by KT Strange
“Is he threatening to hurt himself or something?” I cut her off. “Because if he’s threatening to hurt himself unless I meet with him so he can say he’s sorry or whatever, maybe get in an ass-grab in the process, that’s bullshit manipulation and you know it.”
She went quiet and I knew I’d hit it right on the head. I raised my eyebrow at Finn. He shook his head slowly.
“Darcy, please,” Willa said, her voice soft. “My next step is to call the cops and have them do a welfare check on him.”
“Then do that,” I said, my words shaking with the rising anger inside of me. He’d nearly ruined Eli’s life. He’d perpetuated a reign of terror on every female, single or not, who entered his presence. “How dare he. Seriously, how dare he. How dare he put you in the middle, and manipulate you into calling me over this—”
“Darcy, I’m pregnant,” Willa’s words dropped like a bomb, whiting out all the noise around me. I froze. “He’s… well, I made some bad decisions, but… I… just please, help me.”
I blinked, my throat going tight. Finn’s face shifted from angry to stunned as he processed what he’d heard.
“What is it?” Max hissed. I held up my hand for her to be quiet.
“Are you okay?” I asked Willa, which in hindsight was the stupidest question. Of course she wasn’t.
“I just need him to be okay,” Willa’s voice went hoarse, “and I can’t go see him because I’m stuck here at the label and Troy will murder me if I leave, but I—”
“You’re not in love with him, are you?”
“God no,” Willa said, “I just don’t want any child to grow up without their father, even an idiot like him, at least… I don’t know, hormones, I’m not thinking straight,” she babbled.
Finn’s hand landed on my shoulder, and I looked up at him.
“If you want to go see Tupper, we’ll go,” he said, keeping his voice soft so Willa wouldn’t hear him over the phone. Max groaned behind me. Compassion flickered in Cash’s eyes and I sighed, closing mine. Sweet mother of toast, what was even my life?
“I’ll go check on him,” I said. “Doesn’t he have people or something to do that?” I joked weakly. Willa let out an equally weak laugh that was more watery than amused.
“He sent them home. He didn’t want anyone around. I’ll text you the address. Darcy— thank you, thank you so much. I’m so sorry for putting you in this position.”
“Just please tell me you used protection.”
“Well it’s 99 percent effective… not one hundred, and it’s not moron-proof” she answered. I sighed.
“Okay, I’ll go. Okay? I’ll call you.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. I ended the call and Max groaned.
“Oh my god, why do I have a feeling that Jake Tupper is going to haunt us for the rest of his life and after?” she asked.
My head rested on the window of our rideshare. In the front, Eli’s shoulders were stiff as our driver made small talk with us. Beside me, Finn sat, his fingers wrapped around my hand. In the end the guys hadn’t fought me when I said we needed to go. Not when Finn had rumbled that Willa was the one who’d asked for the favor. We all hated Jake, but if Willa was in that kind of crap-hole of a situation...
Charlie, Cash, and Ace had agreed to stay back with Max and Daria. We wanted this outing to be as quiet as possible.
“This it?” Our driver asked.
“Right there’s fine,” Eli said as he pointed to the curb. We piled out, the night air crisp around us.
“I’m sure,” I said before Finn could even open his mouth to ask me if I really wanted to do this. I didn’t, but that was beside the point. The pain in Willa’s voice was enough to propel me forward. We were on the edge of the suburbs, where the properties were swallowed up by the surrounding forest them. Jake’s place, a secluded house he was renting, was at the end of a long drive. I shivered as the three of us walked up it, thinking of Willa and how she would have handled the trip here by herself. It was still rattling me that she was pregnant with Jake’s baby, of all people.
The trees rustled in the breeze as we stepped under their shadow.
“That the front door?” Eli murmured in my ear. I squinted through the brush, the faint hint of light coming through the leaves.
“I think so.”
We rounded the bend, my heart beating lightly in my throat. The house was a low bungalow, the woods leaning into it and almost seeming to close behind us. Only the solid bulk of the twins beside me kept me going, that, and knowing how worried Willa was. I stepped tentatively onto the porch, raising my hand to knock on the door.
We waited, and then heard creaking from inside. The door swung open.
Jake’s face wasn’t the same as it had been, and I gulped at seeing Eli’s handiwork. The definite cuts and stitches and swelling that hadn’t fully gone away mottled his skin. He’d wear those scars for a few years at least if he was lucky, more if he wasn’t. His lip curled into a sneer when he saw me and the Gunner brothers.
“Fucking Willa,” he muttered, his words slightly slurred, probably from the teeth that Eli had broken.
“Yeah that’s what got me out here,” I replied. His eyes flickered.
“She told you?”
“I wouldn’t be out here for any other reason than that.” I crossed my arms over my chest, both from the cold and also to let him know that I wasn’t going to put up with any bullshit. Finn and Eli were silent, steady bookends, standing a step behind me. “She’s worried about you.”
Jake snorted and his gaze moved from me to Finn and then to Eli.
“I’m fine. You can go,” he said. I wavered for a moment, wondering if Willa had let her emotions get the better of her. But she’d been so scared…
“She was going to call the cops on you, man, maybe you should answer her calls,” Finn said. Jake rolled his eyes and Finn growled. “She’s carrying your kid.”
“Yeah, yeah, well, she’s not the first, whatever,” Jake said, and I tried to choke back the angry noise of surprise that escaped me.
“You’re a fucking piece of work,” Eli said over my jumble of incoherent protests.
“And you’re lucky the label thinks they can make money off of you and your shitty little band,” Jake said, leaning forward, his hand wrapping around the frame of the door. “Paid me a lot of money to shut up and not burn your project to the ground.”
I stood my ground even as he swayed near my personal space. I could smell something strong on him, like alcohol, and it burned at the back of my throat when I inhaled.
“Have you been drinking?” I demanded. That would explain why he was in such a state.
“No,” he snapped. “Now you’ve seen I’m here, I’m fine. Tell Willa to stop worrying.”
“Call her.”
He met my eyes, a flicker of anger in them that made my breath catch. He looked furious.
“You don’t tell me what to do—”
“Alright, we’re done here,” Finn said, stepping in front of me. “C’mon, Darcy.” He kept his gaze trained on Jake who pulled himself upright, as tall as he could stand.
“She’s going to have a baby, your baby, so smarten the fuck up,” I said with a shake of my head. I turned, Eli waiting until I passed him before moving behind me. Finn followed, his footsteps scraping on the wooden porch.
“Darcy, don’t go,” Jake called after me when we’d barely gotten down to the end of the footpath. I closed my eyes and willed patience into my soul, before I glared back at him.
“You’re drunk, and an asshole. The two are mutually exclusively, so give me a good reason—”
“I just want to talk,” he said. Finn gave a soft rumble of disapproval and Eli growled. I raised a skeptical eyebrow at Jake. God, his face looked awful.
“Unless whatever you have to say is ‘I’m sorry I’m subhuman and insist on being a terrible dudebro in every instance of my life,’ then I’m not sure I want to hear whatever it is you have to say.” I turned prope
rly to talk to him. The breeze tugged at my coat, creeping down with icy-fingers under my collar.
“It’s not something I feel comfortable dissecting in front of your bodyguards,” he said, “it’s about Willa and the baby.”
Whatever inhuman, horrible, unseen force in my life that kept putting me in situations like this could seriously take a holiday. For eternity.
“Five minutes,” I said, walking back toward him.
“Darcy,” Finn said softly.
“I’m good if you’re good,” I said, looking back over my shoulder at him and Eli. They both looked apprehensive, but Finn gave a small nod.
As I stepped up onto the porch, Jake motioned for me to go inside his front door.
“We keep that open,” I said, my skin prickling with uncomfortable energy as I stepped over the sill and into the entryway. Jake followed behind me, and my gaze swept across the room. The bungalow was dimly lit, mid-century modern with wood paneling on the walls and an old faded couch in front of a large flat screen TV. Static played across it’s screen, the glow lighting up Jake’s features when I turned. “Couldn’t find anything on TV?” I quipped, but something in the back of my mind screaming at me.
Jake’s lips twisted into a smirk, his eyes lighting up with the white flare from the TV.
“Why watch TV when the entertainment comes walking right into my arms?” He asked, the light in his eyes flickering from white to bright red.
Electricity crackled along my skin. I stumbled back. Jake’s mouth dropped open, wide, a hoarse scream choking out of him as he started to glow, almost from within, smoke curling out from the hems of his clothes. Time stretched, snapping only when he burst into flame, his voice twisting into a piercing shriek before it cut off and his body staggered, then disintegrated, turning to fine ash right in front of me that fell to the carpet.
As it did, flames erupted high into the air.
I covered my eyes with my arm as a wave of heat pulsed over me, and I choked on the acrid smell of burning flesh. I stepped back again, trying to breathe as the room filled with smoke. I blinked through the dark, billowing clouds as Finn and Eli shouted for me outside.
A hand reached out toward me through the inky blackness, and my breath stalled in my chest as Creston’s smirking face emerged from the darkness.
“Well that was easy,” he whispered.
The Rogue Witch Series continues in…
PHOENIXHEART
ON PREORDER AT AMAZON NOW
Thank Yous
It’s 2019 y’all.
2018 was quite the decade, wasn’t it? Well, here we are. New year, new book, new resolutions that I’m going to promptly break with no regrets. But one resolution I made, I’m trying to keep and that’s to be more grateful and appreciative of the people I’m surrounded with.
My readers in the Facebook group, thank you for your continued support and love! My beta team, you were amazing, with your flag waving and awesomeness in encouraging me. CJ, for the beautiful cover that made me so so happy. Em, for your editing prowess. Thank you to Jennifer Larsen, who had the tough convo with me about things. It inspired some interesting character growth in this book I hadn’t expected.
Mostly thank you to you. This is a long series. It’s got one more book in it (possibly two!!!), and you’ve stuck it out with me. Thank you.
- Kit
(KT Strange)
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About the Author
KT Strange is a reverse harem romance author from the Great White North. After spending ten years in the music scene babysitting drunk rock-stars, she’s finally ready to settle down (sorta) and write a few good books inspired by her life on the road with bands and her love of everything paranormal.
Also she is rather fond of cats.
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