She made a growling sound, then disappeared out of the lounge, her feet pounding up the staircase. A few seconds later, a male yell came from upstairs.
“Oh, shit, Marino!” I said, racing for the staircase. I ran up it, River following me. We bolted into the room, finding Marino in one corner, butt naked and holding a pillow out, trying to fend off Clara. A naked China was lying on the bed, laughing her head off, yelling, “She bit his arse!”
Clara rushed at Marino, who jumped onto the bed, leaping over China, and onto the other side. “Keep that nutter away from me!” Marino yelled.
Clara’s eyes went to me and River. A big smile split her face. Next second, she ran at us. River pushed me in front, yelling, “He tastes better!”
She bashed into me, knocking me onto the mattress.
“Bite him, bite him!” River chanted.
“Shut up!” I yelled back, yelping as she bit me on my shoulder. I grabbed her around the waist and rolled her over onto her back. “Stop it, Clara!”
“She’s like a zombie,” China said.
“No, she thinks she’s a vampire,” River replied. “She’s totally off her face, high on your brownies.”
“Oops,” China said. “That’s kinda my fault. I put extra hash in them, because Marino complained they were too weak the last time.”
Clara bit my arm, ripping out a holler from me, her teeth sharp as hell. I let go of her and jumped up. “What the fuck do we do?” I said, backing up, Clara having drawn blood.
“Let her ride it out,” China said.
Clara pushed off the mattress and went for me again. I shot to the side and ran over the mattress, leaping onto the bed.
She laughed and jumped up too, making gnashing sounds. I jumped onto the other side, shooting behind River, who tried to push me in front of him, but Clara was already turning to Marino.
He held the pillow out again. “Don’t come near me!”
“Get him, Clara!” River egged her on. “His blood is the best, it’ll make you really strong.”
“No it fucking won’t!” Marino retorted.
Clara went for him. Marino hit her with the pillow and ran around her, going to my side.
“Eat your boyfriend, not me,” Marino said.
China sniggered. “Yeah, Marino’s sausage is mine. Get Dante!”
River started chanting, “Get Dante!” the other two following suit.
“Arseholes!” I snapped, watching Clara, waiting for her to make a move.
And she did. She charged at me. Marino shot to the right, while River went left. I ran straight at Clara, wrapping my arms around her. I knocked her onto the floor mattress, scrambling to pin her arms down. Clara moved her head to the side and bit my arm again, luckily not drawing blood this time. Wincing, I leaned down and bit her back. She squealed and went still, her eyes so big, her steel-grey irises practically swallowed up by her pupils.
“Food can’t bite,” she said.
“I’m not food, and you’re high, so calm the fuck down. You hurt me.”
“Oh, the whittle baby got hurt,” River said behind me.
I threw him a glare over my shoulder. “Shut it, arsehole.”
“Arseholes don’t taste good,” Clara said.
I looked back at her and couldn’t help grinning.
She was sticking her tongue out. “River didn’t taste good, but Marino did. But you taste the best.” She flicked her tongue out, licking the bite marks on my arm.
“My cock tastes better, lick that too,” River said.
“Shut the fuck up, River,” I snapped, loosening my grip on Clara. “Right now, she’s more likely to bite it off.”
She slipped her arms out of my hold and grabbed my face, yanking it down. She kissed me. I melted a little, then yelped as she bit my lip.
I pulled back and wiped my mouth, blood dotting my hand. “I told you to stop biting me!”
“No!” She pushed me onto my back and climbed on top of me, leaning down to—
I placed a hand on her face, barking, “Stop it!”
Next thing, a pillow hit the side of her head, River hollering, “Pillow fight!”
Clara rolled off me and grabbed a pillow, hitting River with it, giggling nonstop. River hit her back, the two going at it hard, doing their best to knock each other over. I pushed up onto my elbows and watched in stunned silence, trying to match this crazy, carefree Clara with the uptight person I’d argued with earlier.
China picked up a pillow and jumped off the bed, hollering, “Death to boys!” She started wailing on her brother, both Clara and China ganging up on him.
I pushed off the floor mattress and sat down on the bed, watching them as Marino groaned, rubbing his arse. My eyes widened when he removed his hand, a red bite mark on his right butt cheek.
“Shit, she really did bite it,” I said. “What the hell were you doin’ to let her get that close?”
“I was asleep. Next thing, I wake up with her trying to take a piece out of my arse.”
A second later, I put two and two together. “Gross! She kissed me after biting your arse!”
I wiped my mouth, watching as the girls continued to gang up on River. Both Clara and China hit River at the same time with their pillows, knocking him onto the floor mattress. They descended upon him, tickling him, River screaming for mercy. China continued, but Clara looked over at me, her giggles turning into a wicked smile. She jumped up and pushed me back onto the bed, tickling me instead. Ticklish, I started laughing, trying to deflect her hands.
The light went on, a holler freezing us. Bazza was standing in the doorway, staring at us like we were a pack of loons. “What the hell is going on in here!” he yelled.
Clara threw a pillow at him, giggling as it hit him in the face.
“Goddammit!” His gaze swept over me and Marino. “Bet it wuz you who started this.”
“Nah, this is all on Clara,” I replied, not sure which one of us he was talking to. “She’s high off the hash brownies.”
“Don’t care, just want the lot of you to shut the bloody hell up.” He squinted at Marino. “And why are you naked?”
“Was sleeping until Clara barged in and bit me on the arse. She thinks she’s a vampire.”
Bazza turned his cloudy gaze on Clara. “You must be one hell of a lightweight for brownies to affect you. Best stay away from them next time, eh.”
Clara nodded, though I wasn’t sure she was acknowledging him, because she was back to staring at me, her eyes a touch red from the brownies.
Exhaling, Bazza returned his attention to Marino. “For God’s sake, boy, put some bloody clothes on. You have no shame.” He turned and stalked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.
Clara sniggered and leaned her head down.
I placed a hand on her face. “No more biting.”
“Not going to bite you, I want to kiss you all over.” She yanked my shirt up and kissed my chest.
I rolled her onto her side, giving her a peck on the forehead. “Go to sleep, aye?”
“Not in my bed,” Marino said, making no move to get dressed. “Use the floor mattress.”
I went to get up, but stopped as Clara climbed on top of me. “You are so special to me,” she said.
“Same,” I replied, brushing her honey-blonde hair aside. I knew it was the weed loosening her tongue, but it still felt great to hear her words.
She continued, “I want you to know that I love you more than anyone in the world, way more than my husband and even my dad, and I don’t care that you’re younger than me. You’re not fifteen to me, you’re my man, you’re my everything.”
China gasped, “You’re fifteen?!”
I looked over at her, the chick now wearing a white kimono. “Yeah, so what?”
“So what?! If I knew you were that young I wouldn’t have—” She snapped her mouth shut, her eyes going to Marino.
Marino pushed up off the bed. “You wouldn’t have what, China?” he growled.
She flinched. “It happened before we got back together.”
He blinked at her. “You fucked my cousin?”
She dropped her gaze and nodded.
“What the fuck, China?!” I said, sitting up, not believing what I was hearing. “I didn’t do you.”
China said something too soft for me to hear.
“What did’ja say?”
Ignoring me, she walked around the bed to Marino, her expression pleading. “I wanted to tell you, but knew you’d go nuts, even though you shouldn’t. It wasn’t cheating. I would never cheat on you. You’re my life, baby, my every—”
Marino cut her off. “When?” he said, holding a hand out to stop her from coming closer.
“You don’t need the details, just that we weren’t together at the time. Ask River, he’ll confirm it.”
“You bitch!” River snapped.
Marino’s hurt gaze went to River. “You knew?”
River grimaced. “She made me promise not to say anything.”
“You should’ve told me,” Marino spat, his hurt expression turning furious. “You’re my best mate.”
“While she’s my sister, and I told her to tell you, so don’t put this on me. And she only did Dante because he looks like you. She loves you, man, and you’re the one who left her high and dry.”
“Just tell me when it happened.”
“New Year’s Eve.”
Marino’s eyes went wide. “I fucked China that night!”
Without warning, he pushed China aside and leapt at me, knocking me onto my back. River grabbed him from behind and yanked him off me, but not before Marino managed to punch my face. Clara yelled at him and scrambled over me, protecting me with her body.
“Get out of my house, you lying motherfucker!” Marino screamed at me.
“I’m not lying,” I spat back, my cheek hurting. “I don’t remember doin’ her!”
Marino tried to go for me again, but River yanked him around, shoving him against the wall by the door.
“Calm the fuck down!” River barked. “He’s probably telling the truth. He was blotto that night. He did something similar another time, didn’t remember spit-roasting that Italian exchange student with me.”
Marino’s angry gaze moved to China. “But your sister remembered. She knew what she was doing and kept it from me.”
“You left me!” China yelled. “So stop blaming me for something I did when we weren’t even together.”
“We fucked the same night!”
“After Dante. I had no idea you wanted me back, no fucking clue. You showed up out of nowhere and kissed me. My brain went to mush.”
“Fucking excuses.”
“It’s not an excuse! You know what you do to me, and when Dante didn’t mention anything to you the next day, I thought I’d finally gotten the second chance I’d been praying for.”
“Well, I ain’t giving you a third one. We’re through.” Marino pulled out of River’s grip and stalked out of the room butt naked.
Crying out his name, China ran after him.
River swore, his upset gaze going to me. “You and your woman should leave.”
I shook my head. “I’ve got the job to do.”
“Marino won’t want you helping now.”
I bolted off the bed. “No! He’s not taking this job from me, I need it.”
“You fucked his woman. He won’t forgive you for that.”
“This is on China. She used me, not the other way round.”
“Then stop drinking so much, you damn lush. When we did that Italian chick, I didn’t realise you were blotto. China probably didn’t either.”
“I doubt it, my breath would’ve stunk of booze, so stop making excuses for that horny bitch.”
His eyes widened. “Watch what you say about my sister!”
“If it fits.”
River sneered at me. “Well, at least China’s more your age than that horny bitch,” he said, pointing at Clara.
I took a threatening step towards him. “Insult Clara again and see where it lands you, motherfucker.”
His sneer grew. “I stand corrected. She looks more like a cougar than a bitch. There’s no way she was in your class.”
“She wuz. She wuz my English teacher.”
His mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding me?”
I shook my head.
“Whoa! How old is she?”
“Twenty-four,” Clara said.
I looked back at her. Her eyes were wide, her expression stone-cold sober.
“Is that why you’re here?” River asked. “Have you two run away together?”
“Yeah,” I replied, now worried. “You ain’t gonna dob her into the coppers, are ya?”
He went silent for a moment, worrying me, then he shook his head. “I’ll keep quiet, but you better fix this shit between China and Marino. My sister loves that grumpy bugger. I’ll make sure Clara’s okay while you go talk some sense into him.”
“I think we should give him space.”
“I don’t care what you think. You did more than fuck my sister, you’re fucking her relationship up. So, do something about it.”
“Nope, not taking the blame for this. Sick of being everyone’s kicking bag.”
His shoulders slumped, his expression miserable. “I just want this fixed. I don’t want to lose him again.”
I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering whether—
River scowled at me. “Don’t look at me like that, I meant as a mate. He avoided me for ages after he split with my idiot sister the first time. I don’t want that to happen again.”
“Fine, I’ll talk to him.” I glanced at Clara. “Stay here, okay?”
She nodded, her eyes still wide.
I left the room, Bazza exiting the neighbouring one at the same time. His hair was wet and dripping onto his bathrobe, looking like he’d just had a shower. “What’s all the commotion about?” he asked.
“Marino found out that I slept with China before they got back together. Now he’s gone ape-shit.”
“Oh hell, Dante, why can’t you keep it in your pants?”
“It’s not my fault, I don’t even remember doin’ her. But she sure as hell remembers, so this is on her, not me.”
He stared at me blankly for a moment, then shook his head. “Where’s my boy gone?”
A yell came from the front yard, a high-pitched scream following. I bolted down the staircase, bursting outside, seeing China—
My gaze was ripped away from her, what she was screaming at freezing me. Marino was standing stock-still. A biker was behind him, holding a gun to his head, his face ugly as fuck.
A face I recognised.
Mutt Mayer from the Devil’s Crew.
“Shit, you two look alike.” Mutt removed the gun from Marino’s head and pointed it at me. “I have a message for you from Jonah McDonald. Die.” He fired.
7
Tane
I stopped the truck at the red light and glanced at Killer. He wasn’t looking at me for once. Instead, he had his eyes closed, with his head laid back against the headrest. I wondered how his split personalities worked, whether it was similar to what happened to me with being bipolar. Nah, that was still me, not two different personalities, just extremes of the same person. But this Pain and Killer thing... It was weird as shit. I was surprised Hemi hadn’t told me, because I wouldn’t have judged Killer for it. Not like I could with all my problems. Still, I should’ve known something was off with Killer. At times, he came onto me really strong, while other times he acted scared of me. I hadn’t questioned why, since I was usually trying to avoid him.
“What’s Pain like?” I asked, pulling away from the lights. It was dark now, night having set in. Visiting hours at Jasper’s hospital would be over soon, but I’d wanted to see how the boy was doing after our earlier visit. I’d intended on going sooner, but Killer had gotten all antsy after he’d confessed to having a split personality. He’d locked himself in the bathroom
, not coming out for ages. No amount of banging on the door and cursing at him had swayed his mind. Luckily Dante had called, or I would’ve gone to the hospital without the prima donna.
Killer huffed. “I really don’t wanna talk ’bout Pain. I already told’ja that.”
“Too bloody bad, princess.”
He opened his eyes and gave me the evils. “Don’t call me that.”
“I’ll call you whatever I damn well please, so spit it out. What’s Pain like?”
“Nuthin’ like me.”
“That wuzn’t what I asked. Also, is that why Hemi called you Pain?”
He turned his head away from me, but not before I caught a look of grief on his face. “No, Hemi used the name Pain because I wuz a pain in his neck most of the time.”
“I still wanna know ’bout the side of you that Rafael gets to see.”
“Pain’s not a side of me. She’s a totally different person.”
My eyebrows winged up. “She?”
He looked back at me. “Yeah, Pain’s a chick.”
“But Rafael called Pain a he.”
“Cos all he sees is me, not her, and you heard him. He thinks I’m pretending.”
“So, you truly don’t like Rafael?”
“Not at all. Yeah, he’s good-looking, but I’m not into that BDSM shit he is. It’s pro’bly why Pain likes him so much, since she’s submissive. Though, the bitch sometimes leaves while they’re in the middle of a session. I’ve woken up tied to a wall in a BDSM nightclub once, with the bastard fucking me in front of an audience. I didn’t know the safe word, so couldn’t stop him.”
I swerved over to the side of the road and yanked on the brake, turning in my seat to face Killer. “He raped you?”
Killer shook his head. “Can’t really call it that. Pain gave him consent, and in all fairness, he pro’bly didn’t realise the bitch did a Star Trek on him.”
“What’s a Star Trek?”
“What I call it when she disappears. Me and Hemi used to joke that she teleported out of me when things got rough.” He smiled sadly at the memory of his brother.
“How often does she come out?”
“Usually every few weeks, sometimes more if she wants to go clubbing. I’ve woken up quite a few times wearing fake eyelashes, full on makeup, and high heels, and nuthin’ else, not to mention Rafael’s woody poking my arse.”
Jagged Pill (Broken Lives Book 3) Page 9
