His hands feel cold and clammy, his finger sharp as he jabs it at me.
“I bet I’m making you wet right now,” he says in his syrupy voice.
I can’t help it – I snort with laughter. Right away, his eyes change from what I assume is his seductive gaze to pure hatred. His hand leaves my back and for a moment, I’m certain he’s going to slap me. He seems to change his mind, though, and his hand drops down.
“Your mother is going to make the prettiest bride,” Cobb tells me.
“I’m sure she will.”
“Don’t be so fucking impolite, sweet thing.”
He looks half-amused, half-pissed off at me.
“I’ve given you everything, haven’t I? You have all you fucking need here. Shelter, a place to stay, clothes, food. I even let you fuck someone when I’m not around.”
He grazes my lip with his finger and I fight the urge to bite him, hard.
“Of course, that’s not going to go on for much longer.”
“What do you mean?”
My heart is pounding. I know he’s talking about Memphis. And he can’t take him away from me – that man is all I have here besides my mother, whom he’s already claimed.
“Oh, did I not tell you?”
He pulls on my hair next, making my head go back and exposing my neck to him.
I feel disgusted as he leans down, his lips dangerously close to my neck. He’s fucking scenting me, like the animal that he is. I feel a tear fight its way down my cheek.
“You’re getting married too, sweet thing.”
He delivers the blow carelessly, not giving a fuck about me or what he’s doing to me.
“W-what do you mean?” I ask, stuttering over my words.
Wilson licks his lips slowly, and my eyes follow his motions as he steps away, pretending to busy himself by looking at a book he’s picked up from the coffee table.
“You’re getting married,” he repeats like it makes perfect sense. “Your husband is an older associate of mine. I’m sure you’ll get along just fine.”
“You can’t just…” I almost lose my capability to speak. “You can’t marry me off like a piece of meat!”
“Why not?” Cobb grins at me. “Your daddy would’ve probably done the same.”
I swallow every insult I can think of, instead glaring at the man in front of me.
“What about Memphis?” I ask, my hand shaking as I wipe my tear away angrily. “You promised him my freedom! You made a promise to him. You can’t just break it.”
“He won’t know.” Cobb is smiling wide, thinking he’s won the game. “He won’t see you after today. Oh, and Adrienne?”
I raise my eyes to his, and can’t quite look away. His eyes are blazing with a fire and a manic intensity that scares me.
“I’m going to come back for you,” he tells me quietly, brushing my hair off my face. “Once I’m done with your mother, I’m going to move on to you, sweet thing. That’s what I’ve wanted all along, after all.”
My mouth gapes open. Cobb shrugs, giving me a careless look.
“Sure, your pussy’s been tainted by now,” he tells me nonchalantly. “I’m sure Angel wasn’t fucking gentle, and Don Salvatore will be even less careful with you. But sweet thing…”
He grabs my face forcefully and I whimper as our eyes connect.
“You’re going to be mine in the end,” he snarls at me. “And trust me, I’m the least gentle of all of them. That’s how I want you. Broken and used. Filthy.”
He lets go of me suddenly, and I stumble backwards. He cannot be serious. I need to be with Memphis.
I need to stay close to him, I need him by my side. Without him, this whole endeavor is pointless. If I want to save myself, I need him with me.
“Don’t do this,” I whisper to Wilson. “You can’t.”
“Oh, Adrienne.” He chuckles to himself, buttoning up his suit. “I’m just getting fucking started.”
With that, he leaves the room. My mind is swimming with horrible thoughts, but there is one at the center.
I still have my chance to run.
Mom promised me she’d give me a chance to get away from this whole madness. I glance towards the trap door, hidden by the carpet, and I wonder whether I’ll actually be able to escape. I need to.
I decide on the spot I won’t worry Memphis with what Wilson just told me. He has enough on his mind already, and I don’t need to trouble him with it.
If it all goes according to plan, we’ll both be free by the end of the night.
Twenty
Memphis
I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing here, but I know better than to question the decisions of my ‘lord and savior’, Mister Wilson Cobb, at this point.
I’ve been stitched up to the best of the abilities of Hannah and the one guy who passes for a doctor down at the pits, one of the guards names Smokey. He’s a nice enough guy, though I wish he knew something about sterilizing wounds. Mine don’t feel particularly… well, clean.
I have a million tiny cuts all over, and then too many big ones to count. My forearms and chest were torn up the worst, adding several scars that fuck up my tattoos. It’s a small price to pay, though. My face was mostly spared because I don’t think Travis really had the mental capacity to aim that high, so at least I look somewhat presentable in the black suit I’ve been shoved into.
It actually feels pretty expensive and fits me fine, though we had to go for a black shirt instead of a white button-up because I kept bleeding through it every couple of minutes.
“So what do you make of this, lily?” I ask Sage conversationally, my gaze scanning the wedding procession so far.
We’re at the far corner of the church, seated in one of the pews, waiting for all the guests to get there. I keep searching for a sign of Adrienne. I can still feel her sweet lips around my cock from after the fight, when I was too fucked up to fuck her like she deserved. The thought of never seeing her again hits me like a hot poker to the side, but it’s the lesser of two evils.
The other option would have been that she would have remained stuck here. After tonight, though, she’ll be free and that’s for the best, even if she doesn’t agree with me. Selfishly, I still hope I get to see her though, at least once.
“Of what?” Sage asks grimly, unamused as ever.
“Of the shindig? You know, big white bouquets, crying mothers, weeping bridesmaids, bawling guests… Oh wait, I think I’m getting some of this mixed up with a funeral. I don’t think there should be so many tears.”
Sage doesn’t appreciate my humor and I’m not sure I do at this point either. I actually haven’t even seen Valerie yet, but I assume there will be plenty of tears, and not the happy kind.
“I think we get to shut up and you especially get to shut up, Memphis,” Sage says, and I lean back against the seat.
I straighten up immediately. Travis got me in the back a few times as well and it hurts to try and get comfortable, as ironic as that may be.
As people pass us and take their seats, I see a lot of them looking at me, grinning. Some of the twerps even wave. I recognize some of them, Wilson’s buddies from the pits, the spectators that have been watching me tear people to pieces. The way I see it, Wilson has two reasons for having me here.
One, he wants to show off his prized lap dog. And two, he wants me to see all the ways he can hurt people to make me remember my place.
I’m not naïve enough to think that Adrienne can walk out of here and never have to deal with Wilson again. I know for a fact that he’ll keep an eye on her and if I misbehave, she’ll be the one to suffer for it. That’s what half of this is about, I think.
I get it though. I’ll behave. For her.
Even if the only thing I really want to do is pound Wilson’s face into the dirt until he is a headless corpse. The mental image is oh so fucking appealing but just as I’m about to fall into that daydream, a sweet voice calls my name and rouses me.
“Memphis,” Ad
rienne says, and I jerk forward like someone stabbed me.
Again.
“Adrienne,” I counter, unable to fight the grin appearing on my lips.
We both look at Sage, sitting next to me and blocking my path to Adrienne. He doesn’t get up and just stares right ahead of himself, like he can’t hear a thing. I grin to myself. Sage isn’t half bad, for a soulless Wilson flunky.
“How are you?” she asks, looking at me with worry on her pretty face.
She looks gorgeous, dressed up in the bridesmaid’s gown. I can’t help the urge to want to take it off of her, though. I don’t think anyone could blame me for it, though.
“I’m okay,” I tell her, and it isn’t a lie.
Compared to the alternative of being six-foot underground, wincing with every step and not being able to sleep because your arms are constantly bleeding is a sweet deal.
“Good,” she says softly, smiling that smile of hers.
It still feels insane, everything that’s happened. I keep having to wrestle with my feelings, unsure of whether I’m mad or glad half the time. Having figured out that Wilson Cobb was behind the murders of my parents, I’ve been carrying an immense, swirling pool of hatred within me constantly now.
On the other hand, Adrienne has changed the way I look at the world, too. Now, there’s a purpose in my days, something to strive for. To make sure that she is happy and safe is my primary goal and I’m still shocked the change came so easily. That I fell for someone like that, head over heels.
Like it’s some sort of a twisted fucking fairytale. I’m no Prince Charming and yet here she is, looking like a proper princess.
Despite everything, I’m a lucky man.
“You?” I ask, filling the nervous silence with my voice as a few people pass us by, giving me curious looks.
I’m a regular old celebrity here. That’s never happened outside of the cage. Guess killing one too many people does that in a dump like this. Though I guess Wilson Cobb’s mansion is anything but a dump, with its high, arched ceilings and the fancy murals on the walls and the Italian marble everywhere.
“I’m good as well,” she says, but the look in her eyes tells me that she’s anything but.
I’m about to ask what’s wrong, but a bell is rung and she glances over her shoulder, worried. The ceremony’s about to start.
“I have to go now,” Adrienne whispers urgently, and I take the moment to memorize her, with her honey hair swept over her shoulder and her fair skin inviting me to touch it. “But… Memphis… Pay attention.”
I scowl as she rushes off down the aisle and towards the makeshift altar set up in the far end of the large hall, taking her place.
Pay attention? To what?
Is she planning something? Fuck, I hope it isn’t anything stupid. She’s so close to getting out of here and if anything happens to her, I won’t be able to live with myself.
I feel my body tensing up like I’m about to go ten rounds with another Travis or Beau or Sawyer or Salem. I press my lips into a thin line and I’m so close to doing something stupid, like asking Sage what he thinks Adrienne meant, when I see Hannah quietly sneaking down the aisle as well.
She’s been given a dark gray dress that’s a bit too big for her, hanging off her small frame in all the wrong places, but she’s put up her hair and even dabbed on some make-up. Her finger stump seems to have healed somewhat. I’m surprised they allowed her here, but then again I don’t think I should be here either.
She gives me a small smile over her shoulder as she passes me, moving to stand further behind Adrienne, well out of the way. I assume she’s been told to stand there in case Wilson needs anything, like someone to tell him how awesome he looks or something.
I take a deep breath and will myself to calm down. I can’t stir any trouble. Not now, not today. Adrienne and Hannah are both here and I don’t want either of them getting hurt on account of my fucking ego.
For once, Memphis Danvers’s going to play by the rules.
When Wilson Cobb walks into the room though, it takes everything I have to keep seated instead of hurling myself out of there and lunging at Wilson. Fuck him and everything he stands for.
Twenty-One
Memphis
“How long are these things?” I ask Sage in a whisper and he ignores me.
He’s way too good at that. He should teach a goddamn class in turning the other cheek. I think I would have lost my mind by now if I had to work for a shit like Wilson the way Sage does, but whatever. I’m not exactly in any position to judge.
The ceremony has been going on for what seems like forever. I’ve been fidgeting in my seat, the damn suit itching and my cuts hurting. It’s a good thing I got sent into the far back of the room because Wilson would have been glaring me the whole time had I been anywhere closer to him. My disinterest is plain to see.
The only thing that keeps my interest is Adrienne. She’s standing behind her mother with her expression scrunched but her eyes alert. I was half-way expecting her to cry through this whole thing, but she’s keeping her head up and her attention squarely on her mother. I hate seeing her like that though. While she’s hiding it well, it’s obvious that she’s hating every second of this.
But the bride, on the other hand, looks positively radiant. Valerie Hanson is a gorgeous woman, there’s no doubt about that. The only one who can match and surpass her in the room in my eyes is Adrienne. Valerie has this understated elegance about her and when she smiles, the world seems to smile with her. And she’s smiling a lot.
Weird.
No woman in her right mind should be that happy to be plucked up by Wilson fucking Cobb. Sure, there are far more ugly looking guys around, but that man has a heart as black as coal. From what Adrienne has told me, this is not exactly a union of two hearts, so I have to wonder what’s going on here.
I fidget in my seat. They’re about to get to the vows and Wilson looks like he owns the fucking world, throwing glances and winks at his friends and generally feeling damn fine about himself. I wish someone – most likely me – could go and wipe that grin off his face.
“May we have the rings?” the priest asks, and one of Wilson’s goons steps up.
Wilson takes one of the rings and I can see it shine and sparkle from way in the back. He takes Valerie’s hand and she’s smiling even wider, while Adrienne seems to be shaking with a barely contained rage. That’s my girl, anger’s better than sadness. As long as she can keep it contained, that is.
“Valerie, you’ve always been mine. From the first day I laid eyes on you, I decided that you would be mine and now here we are. Every challenge we’ve faced, we’ve overcome and now we can spend our days together. With this ring, I thee wed,” Wilson says, slipping the ring on her finger.
It would almost sound romantic, if it weren’t for the fact that I know he’s killed her husband and Adrienne’s father for the chance to stand there today with her. He’s an obsessed, disgusting little beast and the world would be better off without him. But I guess we all have our own burdens.
I sink back in my seal a little, gritting my teeth as my back objects to the sensation of the shirt rubbing against the wounds. I don’t enjoy seeing that prick happy.
Valerie takes the other ring in her delicate hand and I glance at Adrienne again. Fuck, I wish I could do something to make this better.
The goon backs away and Wilson offers Valerie his hand. I’m about to roll my eyes and try to ignore whatever she has to say, when something happens. Valerie throws her bouquet aside along with the ring and clips one end of a pair of handcuffs around Wilson’s hand. The other one was around her wrist already, hidden by the lace of her dress and the flowers she was holding.
She clips it shut and the crowd stirs, questions and mumbling surprise rattling over the people. I sit up straighter, frowning, exchanging looks with Adrienne. She’s pale in the face. Whatever this is, she wasn’t expecting it.
“Wilson Cobb,” Valerie starts, smiling wide as
Wilson looks at her, dumbfounded. “You disgust me. You have and you always will disgust me. You’re the reason my husband, Nicholas Hanson, the only man I ever loved, is dead, and I could never be with someone as vile and as you are. In life and death, there is only one man for me, and that is not you.”
There’s a manic flicker in her eyes and Wilson’s starting to panic. Valerie looks over her shoulder and mouths something at Adrienne that I don’t quite make out and the next thing I see is that beautiful, sleek white gown going up in flames.
People start screaming and I stare in stunned silence. Sage does the same, both of us looking on slack-jawed as this gorgeous, impeccably dressed bride catches fire as if out of nowhere. She stands rigidly still, her small frame rooted in place as the minister jumps back and the bridesmaids start screaming.
Adrienne drops her bouquet and starts to run to her mother, but Hannah runs out of the sidelines and tugs her back, using all the strength she has in her petite body. I see Adrienne cry and I hear her scream her mother’s name, but it barely registers. The only thing I really see or experience is Valerie standing there, tall and quiet, grinning as she watches the flames engulf her couture gown and spread onto Wilson Cobb.
“What the fuck happened?” I mutter, not turning to look at Sage, who is leaning forward the same as I am.
“I think she pulled something on her dress,” Sage says, mimicking the movement her free hand made before the first licks of fire appeared.
I shake my head, not believing what I’m seeing. The smell is already wafting through the hall and people are panicking, trampling over one another as one half seems to be trying to get out of there and the other half is attempting to help Wilson and Valerie somehow.
When Wilson attempts to run away from her, he’s immediately reminded of the fact that she’s linked to him like an anchor dragging him down. But there’s no fucking water where he’s going.
Savage: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance Page 13
