. Until it wasn’t anymore. Another fast forward and I was back. And I was lost.
“Don’t cry, Tey. Please,” Mercy begged from where she was crouched between my knees.
When did I sit down? What was she doing down there? Where were Diego and Rousse? What had happened to the guy that had been touching her? What the hell had happened? Was I crying?
I reached up to touch my cheek and found dampness. I couldn’t remember any of it.
“They love you. I love you,” she kept pleading. “You’re smashing my heart to smithereens.”
“What happened?” I gave voice to my thoughts as I shook my head.
“What do you mean, what happened?” She cocked her head to the side and her beautiful brows crinkled confused. “You were convinced they hated you. That I hated you. All of us,” she whimpered. “You said you were going to leave me before I got to leave you.”
I shook my head, unable to remember any of it. Or why I might have thought that, let alone said it. Mercy was always waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I’d sworn on my life—to the very gods above—that I wouldn’t let it.
“Tey, are you okay?”
“I don’t remember…” The world folded in on itself all over again and she was gone.
“Look at him with his paws all over her,” Diego almost spit the words out. “He’s like a dog with that damn bone.”
“Do you guys still think…” Rousse trailed off, and I couldn’t tell if it was because he was a pussy or if for once in his fucking life he’d thought ten seconds ahead and didn’t want to incriminate himself.
“Fuck yes,” I said sharply as I shot him a look that said shut your ever loving trap. “Look at him.”
And all three of us shifted to do so.
He and Mercy really were hot together. From time to time I popped a chubby watching them just because they were made for each other. Well, and because voyeurism was one of my many things. But tonight, watching person after person high five him, move out of the way as if he was a god, smile at his shit eating grin, and hug him as if they’d truly be sad if they never saw him again, a completely different type of lust blossomed inside me. Bloodlust.
“I wonder what her pussy feels like,” Diego mused.
“I wonder if he ever worries,” Rousse seconded.
“And here I just want to know what it’s like to be a demigod.” I shrugged. “And to answer your question, I bet her pussy feels like warm velvet. Desperate, warm velvet.”
He groaned.
“Did we ever stop to think what we’re doing to her?” Rousse bent toward me to ask as the music reached a crescendo.
“We’re giving her a chance at true love.” Diego thumped on his chest.
I rolled my e
yes, knowing that she already had true love but not really caring that we’d rip it from her. Her biggest fear was being lonely, and I was a decent enough guy that I’d make sure she didn’t feel abandoned. I’d sleep fine telling myself that was enough. But Rousse…
“And we’re giving you the chance to be good at something again. Don’t forget that.” I arched an eyebrow as I pushed my pointed finger against his chest.
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” He was about to shove away when Dantè caught our collective attention.
He was walking toward us with that grim determination that crinkled up his brow and twisted his nose like he was some sort of pathetic puppy. It was the moment I’d been waiting for.
“You guys remember the plan?” I asked.
“Yup.” Diego popped his P while Rousse just grunted.
“Wait for it,” I said between my gritted teeth.
“Sure he won’t have control?” Diego asked.
“Make sure he drinks it all,” I replied. “Then keep your eyes fucking peeled.”
And before I could utter another word, Dantè was with us. All his words blurred together and that annoying airhorn I’d started to hear in place of his voice blared through my brain. I knew he was worried about us. About us making rent and how our friendship would change. Each time he started talking about it, I thought about shoving thick, steel nails into my ears and relishing the way I bled.
Who the fuck did he think he was anyway? Our dogtown lord and savior? Puke.
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” I dug out of my disgust just in time to push the first domino of fate. “Have a beer and enjoy the party that’s in your honor.”
It was after all. His last night, and my last chance to level him. All the drugs, all the jerk offs were just the vehicle I was going to use to plow into his ass and wreck everything. For taking my job. For taking Diego’s girl. For beating Rousse in absolutely everything. For the way that all those little things had turned into something seething.
Something worth killing for.
