Both of them look at me now, like it’s so fucking unbelievable that Father would be speaking the truth.
Anthony mulls it over a few seconds before he opens his mouth. “You think Dad would go to that extreme to get the best one of us?”
“Yes,” I answer. “Without a doubt.”
They both know what I mean.
I get up and go to the kitchen, grabbing three glasses from the cabinet. I pour some whiskey in them and then grab a small tube from my pocket. I take out two pills and drop them into two of the glasses, letting them dissolve. With this dosage, it’s sure to mess with their swimmers. Especially if I continue with this dose every day. And they won’t even notice something’s wrong until it’s too late. How convenient.
With a smirk on my face, I walk back to my brothers and set the glasses down on the pool table.
“What we all need right now is a drink.”
They glare at me suspiciously.
“Like you said … we’re brothers,” I say, looking at Devon. “We shouldn’t fight each other. Although, you can be sure that I will defend my right to Naomi,” I say while looking at Anthony. “C’mon.”
The guys approach me, and I pick up my drink and hold it up. “To the Wicked Bride Games.”
They both toast with me, and then we all drink up.
It’s hard, so hard, not to smile this wicked smile.
Like I said … I’ll do anything to win.
***
Accompanying Song: “Sweet Dreams” by Emily Browning
Middle of the night
I wake up in the middle of the night to sounds coming from the hallway. With a drowsy head, I get up and open my door. Devon’s footsteps are what I heard as he walks up the stairs, holding a bottle of whiskey in his hand. He drinks from it as he stumbles up, barely managing to stay upright.
Slipping out, I follow him as silently as I possibly can, making sure to hide behind a potted plant when he gazes around. He seems to be intoxicated, and I wonder if it’s because of all the drinking or a side effect of the drug I gave him.
Still, he goes upstairs to the women’s bedroom. I stalk behind him and watch him sneak inside.
I wait … and it feels endlessly long, making me feel like I should go in there and see what he’s doing; maybe stop him while he’s at it.
But then he comes out again… with a girl in his arms.
Lauren.
Her body is completely limp, her arms and legs hanging to the side as he drags her out.
“What the fuck did you do?” I whisper-yell at him.
He doesn’t even look fazed that I caught him. “Taking what’s mine.”
I frown as I see him tuck away a wet cloth into his pocket. “Right …” He must’ve used some kind of sedative on her … chloroform from the looks of that cloth.
“And what are you going to do with her?” I ask as he drags her body through the hall.
“Bringing her to my dungeon.”
I swallow at the thought of that basement and what he’s done to it. “But you’re wasted,” I say.
“So? I wanna have some fun,” Devon says as he grabs her waist and throws her over his shoulder like it’s no big deal. Then he hauls her down the stairs.
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” I plead, hoping he will listen, but I already know he won’t. He has our father’s genes, after all—just like I do.
“Fuck no; I want her now.”
I follow him as he brings her to his lair. I call it a lair because it’s where he hides half the day. He brings all his girls down there so he can use all kinds of toys and tools on them without anyone hearing their screams.
He pulls her to some chair and sets her down on it, propping her up like some doll he wants to prepare. He even tucks a few strands of her hair behind her ears and buttons up her nightgown.
“You like her, don’t you?” I ask.
He turns his head to me. “Yeah … I like her the most.”
“So she’s the one, huh?”
“Maybe …” He narrows his eyes. “What’s it to you?”
“Oh, nothing.” I shrug, realizing this is exactly what I wanted … For my brothers to find some other girl to latch onto. However, I don’t want to leave her to her fate. “But maybe you should wait until the next game. You know … to keep it official.”
Devon just stares at me with this nasty look on his face like he knows I’m not supposed to be here.
“Father would appreciate it,” I add.
“I don’t give a damn about Father. I’m taking her,” he slurs, and he pushes me away. “Now, get out and leave me alone!”
Before I can do anything to get her out of his grasp, he’s already locked the door, and only he has the key.
Fuck.
I hope she doesn’t wake up soon.
16.
Accompanying Song: “The Demon Dance” by Cliff Martinez
Naomi
Day 14
In the morning, we wake up to the sound of someone entering our room.
“I’m back, bitches!”
Her voice makes all heads in the room turn around.
“Oh, my god!” Stacey squeals. “Camilla!”
As the other girls jump out of bed to hug and greet her, I stay put and watch the spectacle from afar.
“You’re really back?” Stacey asks.
“Yes!” They high-five each other.
“But why?” Jordan asks, frowning. “I mean … why would you want to return to this?”
Camilla pouts her lips. “Well, I need money; that’s basically it.” I can tell from the way she answers that it isn’t the complete truth. Maybe she was threatened. It isn’t farfetched, considering we’ve already lost a few potential brides. Maybe the brothers finally realized that they’ll need all of the girls who are left, including the ones who don’t want to be here.
“Couldn’t find a job?” Latisha asks, raising her brows.
“As a matter of fact … no,” Camilla says, sighing. “I just couldn’t get out of debt. After spending so much on my education, I couldn’t even afford my own damn home. I needed a loan, a job, anything, but I can’t get work anywhere because of this damn bad credit following me every step of the way.”
“I hear you,” Stacey says, nodding. “My hair salon costs thousands, and I’m still not out of debt.”
I’m noticing something strange here. Are all the girls in debt?
“So you came here hoping to get back into the game.” Jordan folds her arms.
“Yes. I mean … I do fucking hate the idea, but I gotta do something. Money isn’t gonna come rolling anytime soon, and this is basically the only opportunity I have. I’m screwed. But I need this as much as you do. So just so you know … I’m ready to kick butt.” She laughs and winks playfully, but I know she means it.
She’s as serious as I am at winning this game. That’s why I never figured she’d be the first to leave. Then again, she’s stubborn as can be. Figured she would take the marriage plans hard.
I wonder what she’ll do when she finds out this game’s not just about being someone’s wife… It’s about becoming a permanent asset to one of these men’s lives.
And now that she’s back, that means more competition for Max.
No fucking way I’m going to be all happy and jolly about the fact that she’s returned.
However, this also means that it is a possibility to return. As in … the contract can be reinstated. So if I wanted to leave, I could safely do so without having to worry about losing my place here.
And I know there will always be a place here for me as long as these games are still going.
Max wants me too much. He’d never refuse.
I look around the room and gather my clothes off the floor when I notice one girl hasn’t gotten up from her bed.
I drop my stuff, get up, and walk to her bed, but when I get there and pull off the blankets, there’s no one.
Lauren’s gone.
“Guys …” I
mutter.
They’re still talking with Camilla about how she spent her time away from the girls, and everything that happened so far while she was gone. They don’t even hear me, so I scream.
“Guys!”
Now, they turn their heads; most in annoyance, though, but I don’t care. They should know this.
“Lauren’s missing,” I say, and I show them the empty bed.
Their eyes widen one by one. “Oh, shit …” Latisha says. “Do you think she left?”
Biting my lip, I look around her bed, but her belongings are still here. Who would drop everything they had and just leave? No one. It’s like she never left.
And then it hits. She never did.
My jaw drops as I rush toward the girls.
“What’s wrong?” Britt asks me, but I ignore her as I open the door and march down the hallway on a mission.
Down the stairs is the dungeon, but when I get there, Max appears from a door to the side and blocks my way. “You don’t want to do that, Naomi.”
“Get out of my way,” I hiss, getting up in his face.
“Calm. Down.”
“I will not calm down. I know you’ve got her in there.”
“I don’t have anyone in there,” he says.
“Semantics. You. Your brothers. I don’t care. Now, let me through.”
“Why do you care so much? I thought we’d been through this already,” he says.
“Because I have to know … I have to know what you’re capable of.”
“My brother,” he whispers, pointing at himself. “Not me.”
My nostrils flare. “Your brother … Devon, right? He’s the one who’s got her.”
Max takes a deep breath. “Trust me, Naomi, you do not want to go in there. Take it from me.”
“Wrong.” I try to shove him away, but he keeps pushing back. “I want to see her. Now.”
“You don’t care about her. You don’t care about any of the girls here,” he says.
Right at that moment, the others follow behind me. The distrustful looks on their faces as he says out loud what I’ve been thinking all this time cuts into me like a knife.
“Out of my way!” I yell and ram my elbow into his side so hard, he bucks and heaves.
I grab the chance to rush past him and ram the door open, but it’s locked from the inside.
“I told you that you didn’t want to go in there!” Max says as he approaches me from behind.
“Watch out!” Britt calls out in support.
But she’s too late … Max has his arms around me, forcing me to stop jerking on the door handle.
“Let me go. Let me see her.”
“Please … Naomi, I’m begging you, stop fighting me.”
He never begs.
“Why? I want to know what he did to her. I want to know—”
His lips touch my ear as he whispers, “It’ll scar you forever.”
My lip trembles. “I don’t care.” Maybe I do. Maybe I shouldn’t want to know. After all, I’m not after Devon. However, he is Max’s brother, and they have a bond that goes deeper than blood. Who’s to say Devon’s desires won’t be Max’s at some point? I have to know what happened to her, so I know what might happen to me if I stay.
“Are you sure about that?”
After a few seconds, I slowly nod.
He leans into the door and pulls a lever on the right side, which opens a small peephole. “Go ahead … look.”
I turn my head and watch the girls cower in fear, clutching each other’s hands as they fear the worst. Someone has to discover what Devon did to Lauren. If it has to be one of us … it’ll be me.
So I press my face against the door and look through the hole.
What I see makes my breath hitch and my heart stop.
Lauren’s naked body tied to an iron bed. Blood-soaked sheets beneath her. Eyes wide open, soulless. Her breasts … cut with careful strokes of a knife, a delicate pattern drawn on her skin in the shape of a heart. And Devon, lurching over her like a zombie, holding her hand as he weeps.
“Oh, god …” I slap a hand in front of my mouth.
I can’t believe what I’m seeing, even though I know it’s true.
I should’ve seen it coming.
“Do you understand now?” Max whispers in my ear, pulling me back to reality again.
I shake my head. “We can’t leave her there.”
“It’s already too late for her now. She’s gone.”
I turn around in his arms and punch his chest. “You could’ve done something!”
Max grabs my wrists and pins them against the door. “I couldn’t do anything. Even though I wanted to, I couldn’t do anything to stop him from being a fucking savage,” he growls. “I don’t have a key. He’s locked the door from the inside. Why do you think I was here in the first place?”
To make him stop.
To make him change his mind about taking her for himself.
To make him keep her alive.
“I stayed all fucking night to watch over her, to call out to him, but he wouldn’t stop. He wouldn’t fucking stop.” Max slams his fist against the door. “I told you not to look.”
“I don’t regret it,” I say. “I know the horrors that I face now.”
Suddenly, I hear a loud roar from behind us, and I turn around and gaze through the peephole again … only to be confronted with a raging mad Devon looking straight back at me.
“You … I see you looking at me. What do you want?” he growls. “Can’t you see I’m mourning?”
“Mourning?” I mutter. “You killed her!”
“I did not kill her!” he screams at me, his teeth stained with blood. I shiver at the thought of what he did to make them bloody in the first place. “I loved her.”
“Love? You don’t even know what that is. You’re a monster,” I hiss.
He smacks the door so hard I can feel it move.
“I drew my fucking love into her body; that’s how much I loved her. But she had to go and leave me.”
“What did you do, Devon?” Max intervenes.
“I didn’t do shit!” Devon screams. “She just suddenly stopped breathing, and her body was moving up and down, her eyes rolling back. Next thing I know, she’s gone. Gone!” He wails again like some kind of animal.
Max looks at me and mumbles, “Heart attack, maybe.”
I look away and swallow the lump in my throat.
I wonder if she screamed so hard, she faded.
If he scared her so much that she stopped breathing.
If the pain became too much to handle and her heart just … gave up.
Maybe it’s better that she’s gone. At least she won’t have to feel any of it anymore.
With my hand on the wall, I walk back and past the girls, all of them still in shock over what they just heard.
“What now?” Britt asks.
“What do we do?” Stacey says.
“I don’t understand. Devon killed Lauren?” Latisha sneers as if she doesn’t believe it happened.
I reply to none of them. I don’t have the strength nor the will.
This has gone too far.
“Naomi. Don’t leave,” Max says as he stands next to door to Devon’s basement dungeon.
“Don’t stop me,” I yell as I walk off to get my stuff.
“You sure about that? If you leave, you might never be the same again.” It sounds like a warning … or a threat. A part of me wants to know what it means, but the rest just wants this all to disappear.
“Where will you go?” His voice is bitter.
I can only give him one answer that’s not a lie. “Home.”
Part III
The Revelation
17.
Accompanying Song: “Are We Having A Party” by Cliff Martinez
Naomi
Day 15
After I got all my stuff and left, I took a cab straight home. Along the way, I kept staring at the people walking around outside, thinking …
if they only knew what kinds of things happen all around them.
Sitting in that cab felt like the first time I could breathe again.
Like I’d been freed of a burden I didn’t know I was carrying.
And still, as I sit here at my table drinking a cup of tea, I wonder … what if I’d stayed?
Would I have won the games?
Would I have become Mrs. Marino and remained gorgeous while pregnant?
Would I have all the money and wealth I could dream of and save my father from an ill fate?
Would I be happy?
I have so many questions that doubt still lingers in my mind. Instead of answering them for myself, I just shut off my brain and proceed to read the newspaper, trying to find something to keep my mind busy.
Tick. Tock … Tick … … Tock.
The ticking stops, and I look up at my clock hanging from the wall. The hands have stopped moving.
I get up from my chair and pull it from the wall, taking out the batteries. Guess they’re dead. Placing the clock on the couch, I let the batteries tumble onto the table to confirm. Too many bounces. Yup. I hate it when things stop working like they always do in my home.
Time to go to the store.
I quickly put on my coat and go out, locking the door behind me as I make my way down the hallway of my apartment building. The stench that meets me from a few rooms ahead makes the bile rise in my throat, and I stop breathing for a second as I rush down the stairs to get away from it all.
This life … the stench … the filth … the broken things.
It just gets on my nerves and makes me want to scream.
Out on the street, I walk down the pavement with my head down, trying to be invisible. Normally, I get catcalled all over the place, but now, I just want to be left alone. Besides, it’s raining heavily, and I don’t want my hair to get wet. So I pull up my hoodie and pretend I don’t exist.
Except, when I turn my head, I can clearly see a black Chevrolet Equinox riding so slow it feels like it’s following me.
Indecent Games Duet - Boxed Set Page 13
