by Flite, Nora
Kite clasped my forearm, Jacob sliced my flesh. It was a burst of heat that shot up my spine. In wonder, I saw my own blood fall to the ground. The same spot these two men had made their pact so long ago.
Flipping the handle towards me, the pocketknife was offered. They weren't smiling, their eyes hard diamonds to reflect the intensity of this moment. Taking the pommel, I cut Jacob's hand, then Kite's. My body was awash with hyper-senses. Shocking chills, fresh air, the scent of our rusty essence. I didn't resist when they took my fingers, our palms caressing, blood mixing.
“Why are you crying?” Jacob asked.
My laugh was fragile on the corners. “I'm just really happy right now. I thought... part of me was sure I was going to die tonight.”
Kite released me. Using a rag from his pocket, he washed my hand—it stung, but I didn't flinch. “I thought you weren't scared of dying?”
I glanced at Jacob. You're no ghost. That was what he'd told me when he'd first kissed me. “I wasn't,” I said. “Not until you both gave me something I could actually lose.” Clutching the rag to my chest, I shivered. I couldn't stop, genuine relief had turned my muscles to jelly. “I had nothing. For so long, I just... I didn't care. No one else did, so why should I?” It was hard to see anything. Fuck, the tears were too much. “Then you two changed it. You changed everything for me. I didn't—I don't want to die.” Pressure built in my skull. Lifting my chin proudly, I challenged them to deny my words. “I didn't think I could love anyone, and here I am... caught up in you two at once.”
“You love us?” Kite's voice was husky. His hand still dripped a pattern of red.
“More than anything,” I said. I held my forehead, spreading bloody smudges and fingerprints from my wound. I was a mess, inside and out. It was their fault, so they should see this for what it was.
I was a woman who had given up everything, faced down death, and then realized that the one thing keeping me going was no longer an urge to kill...
But an urge to be with them.
My potential murderers.
My saviors.
Jacob was a void, closing in on me until I saw just darkness. His lips were sweet, but god, his words were more delicious than anything out there. “You're connected to us, now. This blood bond... it's unbreakable. Our love will last as long as we all breathe.”
My lungs heard him, they filled with air then exhaled with my surprise. Kite had pushed Jacob aside, his own mouth demanding it reach mine. Teeth and redemption, that was his flavor. “I love you, Marina. I'll love you beyond this life. Beyond whatever fucking grave waits for me at the end of everything.”
His promise was ink in my ears, a needle tattooing on my heart. The three of us had been brought together by death. By fury and hatred and vengeance. All of us were damaged, but together, we had become whole.
What a messed up love this was. I wouldn't have changed any of it.
On that river's edge, we sat and listened to the water running. Kite's knuckles, his bold tattoo, I finally grasped the meaning. This river was symbolic to him. It was the place it had all began. Here, Kite and Jacob had plunged down their murderous path. They had done it to escape one life, but it had kept pulling them into the dark depths as they grew older.
Swim, his tattoo proclaimed. If you didn't swim, you would drown. I'd stepped into their lives when they thought they had finally gotten away from here—out of the damn river. It was my fault they'd had to dive back in.
But if I hadn't... I would never have been free.
I wouldn't have gone on living.
They had saved each other, and then in the end, they had saved me.
With their warm bodies on either side of my shoulders, our breathing in sync with the cuts throbbing on our palms, I wondered if maybe... just maybe...
I had saved them, too.
- Epilogue -
Kite
Shoving the groceries onto the counter, I wiped my brow and sighed. Did this girl really need so much hot cocoa? Screwing up my face, I packed the boxes away, my pretend anger fading. I was beyond happy that I had a reason to buy this stuff. I'd fill my apartment with it, if she only asked.
The bandage on my hand crinkled, shiny in the light of the sun that streamed through my window. It had been a few days since the confrontation on that back road. At times, my heart still bounced rapidly when I thought about how we'd sped after Marina through the night.
Waking, finding her gone and discovering the letter... it had been a blur of decisive moments. Jacob had watched me when I held the paper out to him, stayed silent as I ranted about how stupid she was to hand it to us. I'd paced and raved and cracked my knuckles.
I'd been furious that we were forced to make a choice. The luxury of waiting was over with.
The part I hadn't expected... was Jacob. He'd taken the letter, held it to my stove's burner. With smoke curling, he dropped it in the sink and watched it burn. His words were flat, calm, and they rattled my brain. “We need to hurry. It might be too late.”
With my GPS guiding us, we'd burned rubber. I still didn't know what we were going to do. Hope that I'd torn to pieces had reformed with these rash actions. Jacob was never rash. Something had snapped in him.
The shot he made at Lars when we found him trying to choke her, it had been meant for the man's head. Jacob had planned to kill him, ignoring any promise we'd ever made to Marina. I understood his fury. Seeing her on the ground, struggling under that monster, had driven me mad. It was good for her I didn't have a useful weapon. Lars would have been stuffed with lead.
She deserved her right to exact revenge, in the end.
When we'd stood on the scene after that, her body tied in Jacob's trunk, he'd taken me by the hand. His grip was tight, brutal. The challenge in his face mirrored mine from that fateful morning, the time I'd sparred with him and stood up for Marina's life.
“She saved me,” he said, never breaking eye contact. “That bold, amazing woman... even if she broke her promise and failed our test... she saved my future. Our future. She didn't have to, that day in the club. She could have let me get found out, revealed I was a fraud. But she fucking didn't.” His forearm was bulging under his sleeve. He was bordering on crazed. “How can we sentence her to death after everything she's done to us, and for us?”
The buzzing in my head became a raging hurricane. Crushing his palm, I yanked him in and hugged him roughly. “You really want to save her?” I asked, willing my voice not to shake.
“Yes. I really do.”
While she struggled in the car, thinking her path was leading to her death, I met my best friend's stare and nodded. “Guess we better clean this shit up, then. What's the point in letting her live if the cops put us all in jail later?”
Speaking of which, it had been a hell of a scene. Lars had gotten his hands in Marina's hair, she'd cut him with his own hatchet and put a bullet in his brain. If we left him there on the road, it would have been a beacon to investigate.
With Marina in Jacob's trunk, we wrapped Lars tight in a plastic sheet and threw him and the ax into mine. His car we drove into the bushes, turning it off and leaving it to be discovered.
His body? Well, of course it couldn't ever be found. DNA, mistakes, you know the drill. That same night, before the sun rose, the three of us took him to the bar and repeated what had been done to Culver. It had been the right move. So far, there'd been no word in the news about Lars going missing. Eventually, we knew it'd come up. I doubted we'd ever be in the spotlight as suspects.
We hadn't asked Marina to help with the disposal. Amazingly, she'd insisted. That woman was stronger than any of us.
Strong. What a word. It had been a challenge for me to expose Marina to my past. My old life, my childhood, was the most vulnerable and hated part of me. Telling my story had left me hollow. But she had to know.
It was the only way.
Now, standing at my window, I made a fist. Two scars, old and new. One bond strong enough to defy logic and life. Th
is wasn't the future I had dreamed of, but now, I couldn't remember anything else. Nothing was as right as what we shared.
Marina had been the one thing missing from my existence.
Finally... I had a purpose again.
Jacob
She stood with her back to me, a vision of ethereal beauty in a fitting setting. The graveyard was blossoming, green with the coming spring. Marina's hair was down, blowing in the breeze in lazy curls. I was filled with the desire to wrap my hands in it, brush it over my cheeks as I listened to her breathe.
Breathe. Yes. I couldn't get over the fact she was still alive.
Watching her from the shade of a tree, I waited. Interrupting her would have been wrong. This was an important moment for her, significant in what it meant for her freedom.
Marina's chains had been removed. She'd set out to get vengeance, completed her task so she could move on. Peace was slow in coming, though. Kite and I had both woken to her nightmares. Over the last week, they'd become shorter... softer.
She always slept better with us nestled at her side.
Turning, she lifted a hand, capturing her dark strands as they blew into her face. Coiling them behind an ear, her eyes went to the sky. I wanted to see what she did. Whatever it was, it made her smile.
Spotting me, Marina waved a hand, heading across the grass. For the occasion, she'd put on a flowing, buttery-yellow dress that waved around her knees. I loved her no matter what she wore, but seeing her so angelic was stirring me up.
Leaning off of the tree, I took my hands from my jacket pockets. I planned to coil my fingers on her cheeks, but she beat me. Tan arms snaked around my neck, she stood on tiptoe to reach me with her kiss. It was quick, too quick. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
Smiling sideways, I hooked my hands around her middle. “Anabelle insisted I get some air. She said I'd been inhaling more paint fumes than I realized.”
“So you came and found me?” Lifting an eyebrow, she cocked her head. “It's only been a few hours, did you miss me that badly?”
She was teasing, but I was a champion at this game. Thumbing her chin, I tilted her jaw up and spoke with cool intensity. “I miss you every second you're out of my sight.” Her blush was a treasure trove.
Clearing her throat, she stepped back, slid her fingers into my hand. Our bandages touched. That had been fun to explain to Anabelle. She'd noticed our matching wounds. Kite had blurted out that we'd had a bad accident with a blender and some margaritas.
No. I didn't think she believed him.
“It's strange,” Marina whispered. Facing towards the cemetery, she looked like she was listening to the wind. It jostled the leaves over our heads. “I'm still having trouble believing it's over.”
Pushing her hair off of her collar bone, I drew her to my side. It was where she belonged. “When Kite and I killed his uncle, I don't think we slept well for weeks. Maybe months.” She angled her face, staring up at me. “It was supposed to free Kite. And I think, in a way, saving him was freeing me. Sometimes, the scars we carry take time to heal over. Even if the wound was made for a good reason.”
Her lips glistened, parting and begging to be touched. “I wanted to ask you something,” she said gently. “Your Gram... and your father... what ever happened to them, do you know?”
It was my turn to smile sadly. “My dad killed himself in the psych ward. I didn't know until I was a teen, I looked him up and found his obituary. As for my Gram...” Shaking myself, I gazed over the tombstones. They made me think of my younger brother's funeral. “That day we made our bond, Kite and I cleaned up at his uncle's home. I knew we needed to leave, and fast, but I wanted to see her. I don't know.”
My nostrils flared from my brisk inhale. “I told her I loved her. She looked up from the TV long enough to tell me that she loved me, too.” I love you too, Bill. Before our new Blood Bond, I would have omitted this from Marina. Now, I lifted her hand, kissed where the scar was hidden. “She called me my father's name. By then, I was never Jacob to her.”
Wet hurt flooded Marina's eyes. She did me the courtesy of not allowing her tears to spill. “I'm sorry,” she whispered. “That must have been hard.”
“She did me a favor.” The wind was cool on my neck. “If she'd been more clear headed, she might have begged me to stay. I was spared that problem.” The memory was a pit in my stomach. Rejection made leaving easy... but it had helped form the shell around my heart. A shell Marina had chiseled through.
Reminding myself that my past was not my present, I hugged her to me and kissed her forehead. Together, we huddled in the shade of the tree and listened to each others' heartbeats.
My phone buzzed, and without looking, I knew it was Kite. “Come on,” I said, leading her down the slope. “He'll be wondering where we both are. Let's not make him worry.”
Laughing, clear as silver bells, she tugged me down the sidewalk. She was as eager to reunite our triad as any of us was. “Hurry up, then! I want to see what my new room looks like! You've kept me out of your apartment for too long, were you building me a god damn castle?” she teased.
We'd moved her belongings from storage, divided them between Kite's place and my own. Sharing everything included an arrangement we'd all agreed on. Kite couldn't hog her.
Marina's spare room in my place was finished, and I'd gone to great lengths to prepare it to her liking. The surprise closet of expensive clothes would either impress her, or make her furious. Either of those reactions would delight me.
Once, I'd been sure that money was the key to happiness. To our freedom. When we had enough, we'd stopped taking contracts, abandoned our lives as killers. Life didn't become freeing or beautiful. It had ended up leaving Kite and me hollow. Without the rush, we didn't know what we were doing.
Following that smiling girl down the street, my heart topped off. It could have burst, surely no man was meant to feel so happy. This was as close to perfection as I would ever reach.
I'd found—we had found—what was lacking.
Here, with her... this was surely paradise.
THE END
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A USA Today Bestselling Author, Nora Flite loves to write dark romance (especially the dramatic, gritty kind!) Her favorite bad boys are the ones with tattoos, the intense alpha types that make you sweat and beg for more!
Inspired by the complicated events and wild experiences of her own life, she wants to share those stories with her audience. Born in the tiniest state, coming from what was essentially dirt, she's learned to embrace and appreciate every opportunity the world gives her.
She's also, possibly, addicted to coffee and sushi.
Not at the same time, of course.
Check out her blog, noraflite.blogspot.com, also email her at [email protected] if you want to say hello! Hearing from fans is the best!
-Nora Flite
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