“Same goes for you. Keep an eye out for Jackson and I will be in touch soon with the next thing on my to do list.” I murmur and he gives me a brief hug before leaving to join his boyfriend in their car behind us. Slipping into the warmed leather seat of my favored Bugatti from the private garage my father had kept for me and filled with all my favorite cars, a gift that was supposed to be given to me on my sixteenth birthday, I let out a soft, low moan of relief when I am off my feet and pull my leg up to examine my ankle when Finley pulls away from the side of the road to turn the car around and head back to the manor on the other side of Crimson Valley.
Blood was running down the puncture wounds and soaking the soft gray sock I had on and I grit my teeth when I peel up my jeans and examine the wounds closer. Finley curses when he glances over but it isn't that bad. If he had been a fraction higher above the neck of my boot, the damage could have been worse. I would just have to make sure I had Sam get me an antibiotic so it wouldn’t get infected. I wasn’t concerned about rabies because that dog had been too keen and intelligent to have had rabies.
“Did you at least find anything before you earned that nasty bite?” Finley asks me after a moment of silence. He had been quiet for most of the evening after I had returned home from work and I wondered if he was still just trying to process all the shit going on in my life now and the fact I was now a leader in a sadistic town that, apparently, not even cops interfered in any of the fucked-up shit that went on around here.
“My parents' brake line had been cut, foul play just as I had suspected.” I murmur, taking out a pocketknife from the glove box on the Bugatti and cutting a thick strip off the blanket I had used to cover the barbed wire on the fence back at the junkyard. Taking the strip, I wrap it around my ankle securely to hopefully apply enough pressure on the wounds to get them to stop bleeding until I could make it home and Sam could patch me up. “I took pictures for documentation but I am going to have to gather more evidence before I take this to the feds to bring the Order down once and for all. I also need to stick around long enough to find out who they are trying to vote in on the council and what exactly they’ve been dipping their hands into that ended up getting my parents killed.” I knew Finley had been thinking that whatever evidence I found in the junkyard tonight on my parents’ car should have been enough to implement the Order, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Just another little thing I needed to log away to build a legitimate case against them.
“What more could you nee-”
“Just take me home, Finley. I need to get some rest before work tomorrow and Sam needs to patch me up. We will discuss our next move on the board with Des later this week. I have a lot of other shit on my plate right now.”
Thankfully, he dropped it.
I spend the better part of my Tuesday downing coffee like my life depended on it with a few painkillers here and there before I am forced to switch to five-hour energy shots right after lunch just to keep my eyes open. Looked like the sleepless nights were starting to catch up with me and it was really cramping my style.
The bell in the high tower just on the edge of campus chimed to signal the end of my last class for the day and I barely stopped myself from groaning in relief as my students began gathering up their things to leave. I made quick work of shoving my laptop and the stack of papers that had been handed in from a past assignment the old professor had scheduled that I would need to grade tonight on top of all the other shit I had going on into my briefcase.
Downing the rest of my third five-hour energy in the past three hours, I toss it in the trash by my lecture hall desk and gather up my briefcase and I am just rounding my desk, keeping my limp to a minimum and obviously not paying attention to where I am going, and I run smack into a hard chest. A loud ‘oomph’ escapes me as I bounce back like a beach ball that weighs nothing and I damn near crash to the floor if it wasn’t for strong hands grasping my forearms to keep me up right.
A tingle of sudden awareness and clarity washes over me at the rough, calloused touch of the male holding me and I somehow know who it is before I even raise my hazel eyes with the bags beneath them up to make direct contact with the bane of my existence, Silas King. It takes me a moment to gather my brain up off the floor when it suddenly splats there going a hundred miles an hour and I end up staring way too long into his eyes. Long enough that he is the first to speak and pull his arms away from me before I can even react.
“I just wanted to come in and check on you, see how you were doing. Hawk called earlier to say you didn’t look too hot at lunch.” Concern laced his voice as he kept his tone low, conscious of my students still in the lecture hall gathering up their stuff to leave for the day, some of the males who had been bothering me through email all day the day before lingering and staring at me far too inappropriately. I praised whatever God was out there that Silas didn’t seem to notice, his attention was fully on me. The last thing I felt like dealing with was a pissing contest between males in my life. Not that I was interested in any of my students that way.
“You can tell Hawk to mind his own business, as should you.” I managed to finally get out even as I struggled to stay standing on one leg, keeping my left leg hovering just slightly off the ground and leaning against my lecture hall desk so I wouldn’t have to put weight on it for too long. I had been doing a lot of sitting today, something that didn’t help my exhaustion one bit.
“You really do look like hell, Honey. No offense.” He added gently, a kindness that threw me off guard laced in his words and I blinked up at him in confusion, most of my brain was still lingering on the floor apparently and the rest of me was having a hard time catching up with real time. I kept having ptsd flashbacks of how he looked that night… Shaking my head to clear the memories, I glare at him.
“Why are you being so damn nice to me? I told you I wasn’t going to fall for this shit a second time, King.” I quip, narrowing my eyes at him which I instantly regret because it makes my vision swim and my eyes snap open a moment later. I think I almost just passed out and that was not something I wanted to do in front of Silas King. I pull away from him even more and clutch my briefcase in front of me with both hands as if I could use it like a shield against this dangerously beautiful man.
“Did you drive here today? You really don’t look like you should drive home, Honey. Let me take you home.” He suggests instead, completely avoiding my question with my angry quip at the end and there he was, looking at me with those penetrating imperial blue eyes filled with concern and it was throwing me off balance even more. Part of me knew he was right. I had drunk too much caffeine today and taken too many pills to numb the pain in my ankle. I shouldn’t drive myself home. Somehow, that only made me even more irritated at the kindness shining in his mesmerizing eyes.
“I’ll call Finley. He can come pick me up and we can come back later when I have rested to pick up my Bugatti from the staff lot.” I reach into the pocket on my crisp gray suit pants and pull out my phone to call my casual lover, but Silas goes and snatches my phone out of my hand before I could press the call button under Finley’s contact information. Scowling, he glances down at the screen before looking back up at me with a hard glint in his eyes. The darkness gathering in their endless depths had me barely refraining from full body shivers.
“That tosser is still hanging around Crimson Valley? He needs to leave here Honey. You know the Order doesn’t like outsiders.” He lowers his tone, a growl escaping him and I could tell he was angry about Finley still being here, staying at my house. I scoff at this and roll my eyes, holding out my hand for my phone. His anger towards Finley had nothing to do with some misguided concern about what the order would think. He just didn’t like him around me. I was still just a possession to him, nothing more.
“Cut the bullshit, Silas. The Order wants to add another seat to the council. An outsider. Someone who doesn’t belong in Crimson Valley. Locke Manor is my home and I can have anyone I like staying in my home. Now give me my phon
e.” I snap and I glance over Silas’ shoulder to see a few of my students lingering far too long in the third row of the hall and I glare at them. “Class was dismissed eight minutes ago. Get out before you get ticketed for loitering in a lecture hall after hours. University policy.” I keep my voice clear and stern and the two guys and the girl bolt out of my classroom, nearly running into Hawk hanging out in the doorway. This time, I can’t stop the exasperated groan from escaping me.
“Choose one of us to take you home, Honey. We will be having a more in-depth discussion about this tosser you have living in your house with you later.” Silas grinds out through his teeth, still holding my phone away from me and if it weren’t for my injured ankle, I would have kneed him right in his family jewels and just taken my phone anyway. Alas, I still needed to get home in one piece and since he wasn’t going to let me call for Finley, I decided to pick the lesser of the two evil Reds in the room and piss Silas off even more. My true purpose in my life was to live to piss him off.
“Fine. Hawk can take me home.” I level my cold hazel eyes back on the hottest man I have ever seen and the anger that flashes in his swirling imperial eyes just sends my hormones spiking through the roof and almost causing me to rub my thighs together for the extra friction my lady’s bits really needed right now. Maybe I could talk Finley into going down on me later? Would definitely be an avenue to explore.
“Honey, I would like to talk to you-”
“You heard her, bro.” Hawk interrupts the surly hot bastard in front of me as he comes sauntering down the inclined walkway in the lecture hall to where we both stood in our stand off by my desk still. “Give Honey back her phone. I’ll make sure our girl is taken care of.” The way Hawk says this to Silas has the other man rounding on him and barely restraining himself from clocking the flirty bastard in the face. I know Hawk probably only said it like that to lighten the mood, but Silas wasn’t in a teasing mood himself.
Taking a deep breath as if he is trying to center himself, he keeps his glare trained on a grinning Hawk as he hands my phone over to me. I snatch it before he can change his mind and slip in back in my pocket out of his reach.
“Fucking touch her like that, Hawk, and I will end you before-”
“That’s enough of the alpha male asshole posturing for one day, you absolute peacocks.” I sigh tiredly, interrupting him again and he turns his glower on me, clearly tired of being interrupted when he was about to go on another ridiculous rant. “I’ve had a long day and I have stuff to do tonight. Hawk.” I step forward, proud of myself when I don’t fall on my face when pain shoots up my left leg from my ankle. Fucking demon dogs.
I ignore the two boys as I brush past them and make my way slowly up the incline to the exit of my hall and I make it about halfway up the incline before Silas is stopping me again, coming after Hawk and I and sounding concerned again. Mother, help me, I am going to kill this man. Or fuck him. I haven’t decided yet. I could do with a serious hate fuck right now.
“What’s wrong with your leg?” He goes to put his hand around my arm to stop me and Hawk surprises me by stepping between Silas and I. Turning, I see shock flicker across Silas’s face at Hawk's bold move to protect me from him, and then anger is painting his handsome features all over again. Gods help me.
“We are trying to earn Honey’s trust back; in case you’ve forgotten Silas. Stop trying to treat her like she is a possession of yours.” My once closest confidant stands tall in front of a man he has known his entire life, even calls him brother, clearly taking my side for once. I’m not even sure how I am supposed to feel about that. My walls crack under the pressure of the indication his words carried. I hated it.
“I just twisted my ankle bad this morning in my driveway, not that it is any of your business.” I state dryly. Silas surprisingly doesn’t say anything else and after a moment's pause, I turn around again and begin making my way up the incline towards the exit again. Just before I push out of the door to leave, Silas calls out to me one more time, damn near breaking my heart in the process.
“I’m so fucking sorry, baby.” His words are a sinfully decadent whisper, practically begging me to come back to him with arms open wide. When I turn back to glance at him briefly, my heart cracks ever so slightly at the sight of him. Head bowed, shoulder pushed inward and his hands balled into fists. He looks like a broken and defeated king after a long battle. I have no idea if he is apologizing for today or what happened ten years ago, but that sincere sounding plea of his went a long way towards breaking down the barriers I had up against these Red boys all over again.
Fuck, I think I have been doomed since the moment I came back here.
It is late Thursday night that week that I end up suffering any blow back from my little escapade I went on Tuesday morning to Freddie’s junkyard. I knew it had been coming, I just didn’t know when or in what form. I had been stupid and reckless and had left the evidence of my shoe behind. It had been only a matter of time before the Order came sniffing around when Freddie surely reported the break-in to them.
Getting woken up just before midnight being dragged out of your bed by your hair was not the way I had thought the Order would go about this. It’s just like ten years ago all over again, only this time I am ready for it and no longer the weak, defenseless girl I once was. Rebecca King and the other council members had no idea what I was capable of.
The goon for hire this time doesn’t get the chance to bring a bat down on me to knock me off balance and it takes everything in me to focus fresh out of my sleep state and push my rising PTSD panic down enough that I can call on the skills I know to take these fuckers down.
Swiftly, in a move that would be considered suicidal, I twist out of the grasp of the goon that still had a hold of my hair, using my body weight to ram my shoulder just below guy's sternum under his rib cage and send him flying over my back and slamming down hard into the ground.
His yelp of pain that escapes him at the impact to the hard floor of my bedroom is what has Finley bolting up right from his dead sleep and blindly reaching for the bedside lamp while I turn my attention to goon number two who was trying to skirt around me to get to Finley.
“Over my dead fucking body, mate.” I snap, leaping up at the guy and using the hair on his scalp to climb his back like a monkey. He instinctively starts to flail around and it’s when Finley finally gets the lamp on and light floods the dark room that I reach the guy’s shoulders like I want. Using one of my favorite moves I had ever learned, I wrap my legs around the guy's neck and, squeezing hard, I throw my body weight to the left. With just the right amount of pressure on the guy’s baroreceptor just below his carotid artery using my thighs, he goes to the land of the fairies really quickly and I leap off him in time before he brings me down with him when he crashes to the floor.
Turning back to goon one, I curse when I see him grappling with Finley in the middle of my bedroom, the latter male completely naked but still putting up a hell of a fight for a social worker. I am just moving to help Finley handle the guy when I am suddenly dodging a bat coming at me from the left and my pride takes a hit that I hadn’t noticed the third goon before now wielding the bat and scowling at me with a dark and thunderous expression.
“You are a lot feistier than I remember.” He sneers at me, swinging the bat around in his hand as he takes up a fighting stance with it as we face off with each other. I make sure I keep an eye on Finley out of the corner of my eye and make sure he doesn’t get taken down by goon one. “They warned us you might not be so compliant anymore, but I had no idea you were this fucking crazy.” He gestures to his friend lying unconscious behind me and his words hit me deep, but I don’t let that show on my face.
“I told the Red boys that I wasn’t such an easy target anymore.” I quip back and goon three just tosses his head back and laughs. I strike then when he is distracted, my fist connecting with his exposed throat first, and then his right kidney next, swift, and brutal. Hand aching as I yank myself bac
k out of his reach as he starts coughing and swinging the bat, I dart in toward goon one and use my non dominant aching fist to land a blow to his temple, knocking him away from Finley and into the nightstand on my side of the bed, the other side of his skull cracking against the corner of the solid wood piece of furniture.
He drops like a sack of potatoes and, satisfied with my work, I am just turning to finish taking care of goon three when the Red boys are suddenly bursting into my room uninvited and wielding semi-automatic weapons like they think they are avenging modernized angels or something. I mean, they look like it with their wild eyes and sexy muscles bulging as they swing around to take in the scene.
It’s too damn late for this madness.
Before the Red boys can even react or move towards goon three, I slip the brass knuckles I keep underneath my pillow on my hand and launch myself at goon three. No man was going to come and be my knight in shining armor right now. I was Honey Locke, and I took care of business myself.
Ignoring Silas bellowing on the top of his lungs at me to stop, I slam my fist into goon three’s temple as he whirls to face the boys and is so caught off guard by their appearance he doesn’t see me coming. My blow ricocheted up my arm and I grit my teeth in pain but it sent the goon flying at the Red boys and landing in a crumpled unconscious heap at their feet in the most epic moment of history to date.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Honey! You’re practically naked throwing fists around like that!” Silas snaps a moment later as I am panting with exertion from the brawl of taking down three grown men pretty much single handedly and it takes me a moment to realize Silas was partially right. Glancing down, I see I am only wearing a very see-through fly away white lace baby doll with a matching white lace G-string which I had worn to bed to entice Finley but I must have fallen asleep before he came to bed earlier.
Whiskey & Honey: Crimes of Crimson Valley: Book One Page 7
