“We agreed to just be friends, Kat. You can’t say those things, now I’m in love,” Cobra sighed dramatically, making Blue giggle. Bless her, she was so sweet.
Grimm took hold of my face, makin me give him my eyes before he answered, gently rubbin my cheek with the thumb that was just inside me. “We’re filthy,” I laughed.
“We’re the best kind of filth, Brat,” he smirked, pressin that same thumb to my lips for me to suck.
“You know Rome, so you know he isn’t one to be controlled. That’s what the mayor was doing. Romero found new suppliers outside Centriole. Now he won’t take any form of contact from him. There goes the mayor’s real power,” he finally answered, pulling his finger away.
“Makes….sense,” I cocked my head, furrowin my brows.
“What—.”
I reached up pressin my hand over his mouth to hush him, and he bit me.
“Ouch, you fucker.” I jerked away.
“Don’t fucking hush me.”
“Ya’ll are damn idiots, you know that? If the mayor wants to hold his power he needs the same thing Vitus needs to make nice with Romero. And what better leverage is there than his ‘daughter’? I’m best friends with the devil’s fiancée, in love with the Grimm, and adore Cobra.
Romero’s bitch of an ex could have easily told this to Noah, and, well, boom! I’m your leverage. Lock me away as a pawn. I reckon he didn’t count on being ignored, so he brought in the Venom.” The more I figured it out the faster I talked, and the more pissed I became.
All the people he’d sent outside the wall, the babies lost, the death of my real father. Using me, brainwashing Beth into what she had become. His offenses went on and on. He deserved to pay penance for his sins just like every other dick on my shit list would.
I began wonderin what it was the Venom would get out of this, especially now that Vitus had given up Vance?
What the fuck were all these people hiding?
Chapter Twenty-Four
At three in the morning we arrived home.
The main gates manned by armed acolytes, swung open. Cobra drove the long distance to the main house, and parked in front of what I considered a mansion.
It was all so familiar, but like I was seein it for the first time. The main ceiling fixture was a black ram head in the center of an inverted pentacle that held four light fixtures.
The wall fixtures were deep golden colored ram heads serving as placeholders for candelabras in the shape of inverted crosses.
It was all comforting, somehow.
“Get ready,” Grimm laughed softly.
I was starin at the smooth hardwood floor when he said that; I didn’t see Cali until she rushed me. She grabbed my arm and hugged the hell out of it, and partially me.
I was so thrown off by her huggin me at all, I just stood there. “I missed you so much! I can’t hug you because my fucking stomach gets in the way.” Someone had clearly swapped my Cali with another. When did she like hugs?
I looked down and saw a perfect bump beneath a silk nightie. She wasn’t that big at all, though since she was normally the size of a toothpick, she probably did feel like a hippo.
“I missed you,” I said, quietly, trying to hold back tears and failing. Huggin her back, I felt a light sheen on her skin.
“Are you okay? You’re sweaty.”
She laughed and stepped back, right into a shirtless Romero.
His dark eyes flickered over me, and the fucker actually half-smiled. “Blood looks good on you. Welcome to the fam.”
I blinked. Was this real life?
Cali moved onto Grimm, inspecting him closely, then full on embracing Cobra, who lightly rocked her back and forth.
“This place wasn’t the same without you guys.” She smiled sheepishly, her blue eyes curiously stopping on Katya and Blue for a brief second.
She looked between me and Grimm and her smile grew. I had so much to tell her, and knowin I could tell her anything because she would understand it all better than anyone else. Seein the huge ruby on her ring finger, the bump, and overall aura she had, I knew she had her fair amount to tell me too.
But it was three in the morning.
I was dirty, she had obviously been busy, and Blue and Katya looked like they were about to fall asleep on their feet.
And then the acolytes came in.
We all moved out of the way as the Venom men, plus Noah, were dragged through the front door and towards the hall that led to the ‘playroom’, as the boys called it.
None of them were lucid, their heads lolled, feet limply following behind their hoisted bodies as they went past.
“Get them settled, and then meet me down here,” Romero said, walkin Cali back towards the stairs.
Grimm wordlessly took my hand and did the same, keeping a few paces behind them.
“I wasn’t done talking.” Cali yawned.
“You guys need sleep,” Romero replied as we branched off at the top of the stairs.
“Aw,” I softly sighed when I realized he’d meant her and the baby.
Grimm shook his head at me, stopping at a black door, and pushin it open.
The smell of him hit me first, and I knew right then that this would be my favorite place to be. His huge blacked out tufted bed sat against a wall, neatly made up in silk linen and a plush lookin comforter.
The metallic dresser and armoire matched it perfectly. There was a closed door on each far wall. He sat me down on the cushioned ottoman bench at the foot of his bed, not bothering to turn on a light.
Kneelin, he pulled my socks and boots off my feet, and carried them off where they made a lil thunk on the hardwood floor. I dug my toes into the silky soft, faux fur rug under me. I leaned over; resting on my elbow with my chin in my hand, closing my eyes when a soft light spilled from what I assumed was his bathroom.
“Come on, Brat.” He lifted me off the ottoman and practically carried me to the shower.
It took me way too long to realize he was ass naked. I felt the alluring steam and attempted to help him undress me.
“Why so tired all of a sudden?” I yawned.
“You’re crashing from your sugar high.”
“I haven’t eaten any sugar.”
He chuckled softly, placing me inside a glass shower with slate walls.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re home now, where you belong.”
I nodded, leaning back against his chest, my front facing the opposite direction. The hot water felt so good.
“Was gonna run you a bath, but I can do that another day.”
“That’s sweet, Grimm,” I smiled, pressin my cheeks back on his erection, making him laugh again.
“Must not be crashing too hard,” he mused, gently parting my legs.
“Is that sausage?”
“You sound like me; haven’t even opened your eyes yet and searching for food,” Cali laughed.
That did the trick.
I squinted against sunlight, burrowing deeper into the amazing silk pillow. My body felt so languid. I smiled, still feelin the sensation of Grimm between my legs.
He’d been so sweet, so unlike his norm, washin me up after and tuckin me in. Ugh, I loved that man.
“I know that smile,” Cali sighed wistfully.
Opening my eyes fully, I looked down the length of the bed to where she sat Indian style on the ottoman, bump facing me.
Her white-blonde hair was longer, pulled to the side in a fish-tail braid. She had on a halter dress that matched her eyes, lookin all soft and innocent––a damn lie.
“Hurry and get moving, we have breakfast to eat and people to torture.”
“We?”
“I crashed last night after I got crashed.” She laughed at her own joke, making me do the same. “Anyway, Rome , Cobe, and G, spent a long time in the playroom. Now, if you’re a good girl and eat your cheerios, we get to play too.”
I sat up, belatedly forgetting I was naked. I grabbed the sheet as Cali scoffed.
“Like I haven’t seen those bean bags before.”
“If mine are bean bags, yours are beach rings,” I retorted, climbing out of bed.
“You got clothes in the closet,” she told me, pointing to the other closed door.
I went to the door she’d pointed at and pulled it open, seeing Grimm had ensured I would have more than what I could possibly need. Everythin was nice and organized, his stuff on one side, mine on the other.
“Do you know what’s goin on?” I asked her.
“Vitus now has six days. Rome got whatever he wanted from Noah and Vance, and Grimm may or may not have killed the other guy, not that I blame him. And you need to eat, so we can play. I haven’t gotten to play in months, and now Noah is just in that room helpless and scared out of his mind.”
I put on a pair of gray cargo pants, skippin underwear, pulled a comfy bra over my head, and grabbed a skin-tight black T and some socks. I put deodorant on, but that was it.
I could smell the scent of Grimm on my skin. I wasn’t takin that away.
After a quick brush of my teeth and hair, I was ready for the day.
Cali said ‘play’. I didn’t want breakfast; I wanted blood.
“I want to rush in there and fuck them up on sight as badly as you do, but Rome taught me to go in slow, prolong the pain and make them feel it. They deserve every moment of their suffering. Plus, I am growing the future heir of the Badlands. I got to feed this kid a granola bar and some almond milk.”
Heir? It hadn’t really occurred to me the life she and Rome’s kids were going to have. The life me Grimm’s kid would have.
“You ain’t worried?”
“Um, no.” She side eyed me, understandin exactly what I was tryna say.
“My kid will be surrounded by a family of deviants. The devil’s their father, death will be their cousin, and their uncle’s a Savage.”
“Grimm would be their uncle too.”
“But your baby will be their cousin. You should get started soon so my son has someone to play with.”
“It’s a boy?!” I exclaimed, a lil too loudly as we entered the kitchen, secretly overjoyed at how acceptin she was of me bein with her brother. This was Cali though, one of the most open minded people I’d ever met, so it wasn’t all that surprising.
“We don’t know that for sure.” Romero jumped in from where he stood, cutting up an apple, while Cora and Grimm leaned against the counter. “I don’t give a fuck what they are, they’re mine.”
“See, how sweet he can be? He’s going to be a good daddy,” Cali quipped as Cobra pulled out a barstool for her, and then me.
My attention was pulled to the hot plate of food Grimm slid in front of me and the glass beside it. Rome sat down a saucer of apples, granola, and sausage patties in front of Cali who wasted no time digging in.
“You met the other two officially yet?” I asked her, spotting them out on the patio, lookin content.
“Blue is shy and real sweet. Katya is cool; I almost killed her for lookin at Romero like he didn’t have any clothes on, but Cobra mediated. Plus, who can blame her? He’s incredible.”
Romero looked directly at her. “I told you I wouldn’t fuck you till after lunch. Keep stroking my ego and soon your tongue will be stroking my—.”
“Here, look at this,” Grimm interrupted, sliding a small laminated book between our dishes.
I twisted my lips, taking a sip of what I found was the most amazing fuckin homemade lemonade on the planet, with fresh lemon, so I wouldn’t laugh at the look on Grimm’s face.
I focused on the lil book he’d just sat beside me.
“Leviathan cross of crucifixion, vise, garrote, hand-saw, tongue-puller, blow-torch, seven pairs of red tipped pliers, a fuckin Cradle of Judah?” I ticked off randomly. The book was at least ten pages long.
“Fucking great, isn’t it?” Cobra asked, peering over our shoulders.
“They don’t call it the devil’s playground for no reason,” Grimm added, liftin a strand of my hair to twirl around his finger.
“Where did you get a Cradle of Judah and a…he-ter-ricks fork?” Cali asked Romero.
“Babe, you know I can get whatever I want.”
“Why are you showin us this?” I asked.
“Because you two will be putting on the show, so if you see something that’s missing….” He let us fill in the blanks.
“What show?”
“My people want to watch, they get to watch. Plus it sends a message not to fuck with me again. Speaking of,” he turned his dark ass gaze on me, “what do you want to do about Centriole?”
I sat there suddenly tongue tied, partially shaken that he was focusin on me directly. I didn’t care how tough you thought you were; these three men were terrifying. I wasn’t afraid of Grimm, cause I knew he’d never hurt me outside of our debauched fuckin.
Romero didn’t have to say a single word. He had an aura about him. He was the owner of a medieval level torture room, enough said.
And Cobra , for all his jokes and sense of humor, it was clear he was fucked up too.
“What can I do? It’s behind a stone wall,” I finally responded.
“But if it wasn’t?”
“I’d probably give everyone inside it a large dosage of reality.” I shrugged.
“That’s very…ominous.”
“The elaborated version was draggin every civil leader into the middle of the street and slittin their throats cause, I know damn well they’re aware of how they got their positions.
“I’d shove most of those rich pretentious fucks inside the revolting prison cells the mayor has outcasts locked away in for simply seekin refuge. And beyond that, put someone more competent in charge of them, and tear that hideous wall down.”
“That’s an excellent fucking answer.” Romero grinned at me.
“If the wall comes down it’s ours,” Cobra cut in, his gaze shiftin to Katya and Blue as they joined us.
“That’s the beauty of it all. Walls fall down.” Rome smiled, one of those evil genius smiles when a grand scheme has come together.
“You’re going to tear it down?” Cali asked, dunking her granola in milk.
“We’ll be tearing it down,” Grimm corrected. “No one’s doing anything till Baby S is here. Can’t just run at a wall and expect it to crumble. In the meantime…” he trailed off lookin at me expectantly.
“What else do you need, Brat?”
“A cattle prod.” I was only semi-joking.
“We have three,” Romero confirmed.
It was pretty damn luxurious for a torture chamber.
The tools were organized behind a chain- link fence that sectioned off the massive room.
The bigger ones were placed systematically about. There were plush couches and a damn bar in the far corner. I think what may have been a stripper pole at one time had been turned into a shackle bar, currently where Vance sat in nothin but his drawers.
Noah was stomach down on a long wooden table with some sort of device holdin his head in place.
Rex was most certainly dead. Half his bloodied body was submerged in a metal tub of what looked like leeches. The wet sounds emanating from it made me shudder.
Cali had swapped her blue dress for a shorter black one and some knee high boots. She looked like she was ready for a shoppin trip, not to kill someone.
I, on the other hand, was wearin my same outfit from earlier, and Katya, who had opted to join us, was dressed down.
Blue was positioned comfortably on the other side of the room, beside Cobra. She looked at him the way he looked at Katya.
“She has us,” Cali said as if she’d just read my damn mind, struggling to pull a long metal contraption out of a chest.
“I think a good girl is what he needs,” I shrugged, conscious of the fact I’d just said that in front of Kat. She didn’t seem to care, which was really my point.
I wasn’t tryna be a bitch, but I genuinely felt that way. Good girls could be bad, too. Regardless
, Cobra deserved someone who would love all of him, lawd knows the man had issues that ran deep.
I turned and met Grimm’s eyes from across the room, blowin him a kiss. He tried to fight a smile and lost. I completely melted. I felt him watchin me twenty-four-seven and I loved it. He moved away from the bar and began makin his way over to us, Romero followin.
“Whoever she is will be getting her ass kicked by both of us if she dares ruin that smile always on his face,” Cali said, and looked right at Kat, provin she knew knew where my mind had been.
I scooted her out the way to get whatever she was struggling with, trying not to laugh. Her loyalty was iron-clad.
“I got it,” Grimm said, coming up behind me and embarrassingly easily, pulling out what looked like an extended pair of forceps with rusted metal teeth. He raised his brows at me.
“Now, you know full well your sister is the one who wants to play with whatever that is.”
“It’s a tongue puller. Had you curious did it, Pixie?” Romero grinned, helping Cali from her crouched position.
“Are you ready?” he turned and asked me.
I looked through the chain links at Vance and Noah. I was beyond ready.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Vance died first.
With a room full of acolytes and death by my side, it went flawlessly.
“Swap him with Noah,” I said, returning the wicked grin Cali had given me.
This was half her idea, half mine. She deserved this as much as I did.
Without questioning our reasoning, Grimm unshackled Vance, leading him by the metal ring around his neck to the table Noah was shackled on.
Romero turned a lever in a circular motion, and the large metal panels resting against the top of Noah’s head and jaw loosened.
“It’s a vise,” Grimm explained.
Romero dragged Noah off the table, and the man began to pray as soon as he his knees hit the ground.
“Not this shit again,” he sighed.
Grimm shoved Vance down on the table in his place. He didn’t make a sound, didn’t even try to fight back as his arms were stretched above his head and secured in the ropes. Where was the fun in that?
Outcasts (Badlands Book 3) Page 15
