When Sinners Kneel

by R. Scarlett

  “You want me to use you? To take from you?” I asked.

  Her mouth trembled. “Y—yes.”

  LEX

  “Afraid of me?” Beau said, lowly, his grip tightening around my wrists.

  “N-no,” I whispered and I knew I failed at concealing my emotions. Beau’s eyes darkened, turning black, and he shifted closer, pressing me farther into the brick wall.

  “Liar,” he breathed out, the hot air blowing baby hairs across my forehead. Then he lowered his mouth and exhaled slowly, letting me taste the belladonna—wrapped beautifully in his anger and toxins and wrath.

  The taste was there, but through his thick emotions I could also taste a strain. As if he needed another hit of the drug. But his emotions were all jumbled and violent, caressing my skin.

  I shivered, my toes curling inward, my eyes fluttering shut as the taste of him filled my mouth. All the warmth spread to my chest and a hot dizzy spell took over, feeling the power drum through my veins like pure heroin.

  He, breathless, watched me. Like a man obsessed. Like a man who discovered my pleasure and wanted to remember every second.

  “You like how I taste, souleater,” he said, a corner of his mouth twitching cruelly—the beginning of a smile that would never form. Because true beasts never smiled. Instead, they flashed teeth as a warning, a threat and he was on the edge of doing so. I glared at his cocky tone and hated when I reddened. His thumb pressed harder on my wrist and I tensed, only to realize he was feeling my jack-rabbit pulse. “But how do you taste?”

  His eyes dropped to my mouth and my tongue swept across my trembling bottom lip. It felt like an eternity—the space in-between us too far apart. His eyes darkened further, and a shiver ran down my spine at the sight. I wanted—no—needed more of Beau. “I tasted your skin last week, but what if I took your mouth?”

  “Taste me,” I whispered, begging for a chance to indulge. Just one taste of the rage and I’d move on. I’d focus on learning how to fight and getting money to survive.

  He didn’t say a word, but I heard his jaw clench, the bone rub against bone, and see the battle on his shadowed features. “If I did, would you feed on me? Feed on my soul?”

  My teeth dragged across my bottom lip at his words.

  “Maybe,” I said, softly, breathlessly and scanned his features. When he still resisted, I asked, “Are you afraid, Savage?”

  His hard eyes flew to mine at that and he moved in so we were flushed. I groaned aloud, at the feeling of his hard, powerful body pressed to mine and the thick length pressed roughly to my stomach showing evidence of his arousal.

  “Afraid you’ll like how I’ll taste? Or are you afraid I’ll know all your sinful little secrets if I feed on you,” I said, so close to touching his mouth, puffs of quick air escaping my own lips in a needy, hot breath.

  “Little one,” he said and bent his head, the beast surrounding me in a hazy fog of darkness and lust. “I don’t hide my sins, I wear them on my fucking sleeve for the world to see.” His fingers cradled my neck and he breathed into my ear. “Stay the fuck away from Danny. He’ll fuck you and then toss you.”

  I couldn’t control my breathing. “Isn’t that all men?”

  His teeth slid across my cheek, slowly, painfully aware of how dangerous this was. “If I was to fuck you—it’d be slow and raw and it wouldn’t be just once, Alexandra. I’d ruin you for any other men.”

  I moaned into him, into the pain of his words and body.

  And then he stepped back, his chest heaving, his dark eyes scanning me. I watched him give me one final look, letting me feel the burning wrath inside of him scorch me. He then turned around, going back into the Pit, leaving me in the dark, aching for more.

  Days passed and when I didn’t hear from Tensley I decided to swing by the townhouse. He made it his hobby to text me every day and when my phone had been silent the last three days, I grew anxious. He was like an annoying big brother who was too paranoid about something bad happening to me.

  He knew I could handle myself, but it obviously didn’t shake away the worry.

  The townhouse was a beckon of hope and a symbol of my past. Its pristine white bricks and Roman columns proudly standing on either side of the large black doors had intimidated me as a young girl.

  Now I just saw a townhouse filled with power hungry Scorpios. Each member came from a line of high middle class. No one below, with a ranking like me, could truly call themselves a member. But the bellboy who stood at the entrance recognized me immediately. He simply nodded. As a guest to the Knights and Tensley’s friend, no one ever questioned my presence.

  I sauntered down the long hallway and tapped on Tensley’s office door. Or what was Mr. Knight’s old office.

  Nothing.

  Just as I was about to enter, a soft voice made me jolt.

  “Alexandra,” Daphne, Tensley and Beau’s mother said, her lips tipping up into a warm smile.

  It was rare to have someone welcome me with warmth and I fidgeted with my hair, thrown up in a loose ponytail. Compared to her dressed in a white dress suit, pristine and elegant, I looked like a street rat.

  “Where’s Tensley?” I asked.

  Her smile twisted. “He and Molly were summoned to High Court by the king to deal with urgent matters.”

  My stomach dropped. Tensley must have hated that. Being in a foreign place, surrounded by dukes and ladies well above his status. But he had Molly, the daemon, a weapon that made him more powerful than any of them.

  Including the king Fallen.

  I let my shoulders drop. “When should he be back?”

  Daphne hummed. “I’m not quite sure. He’s been gone for a week and a half now. Hopefully in a week or so. But you know, no one ever leaves the king’s court until he allows it,” she said, and her voice held a clear note of worry.

  I nodded and tried to think of a way to politely excuse myself. Over the years, Mrs. Knight had always been kind and generous to me.

  “I’m glad he had someone to care for. It made him a better man,” Daphne said.

  I froze, my eyes widening at her words. For a woman married to Salvatore Knight, a powerful demon who had never been known to offer mercy to his enemies, she’d always been surprisingly soft and caring. Much more than any demon should be. “I’m the one who’s lucky to have him, Mrs. Knight. Lucky your family welcomed me and took care of me.”

  Daphne grinned, and I noted Beau had her deep brown eyes. Hers were lighter though, more gentle. “My husband was a bit wary of you two spending so much time together, but I insisted we let you spend time together. After what happened to Beau…” Her eyes dropped to the floor, trying to find the proper words. My stomach twisted at the mention of Beau, the man my soul craved. “I knew I didn’t want Tensley to suffer the same fate. We were so hard on Beau growing up, always insisting he not mingle with those below his ranking. We kept any meaningful relationships outside of our family away from him, but he sought it out because we had robbed him of that.”

  My throat grew tight and hot and Daphne paused again, the softness of her vanishing behind her composed expression. She had said too much…

  “I didn’t want to rob Tensley the same way,” she said, softly.

  I nodded, unable to speak.

  “I would say…it proved correct,” she said, nodding her head at me, that faint smile playing on her lips. “I only wish I could have saved Beau.”

  My back straightened. Saved Beau?

  I wanted to argue with her. To say Beau didn’t need saving. But… he did.

  He needed—I swallowed, remembering the palpable loneliness I’d tasted coming off of him that first night at the Pit.

  Beau needed someone to accept him, to care for him and only him. Not his past, not his bloodline, not only the best parts of him. All of him. The good and the bad.

  I could see behind his eyes, behind his glares how he held onto the past, lived in the past of his regrets and sorrows, reliving those harsh moments over and over a
gain. Not allowing himself to move on, to…forgive himself.

  “Excuse me, Mrs. Knight,” I said, dropping my head in respect. “I need to get back home. Can you tell Tensley once he’s back to call me?”

  She nodded, and I walked down the hallway and back out onto the street.

  My chest felt heavy and I kept wondering…if I could save Beau’s soul.

  BEAU

  My fists were red and tender by the time the other fighters came in to train. Most days I came in later than the others, but I hadn’t been able to sleep. Lex haunted my mind and body and soul, and I played over and over again how close I came to giving in to my primal desires. How I’d push her back up against the alleyway and lift up her skirt, push her panties to the side and devour her.

  Fuck me.

  I punched the bag again and wiped the sweat from my brow.

  She was playing me. Playing games to get under my skin. Why the fuck she wanted me, I didn’t know. She hadn’t had an easy life, but she didn’t need to be attracted to someone as damaged as me.

  Lex disturbed my control, my world, and everything inside of me.

  I wanted to scare her that night in the alleyway, but instead she had enjoyed my roughness.

  Frustrated with myself, I moved to the changing rooms. Laughter coming from other fighters bounced around the room, and I ignored them, walking around the lockers so they didn’t bother me. I kept my distance from most people.

  I wasn’t here to make friends and chit-chat. I was here to bleed and make others bleed along with me.

  I shook my fists out, unwrapping the bandages and washed my hands in one of the sinks.

  “She’s legal,” I heard one of the fighters say and my interest moved to them despite myself.

  A guy I recognized as Wesley snickered. “Do you think she’d be a screamer or the silent type?”

  Quinn, a guy I’d fought once or twice before, hummed, pulling his shirt over his head. He shook his hair like a wet dog, droplets of water from his recent shower flying around him. “A screamer. But I’d shut her up with my thick cock.” He grabbed himself over his sweatpants and thrust suggestively.

  “Would you let her taste your soul?”

  My shoulders tensed at that and I gripped the sink. There was only one souleater at the Pit because most found it too overwhelming to their senses. They had to be talking about Lex.

  “I heard the sex is intense if she does,” Quinn added. “Fuck, maybe I’ll corner her tonight and find out.”

  “We could do it together,” Wesley said and my jaw almost snapped from the pressure of my gritted teeth. “She seems feisty. Might need to hold her down.”

  That was the final cord in my strength. I spun, and the laughter instantly stopped as I appeared around the lockers in front of them.

  Before any of them could speak, I gripped Quinn’s collar and shoved him into the lockers—the thud of metal silencing them all.

  “Savage,” he choked out, his hands gripping my wrist.

  All the men in the change room grew deadly quiet.

  “You touch her, you so much as look in her direction,” I hissed lowly, but it was the only sound in the room besides Quinn’s gasping. “I’ll rip out your spine and feed it to you, then I’ll rip it out of your ass on its way out. Are we fucking clear?”

  Quinn paled, his eyes bulging as he stared back at me. He nodded violently. Too purple to speak.

  I let go despite the raging beast in me telling me to kill, kill, kill, and stepped back. I swept my gaze across the group of fighters. Men born in blood and rage and violence.

  There was only one way they’d understand the threat and back the fuck off.

  “I’m saying this now,” I said, and I knew my eyes had bled to black. “The souleater is mine. She’s my property. And you don’t wanna be fucking with the property of a man like me.”

  The men stayed silent. It was their form of approval, of acceptance.

  I turned, my hands rolled into fists and marched out of the changing room and back into the bottom level of the Pit.

  Tegan stood in the ring and when she saw me appear, she froze, tilting her head to the side.

  “Who pissed you off?” she asked, her brow wrinkling.

  “No one,” I said and moved into the ring next to her.

  She laughed. “Someone pissed you off and you look like you want to destroy them.”

  I ignored her, but my thoughts went to the men, to their comments of taking Lex. And then I thought of last night. I did. I did want to destroy Lex.

  Slowly.

  Because fuck me, I wanted her to taste me while I fucked her.

  I needed her to go away. I needed her to understand this wasn’t happening. I needed to be the adult, the responsible one to push her away. Tonight, when the little souleater tried to tempt me again, I’d show her I wasn’t interested.

  When, I thought to myself, not if.

  Because I knew she’d come back. I knew she wouldn’t listen.

  Lex loved looking for trouble.

  Cold beer ran down the front of my shirt and I grimaced as the men around me laughed at their drunken friend.

  “Babe,” the drunken guy slurred, reaching out to touch me. “Let me pat that clean for you, will you.”

  I backed up. “I’ll get you another drink,” I bit out and the fucker laughed some more with his sleazy friends.

  It was halfway through the night and the fights had become nothing more than background noise. I’d almost grown used to all of the Pit’s violence. Almost.

  Whenever I saw one of those body bags being carried out, I still couldn’t help the shiver running down my spine. A good reminder not to pick a fight with someone.

  Even if I had to use all my strength not to shove the guys back and stomp on their limp dicks when they thought they could touch me however they liked.

  This one, he had purposefully run into me and gawked at my wet t-shirt, eyeing my breasts. Luckily, it wasn’t a white t-shirt.

  I could hear another fight beginning down below and the crowd roared. Each fight, each punch, fueled them and in turn, I could feel the excitement build to a roaring level.

  Just then, Beau Knight came into view. Blood and sweat dripped down the side of his face, a tremor in his temple, pulsing as he sat down, watching me.

  Two Aphrodites came to his side and his tattooed fingers pulled out a cigarette. I could almost taste the belladonna on my tongue, remembering his breath on my face. One of the girls leaned forward, flicking a lighter just below his cigarette. His eyes—his dark, gloomy eyes—never left mine as he slightly lowered the drag into the flickering flame. He relaxed back, bringing the cigarette to his mouth.

  One of the girls climbed onto his lap and I watched his free hand wrap around her exposed hipbone. A burning rage built in my chest—a flash of pain.

  Someone bumped my shoulder and I tore my eyes away from the sight.

  I didn’t care, I didn’t care if he found energy elsewhere.

  As I got to the counter, Jackson gave me a look and passed me a dishtowel. I smiled meekly, thankful for his kind gesture.

  I wiped at my collarbone and chest and looked back to the crowded room. Hot and loud and buzzing with energy. I observed a group of men Fiona had warned me about before my first shift here. Until now, I hadn’t had the time to cast more than a quick glance in their direction.

  They were lounging in a booth in a corner of the Pit, being as loud as they possibly could. They all looked so smug, like they owned the damn dirt sullying the floor under their heavy leather boots. Now that I thought about it, they probably did. A few Aphrodites sat at their table, giggling and smoking belladonna. Fiona hadn’t said much other than to stay away from them as much as possible.

  The hairs on the back of my neck rose. One of the men was watching me. I didn’t look away and the smile on his face widened, lifting his glass and tipping his chin at me.

  “They’re trouble,” Jackson said, matter of fact, the scowl not leaving
his face. “They fuck, they fight. I don’t know what the fuck they do all day when they’re not here, but after years of working here, I know what sketchy shit smells like and those guys reek of it.”

  I hummed in response, trying to sound indifferent. I couldn’t help but note his words sounded a lot like Fiona’s.

  “Is it just me and you tonight?” I asked Jackson.

  Jackson shook his head and gave me a long look. A look that made my stomach twist. It was halfway through our shift and no one else had shown up. I had met another girl yesterday named Diana, but she was nowhere to be found. Another person gone.

  Like Dolores.

  “Did Diana quit?” I asked him, frowning.

  Jackson laughed darkly, the wrinkles around his eyes tightening. “Aphrodites never resign, Lex. They can’t.” A shiver ran down my spine and I suddenly felt cold despite the Pit’s near unbearable temperature.

  “But she worked behind the bar,” I said, tilting my head in confusion.

  Jackson’s mouth twitched into a thin line of disdain. “Danny views all women in the Pit as Aphrodites.” He paused, and the words sunk in painfully fast. “The longer you stay around here—the more people go missing. Never know who’ll be next,” he shrugged. “Could be you.” A few guys stumbled to the counter beside me and Jackson took their orders.

  Could be you.

  Could be you.

  Could be you.

  It had already been me, I thought as the nightmares flirted with my memory again, wrapping around my pumping heart.

  My palms grew wet.

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Jackson still watched me and a question danced on the tip of my tongue. “Did you ever meet a woman named Dolores?”

  Jackson’s brows wrinkled. “Why?”

  “She was a friend of mine,” I said. “She came here one night but I never saw her again.”

  Jackson scanned the bar quickly and then leaned down, moving closer to me, my breath hitched. “Don’t ask anyone about any of this. Do you hear me, Lex?”

  I frowned at him. “But why?”

  “What happens in the Pit, stays in the Pit. If any of Danny’s entourage hear you asking around about a missing person…” He paused, his dark eyes glimmering with intensity that made me shiver. “You’ll leave in one of those body bags, am I clear?” His voice was hard, but the intent was clear; a warning, not a threat.