by G N Wright
They both have big smiles on their faces as they take me in. “Holy shit, Queenie. You look fucking gorgeous,” Jace says, offering me a playful wink.
I move down the stairs, not yet looking at Marcus, as I know he is going to floor. Instead, I focus on Zack.
“He’s right, sis,” Zack says, taking me in at arm’s length before pulling me in for a hug. “You look beautiful,” he drops a kiss to my head.
I smile and then finally let my gaze collide with Marcus'. I feel that familiar inferno inside of me flare, just like every time our eyes connect. He is staring at me intensely as he takes me in. He has got his dark hair slicked back neatly and to one side, his suit is molded to him like a glove. He looks like a fucking movie star. He's frozen to the spot as his dark stare drinks me in.
“Marcus,” I barely whisper his name, but he snaps out of his head and steps up to me.
“Ells,” he swallows thickly. “You look so fucking stunning, baby,” his voice is filled with pride until he leans in and whispers into my ear. “I have a lot more thoughts, but they're inappropriate for your brother to hear.”
Jace snorts a laugh so I know he heard him. I hide my blush in his chest. His scent wrapping around me as I inhale deeply, taking one last moment of calm before we descend in the pit of devils for the night.
“Mommy,” Cassie's little voice squeaks into the room.
I turn to find her little body already housed in her pajamas padding towards me. “Wow, Mommy. So beautiful like a princess,” she says in awe and when she reaches me, I scoop her into my arms and snuggle her close. Throughout all of this, she is my safe place, my base, and the reason I do any of this. I would be nothing without her. She took a broken little girl and made me into a strong and independent mom, willing to take on the world just to keep her safe.
“Eskimo?” I whisper and she immediately rubs her nose against mine before pulling back and looking at Marcus and the guys.
“Is Marcus your prince, Mommy?” she wonders.
I smile, “No, baby. He’s my King.”
She frowns confused, “I thought you were the King?” she asks innocently, and we all laugh. If only we could all see the world through the simple and wondrous eyes of a child.
“I am,” I start. “It’s a long story,” I end with a laugh.
She wiggles to get down and rushes to Jace and gives him her fist which he then brings his too straight away in a fist bump. Of course, he taught her to fist bump. She high fives Lincoln, hugs Marcus’ legs, and then runs over to Zack and holds her arms out to be picked up.
Arthur and Helen are having date night for their anniversary, so Zack is on babysitting duty for the night. “Don’t let her run you wild, Z. Or bribe you into a late night,” I tease, and he smirks.
“Hey what happens on Uncle watch stays on Uncle watch. That’s why I’m her favorite,” Zack says.
“Now, we all know I’m her real favorite,” Logan states, as he saunters in from down the hall. He looks just as devastating as the guys do in his tux and I don’t miss Lincoln quickly checking him out, unfortunately neither does Logan.
“What do you think, Linc? Wanna go for a spin?” he does an obnoxious twirl and wiggles his brows at him as he walks right up into his space. He leans closer to him whispering loudly, “Love the glasses by the way, you look even more fuckable than usual.”
Zack coughs loudly covering his crude words from Cassie, but I can’t keep in my smile. Especially when I see the little blush on Linc’s cheeks before he steps back and croaks out, “Come on, we don’t want to be late.”
“Oh, I always come on time,” Logan responds with a smile.
“We are gonna go start bedtime,” Zack cuts in, giving a death glare to Logan at his crudeness.
I step towards them and nuzzle another kiss into Cassie’s hair. “You be good for Uncle Z, okay baby?”
“Always, Mommy,” she replies, and her words instantly hit my heart. Zack gives me a half hug and they both turn and head towards the movie theater room. I watch them until they are out of sight before turning back to the guys.
Logan takes me in and lets out a slow whistle, “Fucking hell, King. You scrub up nice, if only we weren’t related, ey?” he mocks with a wink.
“Careful now,” Marcus warns but Logan just laughs in his face.
“Oh, don’t worry, River,” he replies with a huge grin. “I’m all about sharing my toys,” he adds the last bit with another wink to Lincoln.
“Yeah, well, I’m not,” Marcus grits back, gripping me until he can pull me close into his body. Logan just holds his hands up in defense, “Calm down Alpha dog it was a joke.”
“Jokes are usually funny, Lo,” I muse, trying to ease the situation.
“Oh, you want to be funny? How’s that gun on your thigh? Got the safety on? Wouldn’t want you accidentally shooting anyone,” he teases me sarcastically, as he brings up the time I shot him during our training a couple of years ago.
“That was one time and barely a graze. Trust me, my aim is a lot better now, so if I shoot you now it’s on purpose,” I snap back at him as Marcus and Jace laugh.
“You shot him?” Lincoln asks to confirm, and I nod not taking my eyes off Logan.
“You’re lucky I don’t wanna ruin my look or I’d suggest a spar,” I toss out with a smile.
He rolls his eyes, “Like I’d take you now with the three guard dogs on your back, hardly fair,” he snorts.
“All's fair in love and war,” I smile a smug grin, before adding, “Now, let’s move.”
He salutes me mockingly, “Yes, King,” before he turns towards the garage. He won’t be driving with us tonight, no one knows Logan or my connection to him. He is acting as a bit of a nomad tonight so he can hang around our enemies and see what he can pick up. We will be there if he needs us and vice versa. Hopefully, it won’t come to that, but even if it does, he will have Ash close by.
We make our way to the garage and get into Lincoln's SUV. He starts the engine and then clocks me through the mirror, “You ready for this?”
“Only one way to find out,” I shrug and Jace laughs, lighting up his joint.
“It sure is fun having you around, Elle King,” he says taking a long drag.
I preen under his appreciation, “Right back at you, pretty boy.”
Chapter 42
MARCUS
The drive over to Hallows Preparatory is quiet. I guess we are all mentally preparing for whatever is going to happen tonight, if anything. I'm replaying every drop of blood I have seen Elle spill and the other stuff I’ve heard about. I need to run through those to remind myself that she can handle anything. She's armed to the teeth, so are we, and I won’t fucking hesitate to hurt anyone who gets in our way.
When she appeared at the top of the stairs, I thought I had died and gone to heaven or maybe hell. Surely, it’s a sin for someone to look as fucking stunning as she does tonight. The red silk clinging to her perfect frame like a second skin, like she had shed the innocent little girl I came to know and love and transformed into a badass, avenging angel.
She took the flames of sin that licked her skin that terrible night and let them burn her to ash until she was a fucking phoenix, spreading her wings into the path of vengeance. She won’t stop until all of the sins she has uncovered are repaid.
I turn to look at her as she takes in everything we pass on the way to the party and when we roll through the gates of Hallows Prep, I don’t miss the slight sneer in her face. There was a time where we did nothing but talk about how great it would be when we went here for high school, it feels like another lifetime now.
We pull up to the valet, yes, the fucking valet, and Lincoln exits looking around until he spots someone in particular. He hands the keys over with some folded up bills and a whispered threat. I jump out at the same time Jace does and rush around to open Elle’s door for her.
She smiles when she looks up at me, “Oh, did I get the gentlemen version of you tonight? Is it the tux?” s
he teases me as I help her out and shut the door behind her.
I pull her until her back is pressed against my chest and whisper low in her ear with a growl, “I could show you how not gentlemanly I am by fucking you on the hood of the car until everyone sees who you belong to,” before quickly letting her go. I don’t miss the thick swallowing of her throat or the blush that covers her chest.
She turns around and starts walking backwards, “In your dreams, Riviera” she smirks and turns to walk into the school but not before I yell out to her, “Nah, in my dreams we do it on my bike.”
We're ushered by fucking wait staff to the Great Hall. When I see it, I roll my eyes. It’s fucking grotesque. Every table is alternated with a small fire pit or ice sculpture in the center and there are literal fire breathers in the middle of the dance floor. I can’t believe the shit these cunts choose to spend their money on.
We are barely in the door when I spot Jonathan King and Elliot Donovan in the far corner, surrounded by their fake fucking cunty friends. No doubt all fighting to get their tongues further up Donovan’s ass. I wonder how many of them know his true face. Have any of them sold him their fucking children? I think about the guns strapped to my torso underneath either side of my jacket. Oh, how it would feel to reach inside and grip them and plant every bullet inside him until he’s sporting more fucking holes than a golf course. Would it tame my pain? Curb my grief? Would I feel repaid for the sins he committed against my father and my girl? Only one way to find out.
Elle curls her arm around mine, “You know you can’t kill him here right? Even I can’t clean that up,” her tone serious and teasing at the same time. I love that she knows me well enough to read my mind. Like she is fucking part of me.
Lincoln and Jace arrive besides us as the latter snorts, “Like we give a fuck about the cleanup.” The sad thing is how true that is and how dark the tone he is using to say it. There isn’t a trace of my carefree jokester brother when he locks eyes on Elliot. Just another casualty of their sick twisted games. Their victims aren’t just the ones they touch with their darkness, no that darkness spreads touching everyone around them until it’s like the aftermath of a fucking natural disaster. People bleeding and broken everywhere in sight, some literal, some metaphorical.
Elle and Jace are like two sides of the same coin. Both touched by evil but in completely different ways and yet their grief so perfectly intertwined. Just like mine.
“Yeah well,” Elle says slowly, “Trust me when I say, I have extremely specific plans for Elliot Donovan.”
When she speaks his name, he looks at us, like he heard her across the crowded room. His smile is slow and sinister as he drags his gaze across the four of us, until it settles between me and Elle. He raises the glass in his hand at us in a toast before taking a sip. Fuck, I want to bleed the cunt dry. I can feel my rage pouring out of me and into my brothers, but when I look at Elle, she is smiling just as sinister as him. She snags a glass of whatever is on the tray the passing waiter holds and tips it towards him. Tossing his toast right back at him and he fucking glimmers at her with respect in his eyes. Yeah right, like he has any fucking idea how to respect another human being let alone a woman.
Jonathan King finally takes notice of what has stolen Elliot’s attention and when his eyes land on his only daughter, he falters slightly, but my girl just offers him the same toast before knocking back whatever is in the glass before throwing it aside and giving them her back.
“So, which of my favorite boys is going to give me a spin first?” she cocks one eyebrow at us expectantly as she challenges us to dance. I don’t think any of us have ever fucking danced in our lives. I almost die of shock when Lincoln is the first to hold his hand out.
She gleams at him, “Oh, Superman, how did I know it would be you hiding more hidden talents?” she places her hand in his and I nod at the two of them as they descend onto the dance floor.
Jace lets his attention wander from Elliot just as Taylor Kennedy enters the room with a couple of friends, and I finally see that signature sparkle in his eyes. “Excuse me, brother, I spy myself a princess of my own,” he stalks away without another word.
I find a table that allows me to have my back to the wall while also keeping Lincoln and Elle firmly in my sight and take the opportunity to stake out the rest of the room.
Despite the mixture of two schools, it really doesn’t seem busy but it’s more to do with the size of the room we are in and not the fact that people aren’t here. They are, I recognize students from both schools, the divide between us and them easily noted. You can pick out the cheap untailored suits and rack bought dresses a mile off, but that isn’t stopping the girls from trying to bag themselves a guy with a net worth longer than their phone numbers. It’s pathetic really.
Speaking of pathetic, the fucking leach that is Cherry steps in my line of sight to Elle. “Looking a little lonely without your queen there Marcus,” she says with fake pleasantry. Allowing her to latch herself to me, even for such a short period of time, will go down as one of the stupidest fucking things I have ever done.
“I was actually enjoying the view you're blocking,” I toss back, and she arches her thinly shaped brows at me before taking a seat next to me.
“What view is that? The one of your current fuck buddy grinding on your brother’s dick?” she says in what she must think is a joking tone, but I hear the jealousy underneath. She continues as she slides her hand onto my thigh, “How about I show you how a true South Sider can fuck? Unlike your preppy little princess, I can go all night. Does she even know how to get on her knees?”
She attempts to brush her fingers further up my thigh, but I grip them tightly and twist them off my leg as she whimpers slightly at the sting of my hold. I can see the pink of her skin turning white in my restraint, but I don’t give a fuck.
“Are you fucking suicidal as well as a dumb slut, Cherry?” I ask her in a low, threatening tone and note when she swallows.
“She’s a North Bred, Marcus. You said it yourself when she first got here. She isn’t right for you,” her tone has turned pleading, but I'm too fucking pissed at her to care.
“What, and you are?” I scoff a laugh. “Do you even know anything about me, Cherry? About my past?” I interrogate her and she frowns further so I spell it out for her. “I was born and raised right here in town, up on North Hill.” Her eyes widen in shock when I mention the most elite real estate in town, “Side by fucking side with that girl over there. She is my fucking reason for everything I have ever fucking done and will be until the end of time. I suggest you stay the fuck away from both of us, otherwise I won’t hesitate to make your miserable, little life even less desirable,” I release her fingers from mine, and she pulls them back clutching them to her chest dramatically.
I turn my gaze back to Elle who has a smile on her face, but I don’t miss her sharp eye taking in what is happening here, so I offer her a slight tip of my chin. I still feel Cherry’s presence next to me. “That was a command to get the fuck away from me, Daniels,” I snap, and she rushes out of the seat and disappears into the crowd.
If only all our enemies were that easy to deal with.
Chapter 43
ASHER
The bow tie is like a fucking noose around my neck. Like the strings to the puppet, I have to pretend to be under the watchful eye of my father. The presumed prodigal son, the dutiful little brother. I am a fraud, a fake, a fucking master at this game of lies. It’s a complicated weave of smoke and mirrors that I'm constantly battling to ensure my mask stays in place and my true family remains safe.
I would never be considered a threat, they don’t pay enough attention to me, at least my father doesn’t. Even now, as I stand here with his hoard of loyal followers, I might as well be invisible. It allows me to easily cast my gaze around the room as I swill the clear liquid in the glass I’m holding. I note Logan sitting lazily at the bar, I watch as an angry girl storms away from the table against the wall where Marc
us sits alone, his gaze glued to Elle. She is on the dance floor with the help. They have been dancing together since I walked in about three songs ago. Why she allows him so much time of her day is fucking beyond me, he is like an infuriating gnat you can’t rid yourself of. Now, not only has he got her entranced, but he got his claws into Logan too. I don’t see the fucking appeal. Fuck knows where that little manwhore, Conrad, is. Probably already fucking one of the Prep girls in a closet somewhere.
I continue my appraisal of the room ensuring I don’t linger on Elle or any of the guys when I find the last pair of eyes I expected to see here. Greg is staring at me before my eyes even reach his, he has an unusual smile on his face. It’s the same smile he has been wearing for the last couple of weeks. We have barely exchanged more than two words, but that smile has been ever present every time we crossed paths. Like we are playing some game that I am unaware of and with Greg, you know there will be no rules. What the fuck is he doing here?
I don’t hesitate to cross the room to him, playing my role and putting my mask in place.
He speaks before I even have the chance, “Little brother,” he spits at me in a sweet tone.
“Greg,” I smile. “Still looking for more underage girls to play with?” I ask smoothly and it only makes the grin on his face stretch wider. I wonder how it would feel to take a knife and make that smile a permanent fucking emotion, ensuring he felt anything but fucking happy about it. Knowing him, the sick fuck would probably get off on me scarring him.
“Oh, on the contrary,” he muses, casting his gaze back into the room. “I know exactly who I want to play with,” his tone is both charming and threatening as I follow his gaze to Elle. I will fucking murder him where he stands with all two hundred fucking witnesses, without a single regret if the next words out of his mouth are about Elle.
