Boxed Set: The Ink Series Volume 1-4

by Holly Hood

  “You weren’t trying to avoid us were you?” she asked right away.

  “Of course not,” Karsen spoke up. “She thought you were someone else.”

  “Oh, so she ruins other people’s lives too? Not just ours?” Eve crossed her arms ready to scratch my eyes out.

  Karsen tilted her head to the side. “Actually she was only trying to keep hers from falling apart. I’m sure you would have done the same thing if you were in her shoes.”

  “So it’s true.” Evan asked. “You were behind this.”

  There was no way to fix it. I didn’t know what I could say to make things better. “Behind what?”

  Eve laughed dryly. “Figures she would deny everything. It’s like I said.”

  Evan shot her a warning glare. “Slade told me we had a deal.”

  I jumped at the sound of the kid behind us sweeping up garabge into his dustpan. “We did. I-I mean we do.”

  Evan stroked his chin, staring me down. He didn’t say anything for what seemed like an eternity. I swallowed.

  “I think that’s you.” He pointed to the taco shack window. Karsen and I both nodded taking off for our food. I couldn’t believe he let us leave.

  I didn’t look back, I walked as fast as I could to Slade’s afraid he would change his mind and come after us.

  Death comes knocking

  I made sure the door was locked behind me and handed the food to Kidd and Slade taking a seat. I let out a big sigh of relief that at least I was home in one piece—for the moment.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” Slade asked as he pulled out the contents of the bag.

  “I guess,” I muttered, taking the taco he was offering. Karsen sat down next to me. Of course she had an appetite, she could eat through anything. I on the other hand did not have a stomach for stressful situations.

  “So how did the school thing go?” Kidd asked, dropping both elbows on the table as he dug into his giant taco salad.

  “We made a lot of progress,” Karsen insisted, sipping on her tea. “We’ve both decided to look into Sinclair Hall.”

  Kidd nearly choked on a mouthful of salad. “Bullshit.”

  I rubbed the back of my neck trying to relieve some of the anxiety gripping me. I didn’t care about colleges anymore. I was about to be murdered by Evan or Eve or maybe even both. Maybe they would take turns torturing me until my last breath.

  Slade poked me. “Your taco meat fell on the table five minutes ago,” he pointed out.

  I looked down at the table and dropped my shell. “Sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”

  Slade leaned back in his chair. I slammed my fist down on the table. “I have a feeling college won’t be an option after tonight so we can stop talking about it.” If he didn’t get the clue I was sending I wasn’t sure what would make him figure it out.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Could you elaborate a little more on what you’re talking about?”

  “Oh right, because that’s all I do is talk about my death.” I sighed. “They are here and they are going to kill us. This could very well be your last meal.”

  Kidd looked at me with an equally puzzled expression.

  “Who is here?” Slade asked again. His expression changed as soon as he realized the answer before I gave it.

  “They wanted to know why we went back on what we said,” I said. “And I didn’t have an answer for them. I didn’t know what to say. Is there anything I can say to fix this?”

  I gave a bitter smile. “Aren’t you going to say something?” I didn’t want to argue with him but sometimes it was the only choice.

  Kidd stood up. “Clearly you guys need some privacy.”

  “Do we?” I looked at Slade. “It doesn’t seem like he is willing to say anything.”

  Kidd helped Karsen up and they both left the room, leaving me feeling even more uncomfortable and irritated than I already was.

  “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

  He avoided my glare. “I told you this was going to happen. What do you want me to say, Hope?” His face reddened. “I hate to say I told you so, but shit, I told you so.”

  I closed my eyes pushing away from the table. It wasn’t what he was supposed to say. I wanted him to stand up for me, for us. For this giant mess we were in together. “That wasn’t what I expected you to say.”

  Slade threw up his hands. “I don’t know what to say. Do you want me to tell you everything is going to be alright?”

  I nodded. “Yes. Because that’s what boyfriends do. They tell you things aren’t about to fall apart.” I sighed. “I just want to hear everything is going to be okay.”

  Slade pulled me to his chest. He kissed the top of my head. “Those guys are assholes.”

  I let out a faint laugh. “It doesn’t matter. That’s what I need to hear right now.”

  “Everything is going to be alright.” He touched my chin and kissed my lips walking out of the house leaving me to my food I no longer wanted to eat.

  I cleaned up the kitchen and decided to try to go to bed.

  I brushed my teeth and ran a brush through my hair and when I was done I found one of Slade’s t-shirts to wear and changed. He still wasn’t back and I didn’t want to wait anywhere but under the covers.

  I crawled under the comforter and turned on some silly infomercial to keep my mind off of real life. I listened to every stupid detail about the magical blender that was supposed to transform my life and contemplated buying ten.

  And when I grew bored with television I rolled over and levitated one of Slade’s hats around the room over and over again. Even magic wasn’t appealing.

  I hoped he could fix things.

  The more I thought about the mess we were in the more I wanted to be normal. I wanted to be a young girl in college. A girl with normal problems, not the ones I currently had.

  ***

  I wasn’t sure what time he crawled into bed and pressed himself against the back of me but I was grateful he made it back. I squeezed his arm thanking god he was there.

  “I talked to Kenny,” he whispered.

  “What did Kenny say?” I yawned, rolling over to face him. The familiar glint of his lip ring made me feel better.

  “Kenny said he would take care of it.” Slade stroked my face. “He said it’s all under control.”

  I swallowed. “If that’s true why did he come here? Why would he tell me they wanted answers?” Why did they want answers?

  “Because he’s an idiot, he acts first thinks second. He knows what we’re capable of and when he thought things were about to blow up on his end we were the first people he ran to.”

  It was the one thing I didn’t want happening. I never wanted to see Kenny again.

  Slade stopped me before I could chew my nails off. “I promise you everything is going to be alright.”

  I bit my lip. Slade stopped me, pressing his into mine. He kissed me reassuringly, using his tongue, his lips, and his hands to make me believe everything was going to be okay.

  I welcomed the distraction, letting him climb on top of me. I helped him out of his shirt and let him take mine off. We stared into each other’s eyes. And I kissed him again, this time he caught my lip between his teeth setting a million butterflies loose in my stomach. My hands slid down the front of his pants and he groaned pressing himself against me.

  “This is so much more fun than worrying about Kenny Carlo,” he said teasingly as he pulled my underwear down and off. I worked him out of his jeans, rubbing the length of him against my palm.

  “This is more fun than everything.” I smiled.

  We crashed into the blankets and pillows, I touched his arms my fingers closing around his biceps. I loved the feel of him.

  He smiled, while I admired his skin, gliding down his stomach.

  “You know that makes me crazy.” He dropped his forehead to mine.

  “What? When I do this?” My hand went lower and came back up close to his abs. He dropped down, moving between my legs. The intense
need to have him in every way possible overrode the fear I was feeling.

  Heat coursed my veins traveling to every part of me, my heart was alive in my chest. I moved underneath him, pulling him closer to me.

  He bit my lip a sexy growl escaping from his lips. I giggled, letting him attack my neck. He made it hard to hold out.

  He moved with me, kissing me so slowly and sensually my heart was close to imploding in my chest. I was certain kissing Slade would never grow old. Because every time we did it was better and more intimate.

  He moved to my shirt tugging me free, creating a trail of goosebumps with the tips of his fingers. He trailed his thumbs down my sides, his fingers digging into my back making me arch involuntarily. I moaned against his ear, tugging at his hair.

  “I love you,” Slade said between kisses.

  I smiled, touching his lip ring, but before I could say it back something crashed outside of his window ending our fun. And the orgasm I was ready to receive.

  I covered myself with the blanket when he pulled his blinds up.

  “Put your pants on,” I told him hanging over the bed to find my own clothes.

  “Someone is outside.” He scanned the sands for signs of an intruder. “Fuck. What a night to start trouble.” He was aching as much as me.

  We quickly dressed and headed down the hall. Karsen and Kidd appeared in their doorway looking tired and dishevelled. They probably were asleep long before Slade and I.

  “Do you want me to get the baseball bat?” Kidd asked. “I wouldn’t mind cracking someone’s skull tonight.”

  I raised an eyebrow in Karsen’s direction, she shrugged, coming to stand next to me.

  “It’s probably some stupid kids,” she said. “Just go out there and yell at them.”

  Kidd raised a finger shushing us all. Slade slid a hand through his hair listening to the distorted sounds coming from outside his window.

  “Who is that?” I looked at Slade.

  “I have no idea. But I am about to find out.” He kissed my forehead and made me promise I would stay put.

  Karsen and I watched them go out the back door before either of us said anything.

  “Do you think they would come to his house?” she asked.

  I knew exactly who she was talking about. I moved to the kitchen window pulling back the blinds so I could see.

  “Yes. I think they would.” As I scanned the yard in the dimly lit moonlight I saw what I didn’t want to see. “There they are.”

  “Oh shit.” Karsen took the spot next to me. She bit her lip, watching them. I needed to know what they were saying. I tried my best to stay where I was and not involve myself but I couldn’t sit in inside any longer and wait.

  “Hope, he said to stay inside. He’s going to be pissed off,” Karsen warned me.

  I opened the door. “He’ll get over it.” I hurried down the porch steps and reluctantly moved toward the three of them. For once Eve wasn’t hanging on Evan’s arm. I was glad because I was really getting tired of all the dirty looks, even if I deserved them.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say. My only concern was getting back home,” he said. I couldn’t believe he was lying to Evan, but he was.

  Evan looked at me. And so did Slade. “I thought I told you to stay inside.”

  I stared at the ground. “I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

  “As if there would be anything you could do if he wasn’t,” Evan said, a scowl on his face. “The two of you must think I’m a fucking idiot.”

  I did my best to play it cool. I knew the moment I showed any sign of fear or nerves Evan would snap and probably crush my skull.

  “I never said that. I just don’t know what you want from me. Dealing with your brother for that week was enough for me. Do you really think I would make any kind of deals with him?” Slade kept his cool looking him in the eye the entire time. He didn’t miss a beat, it was pretty impressive.

  “This isn’t the first time my brother has tried to ruin everything,” Evan said. “I’m completely aware of what my brother is capable of and what he would do if given the chance.”

  I swallowed.

  Slade didn’t speak. He didn’t offer any more excuses or lies. He held his ground along with Kidd.

  Evan gave a half shrug and grinned, which was totally not the thing I expected from him. “It’s all good. If you don’t want to be honest with me that’s your decision.”

  My heart slowed a little. It seemed we were finally about to be okay. Maybe he would take off back to Jersey and leave us alone for good.

  Slade threw an arm around me. “If you have nothing else to say I’d like to get back to my evening.” He squeezed my arm plunging me back into lust because I knew his evening had to do with me.

  “My father, he’s an evil man. Always has been.” His smile wavered. “There was not a single person I ever met who wasn’t afraid of him and what he was capable of.”

  This was not what I wanted to hear.

  “He hated Eve since the day we met. He did everything in his power to take her away from me. And mark my words, if he is ever given the chance to come back he won’t think twice about wiping out each and every person ever brought back from the dead.”

  “Why?” I asked, frightened, my calm demeanour gone, I waited for an answer as to why his father would want to kill so many people.

  “Simple.” He pulled at his ear. “He hates losing control. He hates not being in charge. And when he left my wife took over and undid so much of his work. Kenny knew that.”

  Slade moved me toward the stairs. “Let’s go. I have nothing else to say to him.”

  “He said his father is going to kill all of us,” I said under my breath, hating the idea of leaving in the middle of a threat.

  “This doesn’t just hurt me and my family. This hurts the world,” Evan promised. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  I climbed the porch steps, turning around once I made it to the top. Evan stood there staring at us.

  “Come on, Hope,” Slade said from the doorway. He drummed his fingers against the doorframe watching Evan.

  “You’re not worried?” I asked.

  He slammed the door. “Worrying gets you nowhere. He wants to get under our skin. He’s desperate.”

  I sat down at the kitchen table. Kidd came inside. “He’s gone. That asshole is nuts.”

  Slade nodded in agreement. Kidd put the bat next to the door and saluted the two of us before going back down the hallway to find Karsen.

  “He might be desperate but what if he is telling the truth? What if this could hurt us?” I wasn’t sure what Carlo was capable of. But they travelled all the way to Cherry to tell us.

  I was pretty sure he was capable of something.

  “Stop worrying about it,” Slade said. “You’re going to drive yourself crazy.”