Pernicious Red

by Natalie Bennett

  “So you’re admitting it? That you killed them?” Her voice hitched. “You’re fucking sick, Channing! I don’t want to play this game with you. Just tell me what you want and let me go!”

  I didn’t bother responding until we were at the passenger side of my Camaro. Then, I twisted us so that she was backed against it and I was caging her in.

  “Do you know how long—how much effort—went into setting this up? I’ve needed to do this for years. Why the fuck would I let you go when I just got you? Didn’t I make myself clear the other night?”

  Pressing my body against hers, I gripped both her wrists in one hand when she tried to shove me away. My cock jerked as if sensing her pussy was right in front of it. Her puffy pink lips slightly parted as she breathed out through her mouth.

  Using my free hand, I trailed it down her side, holding back a groan as I moved over the curve of her hip. Her body was a dream, something I desired every time I went to sleep.

  Moving lower, I smiled to myself when she froze as I slid straight between her thighs and forced them apart.

  “I’m a killer, but so are you, so don’t give me your righteous attitude.”

  Rubbing back and forth over her jeans, I added pressure and watched her face fight to stay impassive.

  “Stop.”

  Ignoring her plea, I popped the button on her denims and eased my hand down her pants, delving straight into her underwear.

  “Channing, don’t do this.” She wiggled in my grasp, only making things worse for herself.

  Her pussy was smooth and wet. Trailing my fingers up her lips and then back down, I slowly pushed one inside her, biting my lip and adding another when she gasped.

  Tight and greedy, just like I thought it would be. Her pussy sucked my fingers in and grasped onto them like a lifeline.

  “You want me to stop?” I asked, placing my thumb on her clit, continuing to slowly move my fingers in and out.

  “Y…yes,” she squeaked.

  I watched her struggle to maintain her façade, refusing to admit she wanted me just as badly as I wanted her.

  “Your body doesn’t believe your lies, baby.” She shut her eyes and turned her face away, a small whimper slipping out anyway.

  I played with her a little more, bringing her to the edge before pulling my hand all the way out. I almost laughed at the confused expression scrawled across her face when she looked at me again.

  “Our relationship isn’t at that level. Don’t think I’m not going to give you what you so desperately need, because I am. But you’re not ready for me yet.” Lifting my fingers to her mouth, I forced her to stare at the evident arousal she left on them before wiping them off with her lips. She gaped at me, speechless, a million questions swirling in her pretty eyes.

  “I didn’t want that,” she hissed, beginning to struggle again. “I’m not…”

  “A killer? Crazy?” I offered up, leaning forward until my lips were almost touching hers, I darted my tongue out to taste the juices I’d just smeared. “You are, but that’s okay, because like I said, so am I. Why do you think we’re meant to be? I don’t have to hide the beast around you.”

  “Wolf…?” she questioned for confirmation.

  “I was never one to wear sheep’s clothing.” I grinned. “And if I’m the wolf, know that you’re my moon.”

  She rapidly blinked, looking even more confused than she’d been before. I couldn’t give her any answers yet; the time wasn’t right.

  “Get in the car, Red. Alice is waiting.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Rosalie

  Sleep beckoned me and I fought not to give in.

  I smashed myself against the door of Channing’s car and squeezed my legs together, trying to get rid of the needy ache he’d left behind.

  Torn between exhaustion, confusion, and an unwelcome need to come, I didn’t know what to do with myself.

  Channing had been mute for the last twenty minutes, refusing to tell me where we were going or where Alice was.

  Ponty-Poole wasn’t a huge town; I ran through a list of possible locations but came up with nothing.

  If I had to categorize the way I was feeling, I could never have explained it.

  I wasn’t afraid when I was certain I should have been. I wasn’t concerned with him killing me because I was almost positive he was possessively obsessed. No, unless Channing had a thing for necrophilia, I didn’t have anything to worry about in regards to that.

  However, I knew he would hurt me, I was betting both physically and emotionally. It was impossible to protect my psyche when he had already sunk his teeth in deep enough to tear it wide open.

  I studied his side profile as we came to a light. It bathed him in a red glow and gave him a sinister look. He glanced over and caught me staring at him before I could look away.

  “Just admit you want me, Red. Save yourself a pointless battle.”

  “I want this to be done with,” I corrected.

  He didn’t say anything after that and I didn’t bother engaging him in conversation.

  My brain had decided to switch to standby and was no longer able to sort through my chaotic thoughts.

  At the moment, we were nothing more than two silent killers—one being the manipulator and the other being the pawn.

  I jolted awake just as Channing pulled out of a drive-thru line. Squinting from the glow of a brightly lit sign, I more felt than saw him drop a sandwich onto my lap.

  “Eat. We’re almost there.” The commanding tone he’d used on me before was back, leaving no room for arguing.

  “Where are we?” I asked, sitting all the way up and looking around. Snowflakes were falling at a rapid rate, blanketing the night sky in flurries of white.

  I could feel the imprint of his middle console on my left cheek from the way I’d fallen asleep.

  “Eat,” he repeated, a little harsher.

  Rolling my eyes to the ceiling, I looked down at my lap and examined my sandwich.

  “Do that again and I’ll give you a reason to roll your eyes in the back of your head.”

  “Do you think threatening me with sexual assault is going to make me listen to you? Because it’s not. I’m not afraid of you, Channing.” I angrily unwrapped my burger and pulled off the top bun.

  “It’s not sexual assault when you’re going to be begging for me not to stop and promising me anything I want.” He didn’t take his eyes off the road but I saw the tell-tale sign of a smirk appear.

  “I got no onion, extra pickles, and ketchup packets on the side. Just like you like it. You’re welcome.”

  Gaping at him after checking he was telling the truth, I tried to understand how he would know that.

  “Is Alice helping you?”

  “Red, eat your food before it gets cold. If your friend was in on it, I wouldn’t be using her to make you do what I want.” He had the audacity to sigh like I was being unreasonable.

  His lack of a moral compass disturbed me on a sheer personal level. I bit into my burger just so I wouldn’t have to respond. It tasted like sand and felt like a rock sinking into my stomach, but I needed the food—though it was questionable what nutritional value a fast food burger had to offer.

  I told myself I was much more caring than him, tried to make myself believe that the idea of playing out this twisted version of my favorite fairytale didn’t excite me in any sort of way.

  But that was a lie.

  And it made the cogs in my brain start turning again, resurrecting a memory I had long ago forgotten, a memory where a stranger came to see my mother and only spoke in private.

  His voice had sounded like the man’s sitting beside me.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Rosalie

  I looked at the seedy hotel and couldn’t keep a frown from marring my features.

  Only three other cars sat in the parking lot, and one of them belonging to Cole Burrows didn’t make me feel any better.

  “It’s cleaner than it looks, princess,�
� Channing teased as he got out of the car. He gave me an expectant look through the windshield that said, Let’s go.

  Trailing behind him, carrying my cloak, I reluctantly followed to the room right in front of where he parked. Long gaudy curtains blocked the outside view, but I could see the light was on and braced myself for what I was potentially walking into.

  At the sight of Alice, I no longer cared. Pushing past Channing, I shoved my way inside, almost falling over when she bear tackled me.

  “So goddamn dramatic. I told you she was fine,” Cole drawled from across the room, sitting in one of the motel chairs. A quick scan of my surroundings proved it wasn’t that bad inside—everything looked clean and the bedspreads were modern.

  “Did he hurt you? God, I told you he was a fucking psycho.” Alice ran her hands over my hair and touched my face, mothering me in her usual protective way.

  “How smart is it to call the psycho a psycho to his face?” Channing directed to her, slamming the door before breaking us apart. “I take excellent care of my belongings, but thank you for your concern.” He wrapped an arm across my chest and pulled me back into him, daring her to do something with a wicked glare.

  I wanted to point out I wasn’t anything of his, but it would have been a waste of my breath and a partial lie.

  I pleaded with my eyes for her to let it go, knowing her mouth would get her hurt. My plea must have shone through because she swallowed whatever retort she had been about to use and sat down on one of the full beds.

  Channing’s lips pressed to the back of my head, I looked up at him with a quirked brow. “Why are we here?”

  “Ya’ll need your beauty sleep,” Cole answered with a side glance at what I assumed was a closet.

  “There’s a girl in there,” Alice grimly announced, staring in the same direction.

  “There’s another girl?” I spun in Channing’s arms, miraculously able to break out of his hold to step back.

  “Didn’t you read the note?” he responded, giving me a skewed grin. “Get her out,” he ordered his brother.

  “What are you…? No, you’re not killing anyone else.”

  I moved towards Cole with every intention of jumping on him like a wild animal, but Channing had hold of me again in less than a second.

  “What do you mean, anyone else?” Alice suddenly asked, standing back up and looking between the three of us.

  Cole pulled the door open before I could begin to explain myself. He reached down and dragged out an unconscious redhead wearing workout clothes.

  “Who is that?” I demanded to know, pushing against Channing again, who surprisingly let me go.

  “Just another number,” he lazily answered.

  Kneeling on the questionable navy carpet, I reached out and touched the girl’s face.

  She was alive and she was breathing, but was that necessarily a good thing?

  “I’m not going to kill her…you are.”

  My head whipped around so fast I physically felt it kink.

  “No one is killing anyone.” I placed myself between the girl and everyone else, mentally encouraging her to wake the hell up.

  “I doped her up nice and good for ya,” Cole pointed out as if plucking the thought from my brain.

  Channing slowly came towards me, stopping a few inches away and crouching down so we were eye level.

  “You can’t just kill someone!” Alice loudly exclaimed, not yet catching on to what I already knew.

  “Listen carefully, ’cause I’m only going to say this once.” He paused and made sure he had my full attention. “If you don’t kill her, my brother is going to put a bullet in your Alice’s head.”

  Right on cue, Cole pulled a gun from the back of his pants and pointed it directly at my best friend’s head.

  Alice had her balls of steel proudly on display and didn’t even bat an eye. She gave Cole a look that was almost as deadly as the bullets waiting to fire from his handgun’s chamber.

  I looked back into Channing’s eyes and held his intense stare.

  “You want me to kill someone…you want me to kill her?” I knew he did but the reasoning behind it had yet to be revealed. “No.” Shaking my head, I took a more protective stance in front of the sleeping girl. Murdering my mother was a fuzzy memory at best; the fact that I’d killed her didn’t make me feel good about myself but it was gratifying, in a morbid sort of way.

  And it at least then I had the excuse of being out of my mind. All I’d done since I was fifteen was consume alcohol and party.

  Killing someone innocent and completely helpless was taking a flame to the line of what was right and what was wrong.

  “You really wanna risk your best friend’s life for a stranger?”

  His face was an unreadable mask but there was an unmistakable finality in his words.

  A quick glance at Cole showed the same unexpressive glare on his face.

  “I…”

  “Let me help you.” Channing’s hand disappeared into his pocket and reappeared with a pocket knife he engaged in front of me. The blade that flipped out was jagged and meant to do damage.

  A painful sensation settled into my chest as my heart pounded at an unsteady rhythm. He held the knife out to me with a silent command to take it.

  Reluctantly coming to terms with my forced disposition, I wrapped my fingers around the handle, ignoring the small shock as our skin touched.

  A pregnant silence filled the air.

  I studied the woman’s face, not missing the fact that she was also a redhead and appeared to be my age.

  Light freckles were splattered across the bride of her nose. A small squeak snagged my attention to where Alice now stood with Cole’s gun pressed to her forehead.

  She shut her eyes and sucked in a breath as if she were preparing for the bullet that would penetrate her skull.

  “You have ten seconds before I—”

  I didn’t let him finish. A sound that could be compared to an animal’s when it was ensnared in a hunter’s trap rattled from my throat as I slashed the knife across the girl’s neck.

  The move was sloppy, the violent shaking in my hands intensified. My mind said chest, yet my hand went for her exposed neck.

  Blood gushed before squirting a thin stream and beginning to increasingly trickle.

  Brown eyes flew open and looked right into mine; not a second later, the girl’s survival instincts kicked in and she began to scream.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Rosalie

  I had made a flesh wound and nothing more.

  The woman on the floor swung her right fist and almost caught me in the head.

  Channing was faster than she was, grabbing hold of her arm mid-swing and twisting it around so it was locked behind her back at an odd angle.

  Her scream was muffled by his large hand covering her mouth; I sat back and watched her free arm flail, unsure of what I should do.

  “Finish it,” Channing’s voice boomed, making me jerk backward.

  I stood up and lunged forward, aiming the knife at him instead of the terrified redhead.

  What looked like the beginning of a smile flashed across his face, like he’d expected this reaction from the beginning.

  Alice screamed as he lifted the woman from the floor and used her as a battering ram against me.

  I was thrown off balance. Unable to catch myself, the knife dropped from my hand as her body collided with mine. The floor met my stomach and forced all the air from my lungs.

  Channing had the knife in his hand and embedded in her chest by the time I was capable of standing again.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Alice shrieked, surging forward and completely ignoring the gun at her head.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re gonna do?” Cole wrapped an arm around her middle to propel her back; she landed on the bed and nearly bounced off.

  No one said anything.

  The three of us simply watched the woman attempt and save herself, catching
our own breaths. Blood spread out on the dark carpet as she inched forward, whimpering and wheezing in the process. She pulled herself across the floor and collapsed right in front of the old box television.

  “Fuck,” Alice breathed. “Holy fuck…you actually killed her.” I could almost see the full weight of our situation settling on her shoulders. The fear she felt was tangible. Her blue eyes were wide and her skin had paled.

  “Take her next door.” Channing didn’t take his eyes off me when he spoke.

  “Get up—let’s go.” Cole nodded his head towards the door, indicating to Alice that she needed to move.

  Her hesitation had Channing’s jaw hardening.

  “I’ll be okay; just do what he says.”

  I prayed that was true. It was impossible to get a clear read on the man in front of me.

  As soon as the door clicked shut, he stalked towards me. My brain had me instinctively backing away from him until I couldn’t move any further.

  My eyes searched the room for an exit I knew I wouldn’t find, but I couldn’t seem to help it anyway. I felt like a cornered animal—the lamb before the wolf ready to strip me of my wool.

  I took note that the knife was lying beside the redhead’s hand; she’d removed it just before she crumpled.

  “You look like you’re about to make another bad decision.” A devious smile spread across his face when I brought my eyes back up to meet his.

  Whoever came up with the theory that monsters were ugly was a fool.

  His attractive exterior hid beneath it something vile and rotten.

  He stepped forward again and pressed himself against me in a smooth, fluid motion, gripping the sides of my face with both his hands.

  “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” It came out as a softly spoken question but the mere thought of dying by his hand had my insides constricting.

  “You disappoint me, Red,” he answered, equally as soft, skimming his lips across my forehead. “I just saved your life, didn’t I? I had to kill her so you would be safe.”

  What?

  “What are you talking about? You’re the one who told me to kill her!” I pushed against his chest; he didn’t move an inch.